Continental Theatre
5308 Melrose Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90038
5308 Melrose Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90038
10 people
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Showing 26 - 44 of 44 comments
Here is a January 1950 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/4ocsgt
Funny thing about the photo of the Encore as the KTLA Studio Theatre. When My group took over operations for Louis, prior to the closing, I was talking to my father about the Encore. He told me that when he was doing producing live shows for KTLA that was where the shot them, shows like “Queen for a Day”, and others that I wish I could remember.
Here is a 1941 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/3e49c5
I think this was one incarnation of the theater:
http://tinyurl.com/28c7tb
Here is a 1970 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/27dke9
Sorry to see this venerable old theatre bite the dust. My first visit was in the mid ‘60s for Fellini’s “Juliet of the Spirits” and returned often. Mr. Federici gave me the poster and I still have it.
I was struck by the arty bits hung on the walls throughout the lobby. It’s was always fun. And let us not forget Milton Kaiser, the guy behind the counter. A charming old guy with plenty of stories about movies and Hollywood. One night he was mugged and savagely beaten. He returned to work sometime thereafter but was never quite the same (sigh).
Featured on 9/15/74 – “Animal Crackers” plus 2nd Marx Bros movie.
Here’s the location from the air. There is a soundstage for the studio, and that looks like it could have been a theater, but it’s set back from Melrose. So this should answer if the theater was demolished. Is the Soundstage the theater?
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I am currently looking for any Old Theatres in which to lease or possibly buy in Reseda, Van Nuys, Hollywood or North Hollywood. It has been my Long life Dream to renevate and own my own Theatre/ Venue. Please e-mail me at or call me at 310-597-9398 if you live here!! Thanks.Rick
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Hey filmbreak,
This is Rob, I was one of the partners in Film Generations, were you the projectionist then?
I lived on North Gardner Street just South of Sunset Blvd. Between 1977=78 I’d often walk up North Gardner to attend double features at the Oriental for a dollar or $1.50.
The Pan Pacific and Gordon theaters were faves of mine during those days because we could see two relatively new movies for $1.50.
Being new to LA (and young and poor)I couldn’t have asked for a better value than patronizing those theatres (through the early 80s as I recall).
Louie was rarely at the theatre until it was time to close and collect the money! The manager was Milton Kaiser who sold the tickets and candy. The Oriental and Sunset were run by the Lefton family who also had the Pan Pacific – the Sunset later becoming a Pussycat Theatre.
So the Encore has not been demolished?
I went to the Encore a few times, between 1963-1966. Like the Oriental on Sunset Boulevard and the Clinton on Western Avenue, it was a place where you could sometimes catch foreign movies that had already made their way through the usual art house circuit. It was at the Encore that I first saw “Last Year at Marienbad.” The program included a second feature which I had already seen, but I was with friends who had never seen it, so while it was playing I went out to the lobby for a snack and got drawn into a conversation about “Marienbad” that was going on between a fellow I took to be the manager and another guy. It was an interesting debate they were having over the meaning and intent of the movie. I wonder if one of them was Louis Federici?
I always liked the Encore. It was a very pleasant and well-run theatre.
Louis Federici (1912-2005) reopened the old Melvan in 1963 with the intention of running retro which was not all that popular at that time. Always in a friendly rivalry with Max Laemmle, Louie was offered a picture that Max turned down, “Mondo Cane” and he made a bundle! Next he brought in other pictures like “Phaedra”, “Black Orpheus”, and “The Gospel According to St. Matthew” – alternating with his original plans things like “King Kong”, “The Mask of Fu Manchu”, et al. I was his projectionist from 1975-1978 – at the beginning of 1978 he sublet to a group called Film Generations who brought in daily changes of double features – many time inviting the filmakers like Richard Brooks, Lewis Allen and many others to screenings and discussions of their pictures. They did great business, but by the end of the year Louie had lost the theatre in a dispute with the landlords – who got it, Max Laemmle! He operated for a couple a years until the entire block was bought by Raleigh Studios, and now the Encore serves as their main theatre.
Demolished, eh. Oh well, as Raoul Walsh once wrote: “Memories are a form of immortality. Memories are young forever.”
Thanks for the memories Encore!
I believe it’s been replaced by an office building supporting Raleigh Studios (which I believe is the oldest continuously operating film studio in the U.S.)
I remember patronizing the Encore in the late 70s when it was a revival house. My favorite memories of the Encore: meeting King Vidor and Peter Bogdanovich after screening of their films.
My best friend would drag his unhappy wife to see Japanese Samurai Martial Arts marathons at the Encore (and they’re still married).
This theatre was just west of Van Ness Avenue on the south side of Melrose Avenue, as stated in previous comments the address was 5308 Melrose Avenue. I only had contact with it during the 1940’s and early to mid 1950’s. At which time it went from a Movie house to the place where KTLA Television Channel 5 in Hollywood with the main office at Paramount Studios just north of the theatre. The theatre was used for their musical shows, and the last I saw from there was the Morey Amsterdam Show.
The Encore Theatre opened as the Melvan Theatre in the early 40’s and it seat 824 people. It was located at 5308 Melrose Ave.