Toho La Brea Theatre
857 S. La Brea Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90036
857 S. La Brea Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90036
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Showing 1 - 25 of 47 comments
I think the photo above has been reversed(all the words in the photo above are backwards)!!
About 10-12 blocks away.
Is this theatre near the La Brea Tar Pits?
Pretty sure the corner panel says “KID SHOW SAT 2 PM” but the other panels are just too blurry for me, even when zoomed.
Throughout the period this house was operated by Toho, I recall it always being advertised as the Toho La Brea, never just the Toho. The La Brea name remained on the marquee as well.
August 5th, 1960 grand opening ad as Toho La Brea also in photo section.
December 25th, 1959 grand opening ad as Art La Brea in photo section.
Yeah, I’m not sure why it says the late 1960s for when it became the Toho – I have four years' worth of newspaper movies sections from 1961 to 1964 and as someone points out it had become the Toho by 1963, possibly even earlier.
My girl friend (now wife) and I used to drive 60 miles to Los Angeles to see Kurosawa movies at the Toho La Brea. This would have been the mid-1960s. I especially remember “Yojimbo” and “High and Low,” both starring the great Toshiro Mifune.
An added date night benefit: the Cherry Blossom restaurant occupied the top floor of the theatre, so we could have a Japanese dinner before seeing the movie.
I think it was the Cherry Blossom that ran a small newspaper ad saying, “Sukiyaki,Tempura, served by girls in kimonos, and other delicious Japanese dishes.”
The Fox La Brea was closed for a while in the late 1950s before being renovated and reopened as the Art La Brea Theatre in 1960. I’m not sure how long it lasted under that name, as I remember it being called the Toho La Brea by 1963.
My husband and I saw Diabolique there while he was in college (on the GI Bill) in 1955 which had to have been just before it became the Toho.
In the early 1960s a television documentary (which may have been “Hollywood and the Stars”) had a clip of the closed La Brea Theatre to illustrate the onslaught of television.
The May 9, 1960, issue of Boxoffice featured a photo on the front of the Modern Theatre section depicting the auditorium of the recently-renovated Art La Brea Theatre.
A fuzzier version of the same photo was one of several that illustrated an article about the opening of the house, which had been closed for some time, in the June 6 issue of Boxoffice.
During the summers of ‘70 and '71 (and maybe before, but not after I’m pretty sure) the Toho La Brea ran a several-week-long series they called the “Monster Film Festival,” consisting of a headliner feature and some revolving second features. In 1970 the main feature was “King Kong vs. Godzilla” and one of the seconds was “Matango.” (I remember calling the theatre and the nice woman referred to the film as “Matango, Fungus of Terror.” Little did I know, it was the actual title of “Attack of the Mushroom People,” parts of which I’d already seen on Channel 9!) I never got to the festival that year, much to my regret. In '71, tho, I begged and pleaded with the folks to take me because the festival’s main feature was none other than “Destroy All Monsters.” Quite upset at having missed “Destroy” during its initial AIP release in '69 (with “The Terrornauts”) and one of its reissues (with “The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant”!), to a monster-crazy pre-teen this engagement seemed like a gift from movie heaven. The second feature that day was “Dagora, the Space Monster,” another picture I’d caught parts of on Channel 9’s “Strange Tales.” I learned two things at that memorable double feature: 1.)that creature features played better when they weren’t dubbed, and 2.) you could never have too many of those Carnation ice cream sandwiches with the red and silver foil…
You should add to the also known as Art La Brea above.
Here is an interesting article about the re-opening of the theater in June 1960, from Boxoffice magazine:
http://tinyurl.com/yd776gp
There once was a rooftop sign that said Fox La Brea Theatre.
Here is a photo taken today:
http://tinyurl.com/y9kty7z
The Gordon Theatre is listed under Regent Showcase Theatre on CT.
In the 1950’s I lived on Sycamore near 9th & La Brea. My friends and I would walk over to the La Brea Theater for the Saturday morning matinees (“kiddie show”). It was wonderful! Cartoon, Movietone News, & a feature film. We paid 10 cents, and were upset when the price was eventually raised to 12 cents! Sometmes between the films, they gave away door prizes. I actually won a plastic wallet, which was pretty exciting (plastics were the “big thing” then). My parents & I also went to the movies there in the evenings. I remember “skipping” home happily, after seeing “Singing in the Rain”. Wish I had a photo of this theater from the 1950’s!
The Gordon Theater was listed at 614 N. La Brea in the 1942 city directory. I will add it if it’s not on CT under another name.
Here is an early 70s ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/38tzqz
I will check it out. Thanks.
are you taking photos of your computer screen? you know there’s a little camera icon in adobe reader that lets you select any part of the pdf and saves it as a jpg….just thought it would be less work for you.
Here is a 1970 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/yo4el6