Vista Theatre
4473 Sunset Drive,
Los Angeles,
CA
90027
4473 Sunset Drive,
Los Angeles,
CA
90027
54 people
favorited this theater
Bard’s Hollywood Theatre opened on October 16, 1923 with Baby Peggy in “Tips” plus vaudeville acts on stage. The seating capacity at opening was for 838.
Alongside its elegant facade, the interior is the true stunner at this old single screen palace in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.
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Recent comments (view all 144 comments)
I was reading an article about the demolition of the National in Westwood (sad) , and ended up finding the updated official website for the Vista and the Los Feliz 3, run by Vintage cinemas (happy).
Some great interior shots HERE
I love this place and am so happy that it still exists in this day and age of multiplexes and on-demand movies at home and watching movies on mobile devices.. We’re lucky to have it in the neighborhood.
Attended the 9:45PM showing on 6/15 of “Super 8”. A great crowd a little over 200 in attendance. Many people in the industry go to the Vista. I just realized that the opening for Elvira’s weekend horror movie on KDOC was filmed here.
Parking note: I take the Red Line from North Hollywood and get off at the Sunset-Vermont station. The Vista is only two blocks east. If in need of a quick bite, stop at Von’s right on the way and pick up a sandwich and a Starbucks-they have seating.
I was there on Sunday for the 1:30 showing of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, which drew a very big crowd for a matinee. The theater is beautiful and the projection was perfect. I like the fact that they have screen curtains. Last time I went there, about ten years ago, they didn’t. The only minus is that the curtains look too modern for that theatre. A shiny gold curtain flooded with red lights would look better with the classic decor. By the way, I live in Virginia, and whenever I travel I make it a point to visit single screen theaters. On this trip west, I visited the Vista, the Crest, and the Regent.
The exterior with “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” on marquee was featured for a few minutes in tonight’s episode of TNT TV’s “Southland” cop drama show.
I saw that episode and was pleased to note that they use mylar (or plastic?) displays on the marquee, old-school style, rather than just hanging letters that spell out the title of the feature.
Nice to see about 160 people for the 8:50PM show this past Tuesday for “Dark Knight”. Veteran actor Clu Gulager, a regular at the Beverly Cinema, showed at the Vista recently.
http://www.whosay.com/pattonoswalt/photos/205478
(Martha used to run “Phantom” at the late lamented Majestic Crest. The women dress up and it’s fun being one of the lone men attending)
This year’s Screening (Redux ~ IX) will be at The Vista Theatre.
Cheers! Martha (Boswell)
Cell: 310-709-8917
Date: November 10, 2012
Time: Midnight
Tickets: $20.00
The Vista and its sister venue a half-mile away, Los Feliz 3, converted to digital around Sept 6; however, the Vista was allowed to keep its 35MM projector as some directors wanted it for special screenings.
There is a comment below by carlkester, stating that he thought William was wrong about the Vista’s porno past. William is a walking encyclopedia of cinema; I don’t think I have ever read any incorrect posts by him. The Vista was not showing porno in the mid- to late eighties. In fact, many of the X-rated theaters had closed due to the films becoming available on videotape. The Vista was showing double-features and Landmark was running it for awhile during the eighties.
In the Independent Theatres listings of the Los Angeles Times for February 10, 1971, the Vista was showing a double feature of Cindy and Donna (IMDb) and Girly (IMDB).
These were more low-budget sexploitation movies than full-on porn, but they were the sort of thing the Vista was running regularly around that time. The theater went to gay porn for a while later in the ‘70s, and then in 1980 it became a revival house, first operated by Thomas Theatres out of San Francisco and then by Landmark, which operated it more as a revival/art house combination.
Landmark abandoned the revival format at the Vista in 1985. The August 24, 1986 Los Angeles Times has the house listed as the New Vista, showing a double feature of Top Gun and Real Genius. I don’t think the Vista ever went back to porn after its time as a revival house. It did show some gay-themed movies during those years, aimed at the large gay audience in Silver Lake and East Hollywood, but I don’t think any of them were porn.