Baronet Theatre
6937 Topanga Canyon Blvd.,
Woodland Hills,
CA
6937 Topanga Canyon Blvd.,
Woodland Hills,
CA
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Here is a 1983 photo of the Baronet:
http://tinyurl.com/r6yxhd
Address (city) should be updated to read: Canoga Park
Function should be updated to read: Retail
Thanks hankg. Now I understand why there are two addresses for this building. The address above should be left as it is except for replacing Woodland Hills with Canoga Park. If the primary name remains as Baronet Theater, the description above would just need a slight change:
“This small theater ran revival movies during its final years. Located near the Topanga Theatre, the Baronet Theatre was later known as the Boulevard Cinema which closed in the mid-80s. The building is now used for retail.”
Ok, here is the “official scoop”. My dad owned the theatre through the late 1970’s-early 1980’s. I always thought of it as the “final era”, as it wasnt the “heyday” of the theatre, but definately a second run movie house. (the rock and roll movies and concerts, as well as re-runs of Star Wars) Back then, (amazing to anyone under 40)there were no movie theatres in the San Fernando Valley with more than one screen, until the Topanga (at Victory and Topanga) opened a second/third screen. That was the beginning of the end for small theatres like the Baronet. Eveything became multiplex corporate cinemas.
Several subsequent owners did re-name it, and the photos posted are of the same place. The address discrepancy is this: right next to the theatre was the restaurant “Two Guys from Italy”. I worked there as well for years. When the theatre closed, the restaurant did shortly thereafter. The wall was torn down, and it became one big location, as Savinar luggage.
I will never forget being a teenager, loving all of the dumpy little single screen theatres in the Valley, such as the Art Theatre (Ventura at Topanga), the Valley Circle (Valley Circle Blvd) the Holiday (Topanga) and of course the Baronet. It should be listed as such, as no one would really know or appreciate the subsequent names.
For years and years, since its opening, it was the Baronet Theatre. The address was 6937 Topanga.
According to the policy of this website, which I don’t totally agree with, theaters are listed by the last name that they had as a theater. If we follow that policy, this theater should be listed as the Boulevard Cinema aka Baronet Theater. We can leave out the Valley West name until someone can confirm it. Should we use the 6937 Topanga Canyon Blvd address or change it to the luggage store address of 6931 Topanga Canyon Blvd?
Most likely the luggage store now sprawls through several buildings. I noticed that in the Flickr photo you linked to there’s an arrow marked “Entrance” pointing south above the door where the theatre’s foyer once was.
Also I’m not positive about the Valley West name as an aka. Lavar reported it only as a rumor, and I haven’t found any confirmation anywhere. In the 1966 ad ken mc linked to it’s the Baronet, and as the building was built in 1961 and the place probably closed not long after August 1986, that doesn’t leave much time for the Valley West name to have been in use, if it ever was.
No, wait, it’s not Woodland Hills. I rechecked the map and Vanowen marks the change from 6700/6800 N block of Topanga Canyon, so the 6900 block remains in Canoga Park.
Google maps places this address in Canoga Park. Savinar H Luggage has an address of:
6931 Topanga Canyon Blvd
Canoga Park, CA 91303
I wonder if the luggage store uses a different entrance than the theater did to make the address change from 6937 to 6931.
I should clarify that the theatre was in Canoga Park, but the building’s postal address today is in Woodland Hills due to a change made in 1992. A quarter section bounded by Victory, Vanowen, Topanga and Shoup was withdrawn from Canoga Park and added to Woodland Hills that year.
Boulevard is the name under which the theatre is listed in the L.A. Times Calender section on August 24, 1986. It is showing two features but there’s no indication that it’s a twin theatre. Admission price was $1.50. Quite a few older theatres were still showing double features in 1986, so I’m thinking it was probably a discount double feature house at that time.
In one comment above Lavar says that it closed in 1985, but it was still open in August 1986, so I’d guess that it probably closed not long after then and never got twinned.
I always remember it as a single screen house.
Okay, this theater needs an aka name of Boulevard Cinema and Valley West. I would change the status to closed and function to retail until someone posts more recent information on the status of the building. As the Boulevard Cinema, did this theater remain a single screen theater?
Yes, the Baronet is the same theatre as the Boulevard. Boulevard is the more recent name. Comment by Lavar on January 25 above says that it may have been aka the Valley West for a time. Assessor information says the building at 6937-6939 Topanga Canyon was built in 1961. Lavar also pointed out that the theatre was in the Canoga Park district, not the Woodland Hills District.
Yes, Joe Vogel posted a picture back on Jan. 25th, 2007.
Was this theater also known as the Boulevard Cinema? If it was, the building might still be standing. Here is a 2006 photo.
Here is a February 1968 ad from the Van Nuys News:
http://tinyurl.com/ys77ro
This comment is for hankg who posted on July 10, 2007:
I know it’s been 30 years, but a big belated thanks to your family – your father in particular – for putting on the rock movies. As a young and budding musician, it was the greatest thing in the world to immerse yourself and see movies that no one had even heard of. I saw Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s “Rock and Roll Your Eyes” there, along with Neil Young’s “Journey Through The Past” and Led Zep and the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. What a great way to grow up. And I seem to recall there were live bands there every once in a while, or is my memory failing with age??? And yes, I recall that smoking pot was part of the experience. It was one of the very few theaters in existence where there were no worries about getting busted. And since cigarettes hadn’t been banned yet from indoor venues, the smog on the inside was frequently thicker than the smog outside…Thanks again!
This comment is for hankg who posted on July 10, 2007:
I know it’s been 30 years, but a big belated thanks to your family – your father in particular – for putting on the rock movies. As a young and budding musician, it was the greatest thing in the world to immerse yourself and see movies that no one had even heard of. I saw Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s “Rock and Roll Your Eyes” there, along with Neil Young’s “Journey Through The Past” and Led Zep and the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. What a great way to grow up. And I seem to recall there were live bands there every once in a while, or is my memory failing with age??? And yes, I recall that smoking pot was part of the experience. It was one of the very few theaters in existence where there were no worries about getting busted. And since cigarettes hadn’t been banned yet from indoor venues, the smog on the inside was frequently thicker than the smog outside…Thanks again!
I remember seeing Billy Jack there! Wasn’t the lobby realy small and cramped, and you had to climb these steep stairs to get to the seats. Probably no way ANY of it would be up to code today.
My father owned the Baronet in the late 70’s—early 80’s. We had a lot of fun. For a long time, we ran nothing but rock concert movies—Led Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains the Same” played over and over. Lots of pot smoke was part of the experience.
The theatre had two tiny bathrooms, which would never be up to code now. Still, it was a popular date location, with cheap prices, and Two Guys from Italy restaurant right next door.
Went to Canoga Park High School right across the street. My greatest Baronet experience was seeing Billy Jack there every Friday night for 4 or 5 weeks. I remember the marquee read, “Billy Jack” now in it’s 14th week! Great little theatre, I think it became a carpet store at one point. What a shame.
Joe: that is a great picture! There must have been several name changes for this particular venue over the course of its lifetime, because in addition to Baronet, it was supposedly called Valley West at some point also.
Although seeing the outside of this venue all the time as a student of Canoga Park High School from 1984-‘88, I regret never having seen the inside before it was shut down and converted into retail space.
Here is a 1985 photo of the Boulevard Cinema in Canoga Park from the L.A. Public Library collection. The L.A. Times Calender section of August 24, 1986, lists the Boulevard at 6937 Topanga, so this must be the place!
CORRECTION: This theater/address is listed under “Woodland Hills” when it is actually in the city of Canoga Park, CA. Both building & marquee remain intact even though the theater itself was shut down in 1985. I think the space may have been a mattress outlet before converting into a luggage store.
I remember this little theater just a stones throw away from the IHOP and across from CANOGA HIGH. The theater became a luggage shop after it closed.
The address is listed in the last posting but not updated at the top.