Vista Theater Hollywood

Lou Bard’s Hollywood Theatre opened on October 16, 1923 with Baby Peggy in “Tips” (attended by Baby Peggy ‘in person’) plus vaudeville acts on the 7ft deep stage. The seating capacity at opening was for 838. It was built for and operated by the L. Lou Bard theatre chain named Far West Theatres Inc. The main façade of the building is in a pretty Spanish Revival style, which was to have been the overall architectural theme of the entire building which was designed by noted theatre architect Lewis Arthur Smith. However, during its 1922 construction, King Tutankhamen’s Tomb was discovered in Egypt, setting a trend for Egyptian style architecture and from the entrance lobby through the auditorium that style dominates.

It was re-named Vista Theatre in the late-1920’s and it was later operated by independent operator Whitson-Lewis Theatres in the 1940’s, remaining in operation as a popular neighborhood movie house. By 1949 it became an important revival theatre and then an art house cinema screening foreign movies, renamed Art Vista Theatre. By 1975 until 1980 it operated a gay male porno cinema.

In 1980 it was taken over by Mike Thomas and became a revival house. It was refurbished by Landmark Theatres in the early-1980’s, and it was at this time that the Egyptian style paybox was installed on the sidewalk entrance and the theatre began playing mainly off-circuit movies. But this closed in June 1985 when Landmark didn’t renew their lease.

It remained closed for several years until in the early-1990’s it was beautifully restored and reopened for mainstream movies in around 1998.

Alongside its elegant Spanish style façade, the interior is the true stunner in an Egyptian style at this old single screen palace in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.

It was closed in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and unlike many other theatres it failed to reopen when restrictions were lifted in Summer of 2021. It was announced in early-July 2021 that the theatre had been purchased by film director Quentin Tarantino, who already owns the New Beverly Theatre. It was planned that the Vista Theatre will predominantly screen new and vintage 35mm & 70mm films and will reopen by Christmas 2021.

The theatre underwent a restoration and it reopened as the Vista Theater Hollywood on November 17, 2023 with Christian Slater in “True Romance” and Quentin Tarantino hosting the evening.

Recent comments (view all 147 comments)

m00se1111 on August 3, 2022 at 12:41 pm

There is archival footage with the DVD for “Cruisin 57”, which has that movie opening on October 15, 1975 at the Vista. That would make the ‘gay porn’ era of this venue taking place at least in 1975, not 1977 as noted above.

Mike (saps) on August 3, 2022 at 2:27 pm

Interesting link (7/5/22) to the proposed “wraparound“ apartment building but in the three photos in the article, I couldn’t see where the Vista fit into the design.

curmudgeon on October 10, 2022 at 8:00 am

Am I the only one concerned about the time it’s taking for these renovations to be finalised and re-open?

Rolando on October 10, 2022 at 10:48 am

I’ve seen apartment buildings go up faster. I am also waiting for the re-opening of the Cinerama Dome.

CTCrouch on October 11, 2022 at 4:35 pm

I drove by the Vista this morning (10/11). It appears that there is some work underway, as there are standard construction elements in place (porta potty, fencing, signage, etc.). However, I would imagine permitting and misc redtape will hold things up for quite some time. Beyond the large new build apartment complex approval slowing things down, renovating the one-hundred year old theatre will open up a lot of issues with ADA, seismic retrofitting, and various modern facility requirements (i.e. formerly “grandfather in” items will have to be addressed with any new work).

m00se1111 on November 4, 2023 at 2:29 pm

The “Save Arclight” twitter (X) account is reporting that the Vista will re-open on 11/17/23.

This is also shown on the Vista website. https://www.vistatheaterhollywood.com/

please update accordingly.

DavidZornig on November 7, 2023 at 7:15 pm

Variety article confirming the Vista’s 11/17/23 reopening date.

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/quentin-tarantino-vista-theatre-reopening-los-feliz-1235781640/?fbclid=IwAR05NbixHIkbaB77XoFejMc_OA-dCQvlld4cOA7T81u3UM0_ypvwlO1vKG4#recipient_hashed=3e52dc1007b94d264f3cd2c1ccd796b6c00397f19272412c040cc226c9809808&recipient_salt=340ea39ee2a060e3c6759bee0616478721c2632f8818224b2b08054521c9b297

Trolleyguy on November 11, 2023 at 1:11 pm

Article about reopening. Eater

ridethectrain on November 23, 2023 at 11:28 am

please update website https://www.vistatheaterhollywood.com/

silver on January 17, 2024 at 8:29 pm

70mm shows coming up:

Oppenheimer 70mm, Jan 26-Feb 1st

Dune: Part II 70mm, coming March 1st

(per official website: www.vistatheaterhollywood.com )

(It’s nice that Quentin Tarantino had 70mm projection capability installed during the long renovation of this theater. 70mm is physically impossible to do at his New Beverly)