I saw 6 movies here from 1952 to the sixties. All 6 are getting,today, 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating – Diabolique, Purple Noon, Jeux Interdits, Pather Panchali, The Music Room and I can’t remember the 3rd by S. Ray. Great stuff, back in the day. I haven’t been in a movie theatre since ‘04, Delovely…..mediocre. Miss The Carnegie. NYC was my Oyster back then….not now.
My sister and I saw “Unfaithfully Yours” in 1948 at the Sombrero. My sister, newly married, and I were sore from hysteria afterwards. We loved it so much that she wanted her husband to see it the next nite, so the three of us went, and her husband sat there like a bump on a log. He was from Texas, I mean really from Texas.
I am now 77 and I have seen it 5 times and it is still as fresh as ever. Please treat yourself to an incredible acting job by Linda Darnell and Rex Harrison in slapstick comedy. Thank you, “Sombrero”
After making the post above, I dug a little deeper on Google. From a map of downtown Phoenix, I was able to recall the name of the hotel: The Adams.
Also, found photos of The Adams, one on eBay (better hurry) which come tantalizingly close to the front of The Vista. The Vista was either on Central or around the corner on 1st ave.
Here are links to the Adams, so close to the Vista. Check with “slick” who also posts here.
Alas, I was not able to dig up anything about “The Flame” restaurant just up from The Adams.
Hi Slick, I remember the Palm well. If I remember well, when it first opened NO CANDY, POP CORN, OR SOFT DRINKS ALLOWED. I think by the time I first went there, circa 1947, they had acquiesced to public demand, because I have a faint recollection of a candy counter in the lobby.
It was a great theatre
I lived in Phoenix off and on from 1947 to 1953. I loved downtown and I was free to roam spending a lot of my time at the Fox, the Orpheum and the Vista. The Vista was on a side street off of Washington to the north, maybe 2 blocks from where the Fox was. I remember there was a beautiful hotel right across the street with a Spanish style promenade along the full length of the block. I can’t remember the name. Also burned into my memory was The Flame, an elegant restaurant just a half block away, with a doorman and and a torch the was always burning – formidable indeed at that time. I never got to see the inside. The Vista itself was not very imposing, nowhere near the Fox or Orpheum. The building itself was non-descript. The marquee was standard and extended out over the side walk to the street. The theatre itself was much smaller than either the Fox or Orpheum. The lobby which was small did have a refreshment counter and I believe it was manned. There was no balcony if memory serves me right, and I would guess the total seating capacity to be about six to eight hundred.
The movies I remember seeing there were: The Blue Gardenia, The Red Shoes (which I hated – it sounded so screechy), Abbot and Costello Hit the Ice and I think Laura. I have many fond memories of downtown Phoenix in those days. The Vista is one of them. Another favorite of ours, my sister and I, was the Sombrero Playhouse out on Indian Scool Rd or close to it, where we saw the Third Man, Beat the Devil and Unfaithfully Yours with Rex Harrison – all three, great movies, none of which were deemed worthy of the downtown theatres. We often recounted our memories of those movies. Thank God for the Sombrero!!
Sorry no photos.
I saw 6 movies here from 1952 to the sixties. All 6 are getting,today, 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating – Diabolique, Purple Noon, Jeux Interdits, Pather Panchali, The Music Room and I can’t remember the 3rd by S. Ray. Great stuff, back in the day. I haven’t been in a movie theatre since ‘04, Delovely…..mediocre. Miss The Carnegie. NYC was my Oyster back then….not now.
I saw the Blue Gardenia here in 1953, and Abbott and Costello in Hit the Ice in 1948.
I saw Bwana Devil here in 1952 in 3S. Great theatre. Terrible movie.
I saw King Solomon’s Mines here in 1950. Great movie, great, fantastic theatre. The politicians who razed it should rot in hell forever.
My sister and I saw “Unfaithfully Yours” in 1948 at the Sombrero. My sister, newly married, and I were sore from hysteria afterwards. We loved it so much that she wanted her husband to see it the next nite, so the three of us went, and her husband sat there like a bump on a log. He was from Texas, I mean really from Texas. I am now 77 and I have seen it 5 times and it is still as fresh as ever. Please treat yourself to an incredible acting job by Linda Darnell and Rex Harrison in slapstick comedy. Thank you, “Sombrero”
Thanks for the info. I googled the Flame but came up with nothing.
Oops. Forgot to give you the links for the photos:
View link
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt88702204/
Art
After making the post above, I dug a little deeper on Google. From a map of downtown Phoenix, I was able to recall the name of the hotel: The Adams.
Also, found photos of The Adams, one on eBay (better hurry) which come tantalizingly close to the front of The Vista. The Vista was either on Central or around the corner on 1st ave.
Here are links to the Adams, so close to the Vista. Check with “slick” who also posts here.
Alas, I was not able to dig up anything about “The Flame” restaurant just up from The Adams.
Art
Hi Slick, I remember the Palm well. If I remember well, when it first opened NO CANDY, POP CORN, OR SOFT DRINKS ALLOWED. I think by the time I first went there, circa 1947, they had acquiesced to public demand, because I have a faint recollection of a candy counter in the lobby.
It was a great theatre
I lived in Phoenix off and on from 1947 to 1953. I loved downtown and I was free to roam spending a lot of my time at the Fox, the Orpheum and the Vista. The Vista was on a side street off of Washington to the north, maybe 2 blocks from where the Fox was. I remember there was a beautiful hotel right across the street with a Spanish style promenade along the full length of the block. I can’t remember the name. Also burned into my memory was The Flame, an elegant restaurant just a half block away, with a doorman and and a torch the was always burning – formidable indeed at that time. I never got to see the inside. The Vista itself was not very imposing, nowhere near the Fox or Orpheum. The building itself was non-descript. The marquee was standard and extended out over the side walk to the street. The theatre itself was much smaller than either the Fox or Orpheum. The lobby which was small did have a refreshment counter and I believe it was manned. There was no balcony if memory serves me right, and I would guess the total seating capacity to be about six to eight hundred.
The movies I remember seeing there were: The Blue Gardenia, The Red Shoes (which I hated – it sounded so screechy), Abbot and Costello Hit the Ice and I think Laura. I have many fond memories of downtown Phoenix in those days. The Vista is one of them. Another favorite of ours, my sister and I, was the Sombrero Playhouse out on Indian Scool Rd or close to it, where we saw the Third Man, Beat the Devil and Unfaithfully Yours with Rex Harrison – all three, great movies, none of which were deemed worthy of the downtown theatres. We often recounted our memories of those movies. Thank God for the Sombrero!!
Sorry no photos.
Cordially, Art