Westlake Theatre
638 S. Alvarado Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90057
638 S. Alvarado Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90057
16 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 107 comments
What is going on with the building
Reopened by Metropolitian theatres on November 21st, 1976 with “The Exorcist” in Spanish. Grand opening ad posted.
I drove past the Westlake early this morning and the DOORS WERE OPEN. From what I could see, the ground has been leveled with no seating remaining inside. Lights were all on. and the space is HUGE. I sincerely hope they do right by this theatre.
Sold as of March 2018, with plans to restore.
https://la.curbed.com/2018/3/7/17086446/historic-westlake-theatre-sold-redevelopment
I visited the Westlake a few months ago. Check out some photographs and a short write up at After the Final Curtain.
I loved the Westlake, even though when I went there it was $1.25 double feature house.I had the feeling of visiting an old Royal, down her luck, threadbare, but still beautiful.I hope it reopens as a still grand dame!
In the episode titled “Seppuku” of the USA network’s science fiction show “Colony” which aired on March 30th, 2017, the protagonists invade the hideout of the Red Hand anti-alien occupation resistance group which is located in the Westlake Theatre.
An overhead shot of the “Westlake Theatre” sign above the building establishes the location, though I then can’t tell if the actual interior was also used for filming, but it’s an exciting running combat scene within a classic theater.
September 22nd, 1926 grand opening ad in photo section.
Currently the swap meet is no longer there, BUT no work is being done either. Wonder what is up?
The rooftop scaffold sign was prominently featured in a recent episode of “America’s Most Wanted.”
I went by the other day and didn’t see any scaffolding. A building next door had scaffolding, but not the Westlake.
They’re going to turn the Westlake back into a theater (live theater, performing arts type place). In general, they’ve spent a lot of energy cleaning up the park. The area is not as bad as it used to be. It’s all part of a plan to revitalize that neighborhood.
A photo of the scaffold sign marquee from October 2009:
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What a great marquee and rooftop sign.
Thanks for ALL the great pictures.Didn’t see any smog.
Here are a couple of ‘then/now’ pictures I did of the building:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vokoban/4227948075/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vokoban/4227947579/
The Park Plaza started life in 1923/24 as an Elks Lodge, according to the “Los Angeles Art Deco” book from Arcadia Publishing.
Thanks, Vokoban. I guess I got there when the guard was off-duty. While using the men’s room on the ground floor, I got into a panic thinking I was somehow going to get locked in the building. Then I’d miss the screening of “2001: A Space Odyssey” at the Cinerama Dome that night (the reason for my trip to LA).
It’s off-topic for CT, but here are some pictures I took inside:
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The clock had stopped over the main desk, which just added to the overall Twilight Zone vibe:
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And just to put me back on-topic, one more shot of the Westlake sign:
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Bill, The doors are usually open during the day but there is also usually a guard. Sometimes they will let you roam all over the building and sometimes just the ground floor. There is something really spooky about that building if you’re alone. It’s beautiful inside and has been in tons of movies. There is a huge swimming pool in the basement that they used for those alien egg things in the movie Cocoon. I think the doors are open because people rent it out for weddings and events. As far as I know, it has never been a hotel. I never understood why they changed the name sometime in the 90’s, I think.
I took this picture in January 2008. I was in the neighborhood because my favorite Sidney Poitier film, “A Patch of Blue”, shot many of its scenes in MacArthur Park and the surrounding area.
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Anybody know what’s the deal with the Park Plaza Hotel on the other side of the park? The doors were unlocked, the place was in beautiful condition, but it was completely deserted. There was not another soul in the building the whole time I was there (about 30 minutes). I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.
Vintage photo from the LAPL:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics50/00044624.jpg
From CRALA.org: the Westlake Theater has been designated in the National Registry of Historic Places. Negotiations to rehabilitate the place are still underway. They have an artistic representation of what the development might look like, and it’s an improvement over that “theater with a fungus growing on it” picture previously released.
Recent CRA news:
http://tinyurl.com/y96wwjp
Here are some photos taken today, after lunch at Langer’s:
http://tinyurl.com/ycm59u5
http://tinyurl.com/y9luymx
There are more important theatres in LA to save than this one. Bad neighborhood of mostly poor new immigrants. It will probably remain retail for quite some time. The condition of the interior is quite poor.