Comments from Joe Vogel

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Warner Beverly Hills Theatre on Oct 28, 2004 at 6:46 am

The Warner Beverly was the place I saw both Lawrence of Arabia and Becket, in their road show engagements. That was in 1962 and 1963. The theater was impressive, and was still very well kept at that time. It was my favorite building in Beverly Hills, and, both inside and out, one of the best pieces of art deco in California.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Esquire Theatre on Oct 27, 2004 at 10:06 am

In 1963, a friend of mine opened an art gallery in a storefront a few doors west of the Colorado Theater. One day, when he was preparing for his first show, we were standing in front of the building and the manager of the Colorado came down to see what was going into the building. He told us that the Laemmle company was converting a building near the east end of the block into a theater, and intended to show art films. The Colorado at that time was still a second-run neighborhood house. The new theater was the Esquire.

Until this conversion, the building that became Laemmle’s Esquire had for many years been a pizza parlor, which I believe was called McGoo’s. As far as I know, that particular building had never before been used as a movie theater. The manager of the Colorado (whose name I don’t recall after all these years) said that the construction crews had to rip out the building’s concrete floor to create a rake for the theater seats.

The Esquire opened in 1964, but a couple of years passed before I attended a movie there. The interior, as I recall, was done in a simple, 1960’s contemporary style, as was the facade. It was a pleasant enough theater, if a bit small, but I never became a regular patron. I always prefered Laemmle’s flagship theater, the Los Feliz on Vermont Avenue in East Hollywood.