I remember going multiple times to see “El Topo” at the Vagabond. It may have been the first LA theater to run that astounding film. Also, my first viewings of Fellini’s “Juliet of the Spirits” and Antononi’s “Red Desert” where at that place. I believe they a huge painting of the steps scene from “Battleship Potemkin” on the side walls inside the theater.
I have to thank Mike Thomas for providing a space for some of the greatest art films of all time at the Strand during the early 1980s. I went there as frequently as the York and Roxy (that also had wonderful programs). There were interesting experiments too, such as a festival of old William Castle horror films that included actually electrifying the seats for “The Tingler” (I heard the original 1959 screenings used vibrators beneath the seats).
I remember going multiple times to see “El Topo” at the Vagabond. It may have been the first LA theater to run that astounding film. Also, my first viewings of Fellini’s “Juliet of the Spirits” and Antononi’s “Red Desert” where at that place. I believe they a huge painting of the steps scene from “Battleship Potemkin” on the side walls inside the theater.
The neighborhood wasn’t so bad in the early 70s.
I have to thank Mike Thomas for providing a space for some of the greatest art films of all time at the Strand during the early 1980s. I went there as frequently as the York and Roxy (that also had wonderful programs). There were interesting experiments too, such as a festival of old William Castle horror films that included actually electrifying the seats for “The Tingler” (I heard the original 1959 screenings used vibrators beneath the seats).