Comments from alohajoe007

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alohajoe007
alohajoe007 commented about Historic Park Theatre on Apr 10, 2007 at 11:47 am

What is so special about this theater besides the fact it’s still standing and working with very little changes is the projection room. I hope to get some pics posted somehow but it truly is a part of history itself. It has some projectors from the early 1900’s. The room itself is lined with sheet metal complete with carbon tetrachloride fire retardant bulbs hanging from the ceiling complete with the small dab of lead meant to melt during a fire. Remember the old film stock was HIGHLY COMBUSTIBLE. There is also something I’ve never seen in any of the old theaters is this odd mirror that will show the movie reflected back into the lobby. My description does little justice. For more info contact www.estesparkfilm.com and/or www.myspace.com/sdientertainment

alohajoe007
alohajoe007 commented about Fox Palos Verdes Theatre on Mar 22, 2007 at 8:52 am

Thank you DASL'R and of course our unofficial historian Bruce Berns, and all the rest of you for sharing. There just has to be a movie in all this. Just as the classic Cinema Paradisio captured a time and place that no longer exists in Italy we too share the movie experience of times gone by. We have witnessed the best and the worst of times for the movie houses. And soon there will be no “projectors” of old. With digital replacing the remnants of the age of film. Bruce Berns write a screenplay please, and do you recall ANY pictures of the old projection booths? I currently live in Estes Park, Co. where we have “the oldest running movie theater west of the Misssisssippi”. And it smells that way. This theater is OLD and not grand like our beloved Fox or the magnificent San Pedro Grand it resembles an old barn which it may well have been. It’s so old that the projection room walls are covered with sheet metal in case of fire from old nitrate prints. The ancient carbon tetrachloride bulbs hanging from the ceiling still held by thin wire with a lead bond that melts in low heat and drops the bulbs releasing the fire retardent. The theater also sports an empty wood tower as a symbol of the owners empty heart after being left at the alter. I’m not making that up. Since we had our very first film fest here I’m sure the producers obtained pics and I’ll see if I can post them. View link

I hope to continue to find new posts of experiences of the days gone by in the South Bay.

alohajoe007
alohajoe007 commented about Fox Redondo Theatre on Mar 16, 2007 at 3:42 am

THANK YOU BRUCIE B.. My name is Joe Hall I saw my very first movie at the old Fox Redondo, I don’t recall the title but I think it was a Disney movie about some young boys who somehow became bears, it was NOT animated. It could have been as early as 1960. My brother Jim is 11 yrs. older and he may well have known you. He went there often and worked at the pier for Big Gordie McRae way back in the day. My father James M. Hall was a prominent attorney who was sadly responsible for the urban renewal project.
Bruce you did what I always dreamed of doing, I knew that theater held many mysteries and you saw them all. I recall vividly that HUGE grate in the ceiling and to a kid we thought it weighed tons and we were always wondering when it would fall. The mice problem I remember well, oh btw the other smell from the ocean you mentioned was due to all the red tides the South Bay used to have back when the Monitor was still shipwrecked off of PV near the light house. Thanks to all who provided the great pics. I would have loved to have seen the old Vaudeville dressing rooms. I think Dive N' Surf also used to be located next to the theater before the Meistrells’s moved to their present location. I also recall loving the balcony where we would sit a drop Milk Duds on the kids below. I also recall a William Castle movie called the Haunted House with Vincent Price and they hooked up a skeleton on a wired to “float” down above the seats. My brother recalled once that another Castle movie called “The Tingler” showed there and the seats were wired to shock the audience another Castle innovation to help scare the audience. There was a movie made with John Goodman about him as a film promoter who took the cheap films in his trunk and sold them to theaters for a cut. The theater in the movie reminded me of the old Fox but w/out the grandeur. I too remember the old Strand theater that got chopped into 3 small theaters with the one in the back around the corner showing adult films before it closed. It also looked like it used trampolines for screens and they were NOT friendly there. During those days I always went to the movies. The UA Torrance, Rolling Hills theater, Palos Verdes theaters, Hermosa’s Bijou, occasionally San Pedro’s grand palace The Grand.
Bruce what was that huge grate in the ceiling for anyway? What kept it from falling? Great times past.

alohajoe007
alohajoe007 commented about Bijou Theatre on Mar 16, 2007 at 2:22 am

I used to live in Hermosa in the 70’s and grew up in Rolling Hills Est. in the 60’s. I always got a kick out of the old Hermosa theater the movie I remember seeing was “Slaughter House Five”, I even remember the date I had. When I went it had only one screen. But it indeed was a “beach theater” during those heady daze. When the lights went down it seemed everyone could be heard opening beers and then the lighting of the joints started as well. I eventually tried my hand at stand up comedy and performed across from the Theater at Shenanigans Bar and used the theater for some of my jokes. DOES ANYONE OUT THERE REMEMBER AND HAVE PICS OF THE VERY OLD FOX REDONDO THEATER CIRCA 1966??? During that time Hermosa was filled with a lot of vets returning from ‘Nam and a lot of bikers would always be around, it wasn’t the super high priced yuppie city it is today. Is Mickey’s deli still there?

alohajoe007
alohajoe007 commented about Rolling Hills Theatre on Mar 16, 2007 at 2:03 am

Wow! It’s nice to know the other “kids” who were probably sitting close by me long ago in the 60’s. The RH theater was the one of the last grand Saturday Matinee triple feature venues. Thanks to whoever posted the other activities we would do on those Saturdays the dance contest which was either doing the limbo or the twist. During those Saturdays the owner would always come in go up on stage and have the audience say “Hi Clyde!” the projectionist. In other words this theater was owned by a showman the last of his kind. Sigh. I too remember the murders which happened by the time I was a junior at Miraleste High School. I was shocked. At the time there was this awful serial killer
making headlines first as the 5&10 killer later updated to the TG&Y killer. Also during those days the term “serial killer” was not used in the Daily Breeze. The murders rocked the community to it’s core. Btw my name is Joe Hall in case anyone from the ‘old days’ knows me. I would have liked to have seen some of the other names of the kids that went there who have posted here. I remember most the Elvis movies and the cheap Japanese Godzilla and Mothra movies. Admission was 60 cents but it used to be only 50 cents. Cudos to all who remember the details of the shopping center as well. The old J.J. Newberry’s with the old fashioned lunch counter, Foods Co., Swedish Smorgasbord, and of course the fabulous Parasol restaurant. And yes to that guy who seems so worked up about the UA theater located EXACTLY on the corner of PCH & Crenshaw but on the opposite side of Crenshaw. Also although the location was and is Torrance the area was referred to as the Palos Verdes Penninsula by all who lived there even though technically it was quite on the penninsula. Yes it was safe back then parents thought nothing of letting all us kids walk down to the theater on our own and be rid of us for the day for a mere $3 or less. Didn’t “SkaterDater” win an Oscar for best short? I’ll have to look that up. I have not been back for awhile but isn’t Seymor’s Jewlers still there. Btw I grew up with Scott, Seymor’s son the family’s last name is Billowit and both Scott and his sister Gail are both very successful jewlers Scott has his store in Hermosa Bch. now and he had one in Marina Del Rey as well but may have lost that in a divorce. So many memories of that time of innocence and of the area where one could hike in the hills nearby and look for snakes. While I’m posting does anyone remember the VERY OLD Fox Redondo Theater down at the pier???? Any pictures of it as a movie theater not the old 1927 pic shown on this site? One last detail the Lucky’s super market used to be called Shopper’s Market was back in the early 60’s.

alohajoe007
alohajoe007 commented about Art Theatre on Mar 15, 2007 at 10:58 am

Does ANYONE have pictures of the Fox Redondo Theater?? I used to go there back in the early 60’s, it had a balcony and even had frescos on the huge walls. I believe it was also used as a bomb shelter, I do know when they tried to demolish it the wrecking ball bounced right off of it. One would have to have gone to this old giant to appreciate just how grand it was. One year it even had a closed circuit broadcast of the Indy 500. It was the most boring experience of my life.