Topanga Theatre
6360 Topanga Canyon Boulevard,
Woodland Hills,
CA
91367
6360 Topanga Canyon Boulevard,
Woodland Hills,
CA
91367
6 people
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Showing 26 - 49 of 49 comments
I was surprised to see former Topanga Theatre 1970’s projectionist on Larry King Live Monday. Alfred “Al” Beardsley, the OJ Simpson Las Vegas robbery victim worked the relief shifts back then, with husband and wife team Richard and Robin Smith as the primary projectionists. Beardsley was a young and rather quiet guy who kept to himself. I saw Woody’s name listed above, coincidentally, I just spoke to Woody today. He’s on his way back to NYC soon.
It looks like the structure is about to be torn down. The furniture store has vacated and they’ve put a barrier around it. It makes sense that it would be the first structure to be demolished to make way for the Westfield “Village,” the planned connector between the Topanga Plaza and the Promenade Mall.
I guess I’ll have to give up my pipe dream of it being bought and reopened by a benevolent billionare.
DKwheels, The small theatre north of Vanowen was the Boulevard Theatre and later known as the Baronet Theatre. It was at 6937 Topanga Blvd. on the West side of the street.
By the way, does anyone remember that much smaller theatre that was also located on Topanga, but either south or north of Vanowen? It was really small, and sort of upstairs from the street level. I can’t find it on this site because I can’t remember the name. I remember seeing “Billy Jack” there with my friend and his mother.
I remember during the early or mid 1970s, when the movie “What’s Up Doc?” (with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal) played there for what seemed like a year. There was a scene in the film where they take a ride on this messenger bike with a box on the front (kind of a backwards tricycle) that was a highlight of the movie. Someone from either the studio or the theate chain mounted a replica of it with mannequins of the actors to the corner of the roof. That thing stayed up there FOREVER! We lived in Northridge, but my mother would have occasion to go to the old Topanga Plaza now and then. My brother and I would be blown away when that diorama was STILL up there month after month.
I worked there from 1978 – 1980 and it was already a twin theatre at that point. Pacific Theatres ruined the gigantic 800 seat theatre #1 by making the Topanga into a triplex. All the employees knew about the room above theatre #1 – where employees drank and smoked after hours. Andy Wiedlin worked there, his sister Jane was and still is a member of The Go-Go’s. Oscar tidbit – Jackie Earle Haley applied for a job there in 1979 – he explained that he was between roles, he was not hired. I have great memories of those days when 15 employees ran the place and all became great friends.
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I remember that damn slide next to the theater. That big yellow slide!
I used to work as a projectionist down the road at the US warner six.
“Hamburger Hill” looked great on that huge screen. Oh, the memories. Hi Ralph! I just saw you the other night at Mark’s.
I remember seeing a number of films at the Topanga when my husband and I were dating — “Stargate” and “Much Ado About Nothing” being among them. That was in the early 90’s after it’d become a triplex, though the husband, being a local boy, can remember going to the theatre when it was just a single screen.
It looks like they are going to be building something on the site of the miniature golf course; the land has been cleared and graded.
I remember when the talk was that Pacific would build a multiplex there, which I was actually looking forward to. The decision to build the AMC Promenade 16 suprised a lot of locals because as far as anyone knew, the mall management was looking for another anchor store to replace the Saks (or was it Lord & Taylor?) that had vacated following severe damage from the 1994 Nortridge earthquake. Ironically, of the theatres in the area that helped bring about the end of the Topanga, only the AMC Promenade and the Fallbrook multiplex now remain.
ralphie—my favorite assistant mgr/ singer
ravi,deb,brett , cheryl, jim, jill, amy, woody(in nYC)zoni, vicky, and all of the others who made my teenage life soemthing from an 80’s teen movie (ahh that room behind the booth)
thanks for the memories
in still can reenact the endings to Officer and a gentleman, and Flashdance
I remember the big yellow slide that was adjacent to the Topanga theater. Whenever my parents would drive us pass the theater and the big yellow slide, my bothers and I would chant “we want to go on the big slide, we want to go on the big slide, we want to go on the big slide”. I think we went there once or twice, but we enjoyed the theater throughout the 1970’s and early 80’s. Two words for the theater, golf course, and big yellow slide, rundown and kitschy!
Today, the unfinished furniture store only has one auditorium open for you to see, the second previous “showroom” is closed.
It is a shame theatres like this are going away. I am starting to dilike the new theatres. They are big, flashy and ultimately shallow looking and feeling.
Great site. Todd got me my job there in the early eighties. Thanks Todd! Great crew. Many successful people worked there! The #2 theatre was always out of focus in the corners because the projector could not be centered. The room in the back was up a ladder and very hidden. It was dusty and there was a single bulb in the middle on some old lamp. Behind the theatre in the 70’s was a miniature golf course, an amusement park, a giant slide, driving range, arcade with mini bowling, and trampolines. They would get first run films because it was the largest theatre in the west valley. Lines would run double around the theatre. The Wall, On Golden Pond, Reds, Raiders, showed there to sold out crowds. A lot of popcorn, a lot of great people!
There was a miniature golf course south of the Topanga Theatre on Topanga Canyon Boulevard. At least until very recently the land was still vacant where the miniature gold course had once been. I remember well the Topanga Theatre and the miniature golf course from when I was a child in the 1970s and lived in nearby Chatsworth for a time. The last movie I saw at the Topanga was “Crash.” This was before it became a 3rd run house.
This theatre also had some sort of miniature golf course attached to it?
John Wayne Bobbitt filmed the early scenes of his masterpiece “Uncut,” here, where he’s wooing Lorena in the early stages… Don’t ask why I know this.
John Coltrane’s son Ravi worked at the Topanga Theatre?!
The theatre today is an Unfinished Furniture store. The theatre was not converted so the angled floors still exist. The drapes still line the walls, and the smell of a theatre is still in the air. I walked through it yesterday and couldnt beleive the great condition its in. The only changes is in one theatre they added a huge roll up door to the outside for loading of furniture, and in another they built an office in part of the back (you can tell, the carpet still is on the floors).
Never went in there, but they had a very cool sign that read “Topanga” that did indeed stand out.
I worked the door at the Topanga Twin 1981-1982 my senior year at ECR. There was a hidden room behind the big screen where we used to drink the alcohol we confiscated.
Great fun team working there including Jim Albrecht, Laura Burton, David Quint, Ralph Purdum, Debbie Elliot, Vicki Newell, Amy Hess, Robin Raimi, Ravi Coltraine, Brett Wood, Forrest Brunson, Ted Campion.
Jim and I used to have to go up on an extension ladder every Thursday night to change the marquee.
New Year’s Eve included champagne on the roof.
Raiders of the Lost Arc played for nine months and was still selling out the 800-seat room on weekends when it closed.
Thanks for the memories.
When the Stanley Warner chain built the Topanga Theatre it was equipped with a Norelco 70/35mm projection package and Ampex 6-Track Stereo Sound. It was pick-up by Pacific Theatres around 1968 when they bought the Stanley Warner Southern California theatre holdings.
It was a great theatre when it was a single screen. Saw Star Wars there.
The parking was convienient, but other than that, the Topanga was a pretty ratty theatre that best remains forgotten. I saw “Son of the Pink Panther” there. Why? I don’t know.