Picfair Theatre

The Picfair was located on Pico Blvd. near Fairfax Blvd.. The Picfair seated around 750 people. The Picfair was razed after a fire around the time of the L A riots. At that time the theatre was being used as a appliance store. Just before the store, this theatre was running Indian films and 3rd run. The theatre opened in the early 40's. From the mid 60's it was operated by Statewide Theatres, Century theatres, Loew's Theatres, GCC theatres then it went independent. The last time I was inside this theatre, it had the Loew's style color curtains. (Blue/with some purple design).

My brothe and sister and I went to the Picfair Theater many times in the late 50's and early 60's. We attended the Saturday matinees which cost 25 cents admission. The shows consisted of several cartoons, a Three Stooge short with Joe Besser, a newsreal and one or two B features. At intermission there was a drawing for several prizes so we held on to our stubbs. Many of us used to fold up our popcorn boxes and fling them at the screen like a frisbee. We don't do that anymore.
I miss the Saturday afternoons at the Picfair. Today's theaters simply don't put on such an interesting programs. Now it's commercials followed by the previews and then the feature. No newsreel, no 3 Stooges and no drawings. Too bad.
The theater building was torched during the April 29-30, 1992 riots and only the shell remained. That was later torn down.

Many aeons ago, someone posted this: "charlessheen > May 14, 2003 1:21 PM EDT
I’m new to this group, but anyway, I live 3 blocks from the old Picfair site. My mom use to go to the shoe repair store that was on the corner of the theatre. They tore down the remains of the Picfair in early 1995 (me and my friends broke in to see the inside for my 13th birthday). I have a brick from the theatre. I really thought nobody cared about its history but me so yea, cool site."

I remember seeing an Abbott and Costello ghost movie and it was scary and and funny at the same time. also a movie with a white guy and black guy (can't remember their names) singing and dancing the song "Me and My Shadow" which wouldn't be politically correct in our times. Seems we never saw a bad movie at the Picfair and remember seeing "Story of G I Joe" there too. We went to the Meralta, Culver City City Hall (after the Meralta burned down) and Palms Theater and went to the grand opening of the Culver Theater in '47. And now the Kirk Douglas Culver Theater just had another grand opening.
Would like to remenisce with people about that era and city.

well im the one who post the story about breaking into the picfair on my birthday.to my knowledge when it was an appliance store they didnt level the floor,they did have a leveling system made of wood,i remember we bought a used wedgewood stove there and how hard it was to get it rolled up to the front.and as for the riots,i lived on the 1400 block of spaulding,and there was this big old house on the corner towards pico near the alley,and the owner set it on fire(insurance)the whole street came out to help him put it out,im sure the picfair did the same with all of the stuff that was in it.

charles sheen

I saw the movie WOLFEN at the Picwood when it first came out. The Picwood was a first run theater, showing 70mm films, as WOLFEN was. The seating was kind of annoying, your ass would sink into the reclined seats: the seat separated from the backing.

This spot is not a shopping mall at the corner of Pico and Westwood, just down the street from 20th Century Fox Studios.

Wait a minute. I'm confused. I thought that this was about the Picwood Theater, at Pico and Westwood. Curious--Picwood does not seem to be listed on theaters in the database.

Here's the Picwood's listing.

Loew's 1967 annual report mentions the chain's acquisition of the Picfair, Beverly, Crest, and other Statewide Circuit theatres. See pages 5 through 8.

This theatre opened in spring 1941. It was built and leased along with the other property by Joe DeBell who was a general contractor who built the theatre, stores, and upstairs apartments for investment income. As a kid I used to go here in the early 50's (along with the Picwood, Stadium, Lido, Palms, Culver, & Meralta - all of which I worked when I became a projectionist in the early 60's.) This is the theatre where I was trained in '59-'60 by George L. Roth (1905-1978). It had a checkered operational history with several independent operators until Statewide Theatres (Fred Stein)got it in 1963 - later selling it to Loew's who was the last chain operator. Again resuming independent operators until it died a sad death in 1979 - becoming Albert's appliances until it was torched in the 1992 riots as described above.

Like two-reeler above, I went to the Picfair almost every week from 1954 to 1964, seeing every Saturday matinee (I was probably at the same shows as he was). I remember running into the lobby when The Fly was unmasked, so horrifying was it. I saw Hard Day's Night there, and Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three and hundreds upon hundreds of others. One thing no one has mentioned is that the Picfair could not show proper Cinemascope. They simply showed it on their 1:85 screen, cutting the sides of the image off - and having black bars top and bottom - in essence, the first letterbox cinema! For those who are nostalgia-minded, the Picfair (and the Lido and the Stadium) all play huge roles in three novels I wrote, a trilogy and thinly-veiled fiction of my childhood growing up in Los Angeles. For those who are interested, the books are Benjamin Kritzer, Kritzerland, and Kritzer Time - you can read about them at amazon.com.

Advertised as an Indian language theater in the LA Times on 3/15/81.

Saw the orginal run of ET here, and also saw WOLFEN. Nice theater, great location.

Ah right. Not the Picfair, I meant the Picwood!

5879 W. Pico Blvd today:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/laPicfairOct182007002.jpg

when exactly did they stop showing movies there(including indian)?

The building in that photo is misleading - and when did they put up that building??? If Fairfax is indeed the block we can't see to the very east of the building, that's where the Picfair was - just a few steps west of Fairfax on Pico, hence the name Picfair.

The last movie listing I can find is from June 12, 1980 so far:

PICFAIR, 5879 W. Pico-939-5212
Super Classic Hit-"Mere Mehboob"

By 1984 there are advertisements for India's Oven restaurant there and then in 1985 it changes to Albee's Discount Appliances.

they started contruction on that building around 01 or 02.the lot had been empty for at least 7 years.

Here is a May 1969 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/3rzerg

The India's Oven restaurant was on the west end of the building and Albee's Discount Appliances was located in the former theatre lobby and auditorium. The food was good at the India's Oven, till a friend who lived nearby told me he would see them hosing down cook pots in the little service alley behind the restaurant.

Here are some 1982 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/d9c3so
http://tinyurl.com/dnbgdd

wow ken
that just put a smile on my face.in the late 80s the building was gray.thanks for posting.

I recall driving around this area immediately following the riots, but I don't remember seeing the theater. It looks like it was demolished shortly thereafter.

It was torched during the 1992 riots.

Here is a profile from the LA Times in October 1977:

PICFAIR-5879 W. Pico Blvd at Fairfax, Los Angeles 933-5609

The Picfair has been for years a popular neighborhood theater. In 1968, the Loews chain bought it and financed $100,000 worth of remodeling, including a modern marquee, new upholstery, air conditioning and other assorted accoutrements. Attendance, however, began to drop off and the theater went through a series of programming changes, from foreign films to X-rated. Recently it was taken over by Jamiel Cetin, with “great faith in its possibilities” said Cetin, “because of its location central to Century City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and the Santa Monica Freeway.”

The theater had developed a rowdy reputation, with occasional brawls breaking out inside. But now the customers and the fare are different. “We are moving towards a cultural policy”, said Cetin, “retrospectives of classic foreign and American films, festivals devoted to an era or a director as well as first-run foreign films.” Features have included Louis Malle’s “Black Moon”, Satyajit Ray’s “Distant Thunder”, “The African Queen”, “The Lion in Winter”, Nureyev and Fonteyn in the Bolshoi’s “Romeo and Juliet”, and the Los Angeles premiere of Joel Seria’s “The Cookies of Pont-Aven”.

“I want to create a cultural film center for Los Angeles”, said Cetin, “bringing the best foreign films I can obtain, as well as musicals and ballet.”

Here is a February 1971 ad for an Andy Warhol film at the Picfair:
http://tinyurl.com/ydd83jr

Ads and fire stories. Two of my favorites.