El Rey Theatre

I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the El Rey - that’s where I saw Psycho on its opening day. Few remember that it was a wide release in LA - and the El Rey was the nearest theater to me. An unforgettable day. I saw other movies there, too, obviously, but Psycho was the most memorable.

Interestingly enough, I now work for the company that bought this venue – AEG: Anschultz Entertainment Group.

I WAS A UNION PROJECTIONIST THERE IN THE EARLY 70’s. IT WAS A NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE SHOWING 2nd RUN FILMS. LUCKILY IT GOT SAVED AND BECAME A LIVE THEATRE FOR MUSICAL EVENTS.

Went to the El Rey tonight (10-12)for the first time in 25 years. Very few vestiges of the movie house, but it is a fairly attractive concert venue, in a utilitarian sort of way. Glad to see the street lobby box office is still being used for ticket pick up.

Glad I only paid $5.50 on Goldstar, as the two bands from Italy, Caparezza and Apres La Classe, were a loud and dangerous insult to the ears. It’s a joke: there were three sound engineers in the booth needed to produce garbage bass distortion. Even many young people fled to the outer lobby and street for relief. It was hard to tell if the guitarists had any talent as they mainly played mindless chords. The two drummers, however, were quite good.

The supreme irony from Apres La Classe was that they used taped big band intros of “Take the A Train”, “Caravan”, and the “Theme From the Godfather”, for three numbers. First taped class and then live trash.

The El Rey sign at night is positively gorgeous.

Some of the photos of the filmimg of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” show the El Rey as it looked in the late ‘80s. I think I’ve seen a better set, but here’s some smallish ones:
http://www.davesrailpix.com/pe/htm/perr01.htm
http://www.davesrailpix.com/pe/htm/perr02.htm
http://www.davesrailpix.com/pe/htm/perr08.htm

You can see the El Rey’s marquee in the film when Eddie and Roger are fleeing in Bennie the Cab.

Two photos of the El Rey from November 2009:

View link

View link

The El Rey was a revival house in the 1980s. I remember seeing the 1942 movie “To Be Or Not To Be” thre around 1984.

A 2008 photo has been posted in the theatre’s Wikipedia article. Click on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Rey_Theatre

Here is a photo taken today:
http://tinyurl.com/yjr4dc9

Was this theater used in Thank God its Friday?

The El Rey is on the left in this late 1930s photo from USC. The Fox Ritz can be seen further down the street:
http://tinyurl.com/d26y6f

Here is part of an LA Times article dated 9/20/91:

The El Rey is hard to miss; it’s a big old movie theater on Wilshire Boulevard, the one with the colorful neon blazing in quasi-Aztec designs. Inside, where the theater once held movie seats, there was a sea of tables set with white linens and wine glasses with cloth napkins sticking out of them. On either side were elevated seating areas, tables with a box-seat feel to them. Between the front row of tables and the stage was a parquet dance floor. Except for one elderly couple, we were the only people there. We ordered drinks and perused the menu, a listing of Russian classics.

Our waitress said she had been working at the El Rey for only a few days, and mostly, she was still mystified and delighted to find herself employed at a Russian restaurant in a movie house with a Spanish name. Weekend nights are when the El Rey fills up, she said. There’s dancing and singing with an orchestra and a violinist. In fact, because big parties often book a large number of the tables, it’s a good idea to have reservations.

That Wednesday night, however, when we ate in the big empty hall the borscht had no particular character, the lamb shashlik was a kebab of dry meat served with bland rice and steamed carrots, the cabbage rolls were filled with rice and meat that had an off-putting metallic taste. A few more diners, most of whom spoke Russian, wandered in.

We returned to the El Rey the next Saturday night and found an entirely different arrangement. There were valets out front to park cars. Inside, the place was packed with people who were all dressed up. The tables were arranged banquet-style and occupied by what seemed to be a party of family and friends. We were seated above the dance floor with a good view of the stage where a violinist named Sergei was performing. Backed up by a three-piece band, Sergei, in a white tuxedo with red cummerbund, executed fancy footwork and wandered from table to table with his amplified violin. The audience loved him.

Chicken shashlik was well-spiced and juicy and quite delicious. Mostly, the food reminded me of banquet food: bland, easy to mass-produce and not-so-hot for the simple reason that it didn’t have to be. It seems that for the moment, the El Rey isn’t concerned with serving great Russian food. Rather, it wants to provide a hall for L.A.’s Russian community to assemble and celebrate with gusto, which is exactly what goes on.

The Mercedes commercial was on during the World Series tonight. Nice.