Cinema Panorama

Reopened as Cinema Panorama showing Mexican movies on November 21st, 1975, and became part of the Metropolitan chain in 1976.

Where is that time capsule pray tell??!!

Thanks very much for the nine photos radavis33. Haunting pictures, as I do remember all those different locations in/out of the theater. After Americana Theater opened Panorama Theater lost a lot of business. Strange—I don’t remember at all when it had two theaters. It was one big red-pluched hall with lights on the side walls. There was also a bench outside of the restrooms—if you misbehaved you had to sit there until the usher said you could leave.

This opened on December 19th, 1949. It’s grand opening ad has been uploaded here.

My grandfather, Max Torodor was one of the three original partners. My father, Don Torodor managed the theater for many years. I remember spending so much of my childhood there helping the “candy girls” as we called them and having crushes on the ushers. I also remember my sister and I being allowed to go up to the projection room with Forest, the Projectionist and watch the movies from there. It always had a wonderful musty smell combined with the smell of buttered popcorn. I remember a Beatle movie, maybe “Help”? They sold Beatles memorabilia on the counter and I swear I remember them selling Beatle wigs!?!? I also remember very scary Vincent Price movies. I was too young to see a lot of the movies that were shown. I was born in 1957 so I probably wasn’t hanging out there until at least 1962. Does anyone remember Alfedo Gonzales? He started out taking tickets at the door and was “promoted” to the candy counter. From there to Assistant Manager and then to Manager!! He is a wonderful person. Many years later he approached my dad about opening his first restaurant “La Serenita” which he finally opened next door to the theater, where CHICHI’s Pizza used to be. A friend of mine just sent me this link and it was so great to read all posts. What a trip down memory lane!

I like the name,looked pretty cool from the outside too bad there are no inside shots.

This was in Boxoffice in June 1949:

Max Torodor broke ground last week for his 1,000-seat Panorama Theatre in Van Nuys. Ceremonies, led by Andy Devine, featured sinking a “time capsule” containing current southland and Hollywood mementos.

right! there was a crying room. around 1960 i think there was a pizza place and a hobby shop next to the panarama.
i remember seeing “forbidden planet”, “war of the worlds”, the original “parent trap”, and “the alamo” about 10 times!!!
once invited to sit with the girls. magda was the cutest girl in the school, but i thought she had a tough boyfried, who would knock my head off! yes. i think that is the phone number of the panarama!
also, saw a “l'il abner” movie, which i have never seen anywhere else!? visited the old neighborhood last year (arleta — used to be pacoima). the hebrew school on beachy and osborne is no longer there, but the building is still there. around 1980 noticed spanish movies playing at the panarama. last year noticed the panarama sign was still there — i should take a picture for this website next time in LA.
finally, saw “the time machine” there — going into the future where the morlocks have taken over!

The Panorama opened on 12/22/49. The telephone number was EM 2-1167.

My son, Mark Grossman, (see above) told me about this site; my father, Edward Grossman and 3 associates opened the Panorama on December 20, 1949,and operated it until 1970. We leased the premises to several companies including Metropolitan Theatres who twinned it and booked Spanish language films until the Universal Church assumed the lease in 2002. My father was a recognized pioneer in the industry dating back to 1917.

The theater that Glendale 5 wrote about on August 11, 2004, is not the Panorama Theatre but the Americana down the street on Van Nuys Boulevard in Panorama City which closed much more recently.

As a boy growing up in the San Fernando Valley in the 1950’s and 1960’s, I went to dozens of movies at the Panorama Theatre, located at the corner of Nordhoff and Van Nuys Blvd. This spacious theatre was the official theatre of Panorama City, a beautifully planned community in the center of the Valley. Sadly, as the neighborhood decayed, the Panorama Theatre deteoriated with it. The good news is it is still fully intact, unlike so many of the Valley theatres that were torn down in the 1970’s and 1980’s.