I find that this theater offers some of the worst movie-going experiences that I’ve ever encountered. I’ve been there about 6-7 times in the last few years, with my kids, to see kid movies. Typically the movies start out of focus and when I go out to complain I have actually been told (by the ticket taker) that there was no one around to complain to and that I’d have to wait!!!! Also, the lights don’t go dark fully so you never get a really bright screen, and I’ve also experienced sound problems there. The place is also filthy (and I’m pretty tolerant of these things at kids movies) and I find the entire lobby to be rather depressing.
My father and grandfather owned the Alvarado theater from the mid 1950s until they sold it in the early 1960s (to an outfit I remember as “Shan Sales”, or something like that). I worked there as a boy, too, and my father paid me $1.25/hour!
The new owners renamed it the Park, tried to make a go of it showing regular Hollywood movies but couldn’t, then converted it to a gay porn theater, which we thought did OK for some time. After selling the theater, my father sold appliances but also worked as a relief projectionist at many theaters in LA. One day he got a call from the union asking if he was OK working at a gay porn place — the Park! My Dad laughed and said he was OK with it.
The area around Westlake Park was solidly middle class when my family bought the theater. Unfortunately for us, the rise of TV, the building of the freeways and the general decline of downtowns there and across America doomed this endeavor.
You have a good memory, William!
William: yes, my dad’s name was Jay. Did you know him? My grandfather’s name was Barney
I find that this theater offers some of the worst movie-going experiences that I’ve ever encountered. I’ve been there about 6-7 times in the last few years, with my kids, to see kid movies. Typically the movies start out of focus and when I go out to complain I have actually been told (by the ticket taker) that there was no one around to complain to and that I’d have to wait!!!! Also, the lights don’t go dark fully so you never get a really bright screen, and I’ve also experienced sound problems there. The place is also filthy (and I’m pretty tolerant of these things at kids movies) and I find the entire lobby to be rather depressing.
My father and grandfather owned the Alvarado theater from the mid 1950s until they sold it in the early 1960s (to an outfit I remember as “Shan Sales”, or something like that). I worked there as a boy, too, and my father paid me $1.25/hour!
The new owners renamed it the Park, tried to make a go of it showing regular Hollywood movies but couldn’t, then converted it to a gay porn theater, which we thought did OK for some time. After selling the theater, my father sold appliances but also worked as a relief projectionist at many theaters in LA. One day he got a call from the union asking if he was OK working at a gay porn place — the Park! My Dad laughed and said he was OK with it.
The area around Westlake Park was solidly middle class when my family bought the theater. Unfortunately for us, the rise of TV, the building of the freeways and the general decline of downtowns there and across America doomed this endeavor.