In the late 1960s, my grandparents lived in a retirement community in Port Hueneme, and I remember coming here as a young kid with my grandmother while staying with them one weekend. We saw a double-feature of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and “Yours Mine and Ours” (Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda). That building struck me as very modern and ritzy, especially since the rest of the surrounding area was either agricultural or harbor-y at the time. Sadly, I drove past it a couple of years ago, long closed and somewhat vandalized, waiting to be torn down for the new shopping center to be built.
I remember seeing Billy Jack there! Wasn’t the lobby realy small and cramped, and you had to climb these steep stairs to get to the seats. Probably no way ANY of it would be up to code today.
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 spent a lot of afternoons there, growing up in Northridge in the late ‘60s and early '70s. Our elementary school had a special deal for a summer series of not-so-great movies that ran each Monday afternoon. My mother was always thrilled to get us out of the house for a few hours, and she’d drop us off at the liquor store across the parking lot so we could buy candy there cheaper. The Fox had a center lobby, with two curving ramps on each side that took you up to the entrance curtains. They always played the same songs by 'The Association’ before the movie started, and the theatre was always WAY air conditioned, but that felt great in the hot Valley. The Peppertree 3 probably doomed the place, as it offered THREE screens (wow!) instead of just one. The building still stands, as mentioned earlier, first as a shoe store and now as a Goodwill thrift shop. The cinderblock building (with the south side painted white that would BLIND us in the afternoon sun after exiting the place!) withstood the 1994 Northridge earthquake, so unless it meets the wrecking ball, it should be there for a long time.
In the late 1960s, my grandparents lived in a retirement community in Port Hueneme, and I remember coming here as a young kid with my grandmother while staying with them one weekend. We saw a double-feature of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and “Yours Mine and Ours” (Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda). That building struck me as very modern and ritzy, especially since the rest of the surrounding area was either agricultural or harbor-y at the time. Sadly, I drove past it a couple of years ago, long closed and somewhat vandalized, waiting to be torn down for the new shopping center to be built.
I remember seeing Billy Jack there! Wasn’t the lobby realy small and cramped, and you had to climb these steep stairs to get to the seats. Probably no way ANY of it would be up to code today.
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 spent a lot of afternoons there, growing up in Northridge in the late ‘60s and early '70s. Our elementary school had a special deal for a summer series of not-so-great movies that ran each Monday afternoon. My mother was always thrilled to get us out of the house for a few hours, and she’d drop us off at the liquor store across the parking lot so we could buy candy there cheaper. The Fox had a center lobby, with two curving ramps on each side that took you up to the entrance curtains. They always played the same songs by 'The Association’ before the movie started, and the theatre was always WAY air conditioned, but that felt great in the hot Valley. The Peppertree 3 probably doomed the place, as it offered THREE screens (wow!) instead of just one. The building still stands, as mentioned earlier, first as a shoe store and now as a Goodwill thrift shop. The cinderblock building (with the south side painted white that would BLIND us in the afternoon sun after exiting the place!) withstood the 1994 Northridge earthquake, so unless it meets the wrecking ball, it should be there for a long time.