UCLA Nimoy Theatre
1262 Westwood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90024
1262 Westwood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90024
45 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 313 comments
ScreenClassic your question is answered here.
So out of curiosity, did this theatre get renamed for Leonard Nimoy (of Star Trek fame)?
Opening September 17, 2023 with an Open House, ticketed events begin September 23. Seating is 299 per July press release.
Currently boarded up.
1963 photo added with original facade. The current art deco facade was added by Disney at some point per Bill Gablel.
Boxoffice, June 9, 1956: “WESTWOOD VILLAGE, CALIF. – Continuing to expand its southland exhibition holdings, the Robert L. Lippert circuit has purchased the Uclan Theatre here from the Paul Dietrich-Manny Feldstein chain. The 850-seat showcase, operating for the past several years on an art house policy, will be renamed the Crest”
Pacific did some major renovations to the crest, reopening it on June 10th, 1988. Specular full grand opening ad below and in photo sections.
Pacific Theatres Crest theatre reopening Fri, Jun 10, 1988 – 111 · The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) · Newspapers.com
Pacific Theatres took the Metro over from SRO (Along with the rest of the chain in Southern California) in 1985 and reopened it as Crest on November 25th, 1987 with “Three Men and a Baby”. 1987 grand opening ad posted.
This passage from the overview contains some errors:
“By the summer of 1988 Cineplex-Odeon were operating the building and it was again renamed Crest Theatre. Pacific Theatres were the next operators…”
(1) Cineplex Odeon never ran this theater. (2) Pacific took over in 1985 when they acquired the SRO venues in Southern California. (3) When Pacific took over they initially retained the Metro name. (4) The name change to Crest took place in 1987.
Note that Pacific did not take over the entire SRO chain; they acquired just the ones in Southern California. SRO venues in the Pacific Northwest, for instance, remained under SRO ownership during this mid-1980s period but eventually were taken over by Cineplex Odeon (which may be the cause of the mistaken belief about the Metro/Crest’s ownership). Anyway, please update the overview.
Claim in introduction that the cinema first opened as “legit” under the name of Westwood is incorrect. It was newly built by Dietrich & Feldstein, according to a report in the April 13th, 1940 issue of Boxoffice Magazine (see posting in Photos Section).
a replica of this theater was used during a scene of once upon a time in hollywood, among other theatres.
This article goes into the purchase by UCLA.
https://mynewsla.com/education/2018/10/25/ucla-acquires-crest-theatre/
Just heard that UCLA has acquired the building and wants to use it for live events. SHAME. REAL SHAME. They could use it as part of their student programming venue to continue it’s cinematic legacy. DAMN shame.
There is really a market for revival houses and single screen houses these days. The other Westwood theatres, the Fox Village, the Fox Bruin, are successful, thriving houses showing modern releases and occasional rep choices. The Billy Wilder also fares very well nearby at the Hammer Museum. The Crest and the Mann Festival would do right to re-open under these same standards.
Just saw the movie THE DISASTER ARTIST and noticed that the premier near the end of the movie was filmed in the Crest. I recognised the curtain, the wall fixtures, and the marquee.
Such a shame to see what happened to this theater. Ten or fifteen years ago, it seemed as if it had been renovated; the beautifully lighted marquee glowed brightly and the interior decoration inside the theater was really one of the nicest I’ve ever seen anywhere. The whole theater was on par with the restoration Disney did on the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.
From the news articles posted on this website, dated July 6, 2007, you can see pictures of the beautiful interior decor at this website:
http://www.jamesgordongallery.com/crestweb/
Wonderful job James Gordon!!
I’m not surprised. The people who re-opened it had NO idea how to draw the masses. They kept showing things on digital (BAD digital) and ignored the public’s cries for what they wanted. they also only screened things sporadically and seldom ever a picture worth seeing. They were to conventional and did not take a cue from any of the other repertory houses: New Beverly, Egyptian, Aero, Silent Movie Theatre, or what LACMA and the Hammer Museum are doing. I think UCLA film department should take it over and hold more screenings there as well as letting certain outside influences program. I think it could still be salvageable but it’s ll about strategy from here on out. Let us pray it succeeds.
they just don’t know what the heck to do with this place, there’s certainly no business in showing movies anymore. And it it hasn’t really been “open” in years under the various recent ownerships, the few random screenings they had were cheap, shoddy digital projection. It’s too bad the Cinematheque or some company couldn’t take it over but nobody would show one way or the other and there’s no profit in this type of thing. It’s over. We’ve seen the end of an era. It’s over
The Crest has closed again.
crestwestwood.com.
The Crest of Westwood is temporarily closed until further notice.
This opened as Uclan on Christmas Day, 1940.
Website: http://www.crestwestwood.com/
The Crest was owned by Pacific when “The Rocketeer” played there in ‘91.
“The Rocketeer” showed at the Crest in 70mm 6-Track THX Dolby Stereo SR beginning on the film’s nationwide release date, Friday June 21, 1991.
What the heck is up with the person operating the curtains over at the Crest. pretentious and condesending when you try to notify him of a problem with the presentation.
Definately will not be going back,
I walked past the theatre the other day, they were showing a free double feature of Three Amigos and Safe Men. If I weren’t busy, I would have stayed to watch it. But the lobby was open and cleaned up. The popcorn was popping. The marquee has been restored. I am so curious as to what’s going to happen here next.