Eastland 5 Theatres

This theatre closed for good around 1999. For years after closing it was a church. The city of West Covina, is planning to tear down the theatre, and all surrounding businesses, for a supermarket center.

2504 E. Workman Avenue is the correct address of the theatre

Its also in West Covina, not Covina.
The Chain was SoCal Theatres.

Some additional 70mm details regarding "Close Encounters, "Tron," "Die Hard," and the re-releases of "Star Wars" in the Los Angeles area can be found here:

http://www.fromscripttodvd.com/70mm_in_los_angeles_1977.htm
http://www.fromscripttodvd.com/70mm_in_los_angeles_1982.htm
http://www.fromscripttodvd.com/70mm_in_los_angeles_1988.htm

Please also check the years 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985 for the Los Angeles re-release engagements of "Star Wars" in the year-by-year search grids toward the bottom of each page.

The Eastland did run some 70mm prints. A good example can be found here:

http://www.fromscripttodvd.com/70mm_in_los_angeles_1984.htm

The Eastland opened in the early 1960s and featured 1000 seats.

The Eastland opened in the early 1960’s (1963-1964) with one theater, which had over a 1000 seats and 35mm 4-track mag stereo. In the early 1970’s theaters two and three were added along with Dolby Stereo for “Star Wars” in 1977. By 1980 Sanborn Theaters (they changed names to SoCal in the late 80’s) added 70mm to the sister theater the Wescove. Eastland had to wait until 1983 after the big house was split into 3 smaller theaters ( giving it the magic number of five) for 70mm. The summer of 1984 kicked 70mm into high gear with “First-runs” of “Star Trek III” & “GhostBusters”. “Start Trek IV” ” in early 1988 was the final film to be played in 70mm at the Eastland. The original “Die Hard” opened at the Wescove in 35mm Dolby (never played in 70mm at the Eastland), and with 200+ prints of “Dick Tracy” in 70mm in 1990, the Eastland failed to play it (Edwards Azusa ran it for five weeks).

Even with 70mm, the Wescove and Eastland never played “Raiders” or Indy II” in first-run, which ended up at the Mann Fox Covina, in 35mm mono.

Drove by the Eastlast yesterday, and it's gone! Maybe in the last 2 weeks or so....too bad, We've lost FOX, Capri, Covina, and now the Eastland....guess Westcove will be next. Pictures of the Westcove will be posted tonight on the following site:

http://modernlosangelesinkodachrome.blogspot.com/

You know, I love this website and enjoy reading everyone's contributions to the theater entries. But along with the satisfaction comes on occasion a great deal of frustration when people make postings featuring information culled from memory without identifying memory as the source. This page is a good example of what can go terribly wrong when one relies too much on one's memory. This page is riddled with errors that I feel compelled to attempt to correct...if the page is to have any significant value to serious enthusiasts. I know if someone caught me making an error, I would appreciate and expect a correction to be offered. That's the beauty of ongoing Internet threads; eventually, hopefully, someone might come along and offer a correction or initiate a stimulating debate.

I don't believe ANY of the movies mentioned in the intro played at Eastland in 70mm six-track Dolby as claimed. It appears the writer is confusing the six-track magnetic flavor of Dolby Stereo with the optical four-channel type found on 35mm prints, which is what the Eastland, with a few exceptions, ran on a regular basis in the '80s.

Eastland did not install Dolby Stereo in 1977 for "Star Wars." The original first-run of that film in West Covina was at Wescove.

The "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" engagement took place a year earlier than stated.

And on the topic of lost theaters... Here are a couple of pages of photos (both vintage and contemporary) of the two theaters in question. These are from the newly-reconfigured "70mm In Los Angeles" web article posted on the FromScriptToDVD.com website. (If you enjoy these pages, seek out the article's main page and you'll discover there's a whole lot more posted than just a couple of pages!)

http://www.fromscripttodvd.com/70mm_in_los_angeles_eastland.htm
http://www.fromscripttodvd.com/70mm_in_los_angeles_wescove.htm

The passage from my post above regarding the installation of Dolby Stereo should be revised as:

Eastland did not install Dolby Stereo in 1977 for "Star Wars." The original first-run of that film in West Covina was at Wescove. Dolby was installed in the fall of '77 in anticipation of "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind."

Also, the company name change --- from Sanborn to SoCal --- took place during 1984, at least as far as newspaper advertising is concerned.

Eastland opened "Star Trek IV" in 35mm dolby stereo over the Thanksgiving weekend of 1986, and picked up a 70mm print in early 1987 (not 1988 as I posted)....Michael is right, "Star Wars" did not open at the Eastland (what was I thinking? I saw SW at the Wescove), but per the Eastland manager I got to know in the mid 80's, CEO3K played in mono for the first 5 days of the run.

As for "Star Wars", it was moved-over to the Eastland for it's 1978 "re-release" from the Wescove and again in 1979 for a 3-weeks run in 35mm dolby.

(SW never played at any of the 2rd run theaters in the Covina booking area like Plaza Glendora, Canyon San Dimas, or the Covina Cinema durring the original release AND the two re-releases before Empire in 1980. Empire Strikes Back did play at the Plaza with a 2nd feature of SE version of CEO3K in 1981 in mono)

I saw the movie that changed my life at the Eastland Theater, 1982 "Making Love" I was 23 at the time, My wife wanted to go see it, I had no clue it was about a guy who was living a double life. I watched the movie in horror, it all came together I then knew I was gay. Me the Butch HS Football player (Charter Oak) found out what was missing in my life. I soon Divorced and moved to NYC where I have lived ever since. Funny how things come to light.

The Eastland opened in 1961, with the John Wayne movie, "The Comancheros." I went to junior high and high school with the daughter of the theater's owner. It was a terrific theater -- Doris Day romantic comedies played there, as did movies direct from roadshows in Beverly Hills and Hollywood. "The Sound of Music" and "Doctor Zhivago" seemed like they kept coming back to the Eastland. I even saw "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" there. When it opened, the admission price was slightly higher than that at the musty old Covina Theatre (which showed "Dr. No" and Jerry Lewis' "The Nutty Professor" on a double feature, I vividly remember). I am very sorry to read of the demise of the Eastland, but I am not surprised. Perhaps my favorite movie there: "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines." Since I left West Covina (at age 17, in 1969), I've been a movie critic, film historian and entertainment editor -- all in New York City. But I owe a lot to what I saw as a kid in West Covina.

The Eastland Center neighborhood suffered some long delays before it got its movie house. A local exhibitor named Sid Pink had plans to build a 1000 seat theater there as early as 1956, according to the April 7, 1956, issue of Boxoffice Magazine, which said that ground was to be broken soon for the new theater.

Then the March 3, 1958, issue of Boxoffice published a drawing of Sid Pink's new 1,100 seat theater, with a caption saying it was "...now being built." The announcement was a bit premature, it seems.

When construction of the Eastland Theatre really began at last, in 1961, it was a project of the Sanborn Theatres circuit. I guess everybody got tired of waiting for Sid Pink to get his show on the road.

Here is a PDF file of the Winter, 1992, issue of SoCal Cinemas' house organ, with a brief article about the 30th anniversary celebration for the Eastland Theatre, which was held on November 21 that year. It mentions that Jayne Mansfield had made a personal appearance for the Eastland's opening night.

Turns out that The Temple Of Doom did play in 70mm, but the run didn't start until August 31st.

Saw FATAL ATTRACTION here in '87, and THE DEAD POETS SOCIETY two years later. Does anyone remember Joe Pirrelli, who was an usher here in the late 80s? Lol, I had a crush on him!

Hey matineeidol, I know Joe! You can contact me at histfan71@roadrunner.com for more info.

Here is a May 1970 ad from the Pomona Progress-Bulletin:
http://tinyurl.com/ygnmmk6