Great Western 4 Theatres
1227 E. Los Angeles Avenue,
Simi Valley,
CA
93065
1227 E. Los Angeles Avenue,
Simi Valley,
CA
93065
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Metropolitan Theatres
Architects: Alec J. Arany
Previous Names: Larwin Theatre. Larwin Square Twin Theatres
Nearby Theaters
The Larwin Theatre opened on November 10, 1965 with 600-seats. It was twinned on May 25, 1973 and renamed Larwin Square Twin Theatres, with the second screen having 300-seats. It was located in western Simi Valley on E. Los Angeles Avenue near Madera Road in the Larwin Square Shopping Center, roughly a half-mile from The Simi Drive-In. On December 16, 1983 another two screens, each seating 200, were added and it was renamed Great Western 4 Theatres.
It was demolished and the Edwards Mountain Gate 7 was built on the site and opened in May 1991 (It has its own page on Cinema Treasures).
Contributed by
Lavar Burkhart
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
1) For sure either 1979 or 1980, I am unsure the exact years as I was too young to even realize what the movie really was about and only found out later after we moved.
2) Sorry, I moved out of the area around 1988 so it would have been after that.
3) Sorry, not something I’d remember, but definitely on the west side of town, not quite as far as the drive-in. Based on the newspaper ad linked above by “ken mc”, it would be here: View link
I also seem to recall this shopping center held a Montgomery Wards department store if that helps track it down. :–)
The Larwin theatre had only one screen when it opened in the 1960’s. They added a second screen in the mid 1970’s. I worked there as an usher in 1973, but was fired for letting friends sneak in for free through the back door. Thrifty mart was the grocery store, and Thrifty drug had 5 cent ice cream cones. The dept. store was Grants, with a small restaurant called the Bradford room. Builders emporium opened later, and a favorite for the kids was “Ron’s” toy store. This was the second shopping center in simi, the first was on tapo st. with a Von’s grocery store. At the time both Larwin, and the simi drive in were owned by Pacific theaters.
Oh yea, the drive in was a good two miles down the road from the Larwin theater, on Los Angeles ave.
Originally built for Metropolitan Theatres, the Larwin opened as a single screen house in late 1965, two years after the same circuit had opened the Simi Drive-In. The Larwin was the company’s first shopping center theater.
Plans to convert the Larwin into a twin were announced in the April 16, 1973, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. Work was to begin shortly, and Metropolitan’s head, Bruce Corwin, said the project was expected to be completed by mid-June. The conversion would give the Larwin auditoriums with 500 and 300 seats. The house had originally seated 850.
I saw so many great films there when it opened. They had a Saturday matinee for kids with a DJ/host fellow who gave away free stuff for our lucky ticket stub.
The matinee would show about four hours of ancient, b/w films like “The Bowery Boys in Africa” and often I’d remember that the film would tear and or catch fire.
Of course, the A films were shown on Thursday-Saturdays for…what, .35 cents or something?
I remember seeing the Beatles “A Hard Days Night” there about a year after it was officially released. And they also showed a now extremely rare Stones documentary called “Charlie is my Darling”.
I have quite a long list of films I saw there like The Long Ships Crack in the World Dr. Strangelove Atlantis, the Lost Continent
… and many more.
This opened on November 6th, 1965 with an kid’s preview.
Metropolitan Larwin theatre in Simi Valley Sun, Mar 21, 1965 – 134 · The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) · Newspapers.com
1975 print ad as Larwin Square Twin Theatres added courtesy Chach Hernandez.
Grand opening ad:
Larwin theatre opening 27 Oct 1965, Wed Simi Valley Star (Simi Valley, California) Newspapers.com
Two screens on May 25th, 1973 and renamed Great Western with 4 screens on December 16th, 1983.
Great Western Theaters this theater as the Great Western 4 on May 25, 1987. Though there were discussions that Pacific would assume operations the never appear to materialize. The theater was torn down to make way for the Mountain Gate 7.