Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The grand movie palaces of Los Angeles

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 05-07-2003, 05:19 AM:

Some of you may recall Scott and I blathering on about some silly trip to Los Angeles last weekend.

On Saturday, we went on the LA Conservancy's Broadway Theatre tour and spent three hours downtown.

The photos are now online at Cinematour, and most of the downtown palace tours are listed on the main page.

Some of the pages have lots of photos, so please be patient. [Cool]

Posted by Dan Lyons (Member # 1454) on 05-07-2003, 05:11 PM:

Great pics! But isn't it sad that some of these great theatres are in parts of town you'd be afraid to drive through without locking the car doors... [Frown]

Danny

Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 05-07-2003, 05:23 PM:

Seriously. But it wasn't actually so bad. Being part of the tour group really gave you that "safety in numbers" feeling. But even after the tour was over Adam and I walked around a bit and everything seemed pretty cool. Nothing at all to worry about.

Now I can't wait to take the tour of the South Central Theatres... [Wink]

The amazing part of this trip was that I totally expected it to be a boring tour of all the theatres. Just a walk in front of each and then a little story. We really only got to go into two or three of them but it was still really cool. Quite surprised. I know Paul Linfesty had wanted to join us but I didn't want to involve others in our trip planning for fear of being blamed for wasting their time on a bad tour of L.A. theatres. I'd be interested in going again as soon as they get some stuff cleared up to get into the United Artists and the Tower.

Posted by Daniel Fuentz (Member # 1684) on 05-07-2003, 05:30 PM:

That tour of the Orpheum was worth it -- if you hadn't had got any other pictures your whole trip, it still would've been worth it! Well, when those places were built, the areas around them were actually quite fashionable. Today's "fashionable" megaplexes are the dumps of tomorrow!!

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 05-07-2003, 06:40 PM:

It seems to me that the only thing the area needs is a sign ordinance and a night crew to clean the streets and sidewalks. (They wash down the sidewalks here in downtown Sacramento every night. I'm sure it's paid for by local businesses somehow.) I understand the crime rate is actually pretty low.

I can't wait to go back this summer for the Last Remaining Seats film series and actually see movies running in some of these places!

By the way, if some of the photos look a little outta whack, it's because we were told not to take photos in the United Artists (church) and the Warner Brothers (diamond exchange). Oops! My finger slipped! [Wink]

Posted by Daniel Fuentz (Member # 1684) on 05-07-2003, 07:05 PM:

I just don't get that... It's not as if they took you into "private" areas of these theaters. Anyone can walk in off the street and see the stuff you took pictures of!

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 05-08-2003, 01:03 AM:

Danny, you really neeed to check out Downtown L.A. for yourself. I've never felt unsafe there. Unfrotunately, Angel's Flight is no longer running (at least for now), but the two different downtowns it bridged have a lot of interesting sites for the urban explorer. Bunker Hill area has the Museum of Modern Art, the renovated and greatly expanded library, the spectacular watercourt fountain (becomes a raging ocean every 15 minutes), a lot of outdoor art gardens, and, on weekends, almost devoid of people. Olviera Street, the first commercial street in LA, Chinatown, Little Tokyo (the "Temporary" Contemporary Geffen art museum), etc. Lots of Conservancy tours (not just palaces, but classic twenties buildings as well, Grand Central Station, a masterpiece of depression design, check out the cool subway stations (catch one to Hollywood and Vine and check out their movie palace theme, complete with two authentic Simplex projectors courtesy of Paramount studios and LITEERALLY thousands of 2000 foot 35mm film reels covering the arched ceiling).

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 05-08-2003, 03:35 AM:

The new "Walt Disney Hall" for the Los Angeles Philharmonic is also worth seeing. It is almost finished and will open in the autumn.

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 05-08-2003, 05:18 AM:

Oh, yeah. Disney must build this hideous thing while these palaces sit here rotting away. [Frown]

Posted by Daniel Fuentz (Member # 1684) on 05-08-2003, 05:35 AM:

Egads! I wonder if that was done by the same architect that designed the Fresno City Hall!!! (I don't have a picture of it on hand, but it was featured in the film "The Puppet Masters"...)

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 05-08-2003, 12:18 PM:

Architect Frank O. Gehry designed that building. His first big one was the Guggenheim in Bibleo Spain. He's inovative but repetative. I might have gone to see the museum in Spain but now that there is a Frank Gehry in every city, why bother?

Posted by Per Hauberg (Member # 529) on 05-08-2003, 06:54 PM:

..thought it was The Sydney Opera House collapsed... [Eek!]

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 05-09-2003, 12:43 AM:

quote:
I just don't get that... It's not as if they took you into "private" areas of these theaters. Anyone can walk in off the street and see the stuff you took pictures of!

Yes, but would you like people walking into your house of worship taking a bunch of photos? There could be people in their seeking some sort of quietness from the mean, cruel and inhospitable streets of the city.

And the jewelry mart is a natural target of thieves everywhere, as evidenced by the many TV shows and movies who use jewel heists as a major plot device. So taking detailed photos one can study at length in the privacy of one's bubble filled bathtub with an open champaigne bottle and two glasses sitting on the rim isn't the same thing as casually glancing the layout of the place in person.