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Wiltern Theatre
3790 Wilshire Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90010
3790 Wilshire Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90010
46 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 134 comments
Here is the above mentioned “Tough As Nails”-“Mic Drop” episode.
https://www.cbs.com/shows/tough-as-nails/video/IXZVmVesaf_TGnESGTkZIhs4HMBcfx6Y/tough-as-nails-mic-drop/
Season 3, episode 7 of the CBS show Tough as Nails featured challenges both inside and outside this theater, which looked great on TV.
The Wiltern’s website has been changed and is now here
Wiltern marquee photo on this Rolling Stone piece.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/music-crisis-concerts-tours-980968/?fbclid=IwAR3m1yOJxZ7ucqnrvs21g2MKKFOA-JdmbJ7eBZL2jxTQt5C-Yshe_V6zLes
Luis Valdez’s 1987 film La Bamba used the same exterior footage from American Wax of the Wiltern made to look like the Brooklyn Paramount for a concert scene.
Tried to post a link to the theatres in movies blogspot published in 2017 with photos but CT thinks it’s spam.
If you search American Hot Wax filming locations a link will come up with more photos. CT is mistakenly recognizing the link as spam so it won’t post.
Just posted a photo of what appears to be the Wiltern mocked up as the Brooklyn Paramount. Possibly for the Alan Freed film. Since I don’t see Paramount as any previous names for the Wiltern.
The overview is mistaken. Stanley Warner sold its southern California houses, including the Wiltern, to Pacific Theatres in 1968. In 1958 Pacific was still a drive-in chain and did not yet have any hardtops.
1958 photo added credit Classic Hollywood/Los Angeles/SFV Facebook page. Has Warners and Wiltern signage, which would have been 2 years after Pacific Theatre’s chain took it over per the Overview. So they or Franklin Life must have re-exposed the Warners marquee signage during exterior changes.
Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation will be touring the Wiltern on August 17th. Take a Peek:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqw1WSwb6Zs
Both the interior and exterior of the theatre are featured in the Chuck Norris thriller HERO AND THE TERROR (1988).
I WAS A FILM PROJECTIONIST AT THIS FAMOUS THEATRE IN EITHER THE EARLY 80’S OR LATE 70’S. IT WAS A UNION JOB. IT WAS A TEMPORARY JOB BECAUSE SOMEONE WAS ON LEAVE. I USED TO GO THERE AS A PATRON IN THE 1950’S!
Excellent. Thank you Joe!
meheuck: The building at 721 S. Western Avenue formerly housed a bowling alley that was probably built in the late 1930s or early 1940s. It was converted into a restaurant in 1984, according to this L.A. Times review.
At one time there were a number of streamline modern bowling alleys with theater-style marquees around Los Angeles. As far as I know, all the survivors have been converted to other uses. They can usually be distinguished from theaters by the fact that their roofs were typically lower toward the back, where the lanes were, than at the front, where many of them had a mezzanine housing rest rooms, a storage area, and a manager’s office.
I am trying to identify what I think is a former theatre just south of the Wiltern. The location is 721 S. Western Ave., zip code 90005. It is currently the home of a nightclub called Vibe, and was previously known as Le Cercle Super Club and Le Prive. The reviews on Yelp look pretty disturbing, something about it being a “booking” club…but anyway. There is a big marquee outside that looks very much like a theatrical marquee, so I’m wondering if anyone can verify if this was a movie house previously or did they just use that style of marquee for the building?
Here is a photo from its previous incarnation as Le Cercle:
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/86u5jycaWXRCDKs7_cJ52g?select=5zg8sR2mVVbdcr6LsywRjA
The Straight No Chaser concert was a fabulous sold-out event. I sat in the upper mezzanine and noticed that the theater seats, except for reupholstering, are vintage. Ironically, the so-called premium orchestra seats have been replaced by hotel meeting type seats with no arm rest!
The upper mezzanine had great acoustics and sightlines. I am going back today for the Aimee Mann Christmas Show, also $20 on Goldstar.
I am attending the 12/9 concert by “A Capella Group Straight No Chaser.” Tix are only $20 on Goldstar. Haven’t been to the Wiltern since 1995 and love the fact I can Metro in from N Hollywood.
Its amazing that the Wiltern Theater opened its doors 80 years ago today in 1931 !!
i worked at the wiltern from nov.1968 to june 1969 $1.35 an hour.. and would be interested in talking to other who were there at the same time.
I used to work in a landscape architectural firm that was located in the tower of the Wiltern. The elevators are beautiful and the polished stone throughout the building is a knockout, classic deco. A co-worker dubbed the building the Emerald City which stuck, still call it that. I never tired of it’s beauty, approaching it on the drive to work, even on bad days.
Lost Memory the post you did back on May 13th. 2009. That 1981 shot looks like they miss labeled it. It’s a long shot of the 1983 picture. There is a service truck working the vertical sign. The 1983 is a closer look.
Here are some July 2009 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/nxhs6r
http://tinyurl.com/mrztpc
http://tinyurl.com/kublsn
http://tinyurl.com/mf2p32
http://tinyurl.com/mxnk9r
http://tinyurl.com/lpftfs
Here is a photo taken today:
http://tinyurl.com/m9p3hl
Here is a June 2009 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/lsmvo8
This is such a classic looking theater. I remember passing it a few times when driving on Wilshire.