Filmarte Theatre
1228 Vine Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90038
1228 Vine Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90038
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David James’s book “The Most Typical Avant-Garde” says that this theater became the Filmarte in July, 1928.
@steveorini – hi. Since you were there several times was there still the imprint of a salami in the sidewalk outside the theater?
The name of the place at this time was called The Vine St. Video Centre, and the left side of the building had a small restaurant.
there was another small storefront on the right…
This is Steveorini again…the Troy I was speaking of in the above post that recorded his show at the Filmarte in the 70’s was talk show host Troy Cory, and this would have been somewhere around the mid 70’s.
His show aired on KTLA and also KCOP.There are some clips of him on youtube.
The building was owned by Songwriter Bob Hilliard’s wife in the 70’s..
how long she owned it before that I dont know…yes, the theatre
was used in the 70’s for video production.Barbara Mandrell taped there, as well as this singer named Troy Something or other..)
I drove past there the other day as was saddened to see the new building.Used to go there as a teen to watch the Allen Show.
That’s a grim replacement for the pleasant building that housed the Filmarte. The new building is probably bad for the mental health of people who have to look at it every day.
Bob do not recall seeing it, but do remember hearing of it.
The Filmarte’s career as a movie house ended by 1952. Daily Variety of July 14, 1952, reported that Fox West Coast Theatres had leased the Filmarte Theatre to a “telepix producer.” That was most likely Columbia’s television subsidiary, Screen Gems, which produced Art Linkletter’s “House Party” for television.
IMDb says that Linkletter’s show aired from CBS Television City, but that must have been in later years. Television City didn’t begin operating until November 16, 1952, and “House Party” had begun airing on September 1 that same year, so it most likely aired from the Filmarte from its first show until some time no later than 1962, when Steve Allen’s syndicated nightly show began using the venue.
The Filmarte had aka’s of Art Linkletter Playhouse and Steve Allen Playhouse during its TV studio years, but of course never operated as a movie theater under those names. I’m not sure if the house continued in use for television after Allen’s show was canceled in 1964.
@menziesii – do you remember an imprint of a salami in set in the sidewalk outside the stage entrance when the Steve Allen Show was there?
Stood in the alley between the market and the theater many a night and watched the Steve Allen Show being filmed through an open fire exit door.
Some night there wer empty seats and Steve would motion us in to sit down and watch the show.
Didn’t know until I read the above that this was the Art Linkletter Theater. Was twice one of the grade-school kids on House Party, back in the ‘50s.
The Hollywood Theaters, Inc. (1931) chain included the following theatres:
BEVERLY HILLS: Beverly
NORTH HOLLYWOOD: El Portal
LOS ANGELES: Apollo (Hollywood), Carmel (West Hollywood), Film Art (Hollywood), Paramount (aka. Loma), Stadium, Vista, Carlton, Rivoli
Home Office was at 8900 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
All of those theatres were operated by West Coast Theatres and later under the Fox West Coast Theatres banner.
There was a fire around that time frame.
Assessor information for the addresses 1224-1230 N. Vine St. gives a construction date of 1993 for the building on this property. I checked the information for the adjacent properties (in case of address migration) and they both have modern construction too. It looks as though the Filmarte is closed/demolished rather than just closed.
Here is a 1937 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2mqn88
A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 1250 style D X was installed in the La Mirada Theater on 1/16/1925. Status: Sold.
Here’s a 1957 photo from the L.A. Library of a theatre called the Linkletter Playhouse, from which Art Linkletter did his television show. On the picture’s full data page (the library doesn’t allow linking to those, unfortunately), the address is given as 1232 North Vine Street. It must be the Filmarte, but with a slightly altered street number.
This theatre is also where in the early 60s Steve Allen did his TV show that was opposite The Johnny Carson TONIGHT SHOW. I still remember him watching people on the street and pointing his camera across the street at the Dance studio.
Does anyone know what other theatres were part of the Hollywood Theatre chain?
My grandfather, John Russell, managed this theatre in the late 1920’s when it was called the La Mirada. It was part of the Hollywood Theatre chain then.
From the Bruce Torrence collection:
View link
Interior of the Filmarte, from the LA Public Library:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014567.jpg
Here is an early photo of the auditorium from when it was still the La Mirada, circa 1930.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014709.jpg
This theater was earlier known as the La Mirada.
The Filmarte Theatre was located at 1228 N. Vine Street.