New Beverly Cinema
7165 Beverly Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90036
7165 Beverly Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90036
48 people
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“Calendar house” means a theatre that pubilshes and distributes a day-by-day calendar of movies and showtimes, one or more months in advance.
The Nuart is a calendar house, but most other Landmark theatres are not.
Originally opened as a local vaudeville theatre, in around 1945 it became a night-club called Slapsie Maxies, named after boxer and B movie star Maxie Rosenblum. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made their West Coast debut here.
Eventually (late 1950’s) it converted into a movie theatre, first known as the Capri and later the Riviera screening repertory movies in seasons of off beat independent realeases. In the early 1960’s it was known as the Europa, screening many European art house movies and its next incaration was the Eros, firsrtly playing foreign movies that contain fairly explicit sex scenes, later it became a gay male porno cinema.
Between 1968 and 1977 it changed it’s name to Beverley Cinema and began showing XXX rated adult movies and included nude dancers on stage.
In May 1978, it became the New Beverley Cinema and since then has become the main revival house cinema in Los Angeles.
By extension, all Landmark Theatres (Rialto, NuArt) print calendars, as does the Garden Cinema in Gardena.
This isn’t the only calendar house left in LA, at least not anymore. You’ve also got the Aero and the Egyptian.
I found this picture on the web, you can see it was once a Pussycat house (or Tomcat)from the round ovals on the marquee.
www.pbase.com/image/2080942
Cheers to Sherman for maintaining a rare treasure in this of all cities to not have these dinosaurs for our pleasure. The only calendar house left in LA? Amazing. I had the rare pleasure of filling in once or twice here as projectionist long ago in the early ‘80s – Sherman won major mojo awards with me for his knowledge of truly arcane cinematic crap.
Support this legend.
Thanks for responding to my query, Robert; I suspected something of the sort.
Yes for about a year and a half the Cinema Village was owned by Richard Schwartz who had the Thalia Soho (which i dont think has a listing on here). He then sold it to the current owner who I used to work for.
Lawrence Tierney could be found in the center of the very back row whenever they’d do midnight screenings of “Reservoir Dogs” (a habit he kept until his death).
I wasn’t in New York in those days – I saw it at the Embassy Theatre in Cleveland, of all places. It was a double feature, though I can’t remember what the second picture was.
You’re probably the person who can answer this for me, Robert – did the Cinema Village and Thalia Soho ever share operations? I remember a time around 1987 and ‘88 when both theatre’s calendars shared a similar layout and size (i.e., those large, approximately 17" x 22" sheets) and, at one point in the late rep days for the Cinema Village (and near or at the final days of the Thalia Soho in 1989/1990), both theatres sharing the same calendar, with the Cinema Village’s schedule printed on one side and the Thalia Soho’s on the other…
LOL ok I will tell the truth, I also saw it at the Cinema Village when I was managing it. I believe it was paired up that time though with “Something for Everyone”. Didnt Myra have a big splashy premiere at the Criterion?
RobertR – Up until now I thought I was the only person in the world who admitted to having seen ‘Myra Breckenridge’!
That trip was actually 5 years ago, so alot can happen in that time. I am planning on flying out next month just to see “This is Cinerama” at the dome. I always wanted to see it and am glad I missed the aborted version shown in the Ziegfeld.
The owner of the New Beverly is bleeding cash (you, thankfully, Robert, made it there on a night with a big crowd – that, regrettably, isn’t always the case), but is thankfully persisting in keeping this jewel open.
Im tired,I meant St Marks Cinema LOL
I attended a double feature here during a trip out to LA and saw Valley of the Dolls and Myra Brekinridge. The place was packed and the audience, including myself was having a ball. Yeah it’s rundown and could use some updating, but it reminds me of all the Greenwich Village theatres we have lost like The Bleecker and The St. Charles.
There used to be so many of these themed “revival” houses around, in the days before VCR, and now of course DVD. Anyone of a certain age will remember the New Beverly’s monthly fliers, almost always featuring a Monty Python or Woody Allen double feature. Those fliers are still to be found at local record stores! Amen!
Was the World Premiere of THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT held at the Beverly?
I lived in LA for 10 years and attended screenings at the New Beverly regularly (until 1987). Several years ago I saw a short film of the THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT premiere on TCM and it reminded me of the New Beverly.
Two of my fondest memories of the theatre: watching double features of THE THREE MUSKETEERS/THE FOUR MUSKETEERS and THE GODFATHER/THE GODFATHER PART 2.
This theatre was also known as the Capri, Riviera and the Europa theatres before it became the New Beverly theatre. It’s located at 7165 Beverly Blvd. one block west of La Brea Blvd.