Warner Beverly Hills Theatre
9404 Wilshire Boulevard,
Beverly Hills,
CA
90212
9404 Wilshire Boulevard,
Beverly Hills,
CA
90212
16 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 78 comments
What a shame this treasure was torn down for retail space unlike the Ziegfeld which is becoming a ballroom.
Radley Metzger’s ‘Little Mother’ had its World Premiere at The Pacific Beverly Hills in July 1972.
This opened on May 19th, 1931. Its grand opening ad can be found in the photo section for this cinema.
Was a cool retro theater.
David Lean’s LAWRENCE OF ARABIA had its Exclusive West Coast Premiere at the Warner Theatre on December 16,1962. It was the Reserved Seat Engagement shown in 70MM and 6 Channel Stereophonic Sound.
William, would you consider allowing the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation www.lahtf.org to use a few of your photos of the Beverly demolition. Our group was a player in the fight to preserve the theatre. The photos would be used on our site, brochure and we’d like to post them on our Facebook site. You can find me at
Moviemanforever, “1996?” It was demolished 1988.
Click here for an exterior view of the Stanley Warner Theatre circa 1963. “Lawrence of Arabia” on the marquee.
BobSe, So those were the only two in Los Angeles.
@William: The Paramount Hollywood was also equipped with Sidewinders for VistaVision (per Morry Lauterman, who ran the theater at the time).
During the early 70’s it usually had exclusive engagements (Mary, Queen of Scots, Travels with My Aunt, Amarcord)or exclusive reissues (The Sound of Music and Gone with the Wind). Westwood and Hollywood would share first runs, not Beverly Hills.
What was the Beverly Hills theatre on Wilshire Blvd Pacific operated during the 1970’s? I used to go to it when my Mom worked at Robinson’s Beverly Hills. They had first run showings and often played films the same time as Westwood.
Only two or three had the horizontal VistaVision projectors. The Warner Beverly Hills, Radio City Music Hall and Paramount Times Square. Radio City’s were there only for White Christmas engagement.
White Christmas and Strategic Air Command were both projected horizontally, but the other VistaVision films were projected the standard vertical way.
Didn’t DeMille’s THE TEN COMMANDMENTS open at the Warner on Nov. 8, 1956 on an exclusive LA roadshow, reserved seat presentation? Friends of mine have told me of the outstanding vistavison picture the theatre had. They told me the theatre was equipped with vistavision projectors. I’ve been told it ran for almost a year.
Interesting.Blood Theatre.
There was a 1980’s horror film called Blood Theatre that was shot at the Warner Beverly. It shows the theater in its original deco glory, only a year or two before it was demolished.
Blood Theatre is being screened on November 18th at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles.
Director Rick Sloane and star Mary Woronov will be in attendance.
Come join the festivities and take a final glance at a truly historic movie palace that has been lost to the ages.
for more info:
http://ricksloane.com/20091118nbc.html
In the early 80’s I worked as an usher manager at the Beverly during the very exciting time of live music shows, which was unfortunately short-lived and not very well documented. I have incredible memories and I think the importance of this period of the theater’s incarnation has been under reported. Luckily I kept a journal in 1983 so here are some of the highlights: BB King with James Brown (many times), Beetlemania, The Cure, INXS, Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, The Motels, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Wall of Voodoo, Berlin (incredible New Years Eve show), The Stranglers, REM, Ratt, Meatloaf, the now defunct Los Angeles Ballet (which I loved), Dionne Warwick, Lee Ritenour, Sylvie Vartan, Chaka Kahn, George Clinton & the P-Funk Allstars (from which there is a live album), Stephan Grapelli, Chic Corea with Paco De Lucia, Aretha Franklyn, The Temptations and the 4 Tops, Michael Bolton, Hiroshima, Stephan Stills, Adrian Belew, The Isley Brothers, Peoboe Bryson, Quarterflash, George Winston, Tom Scott and Frankie Valli to name a few. Jerry Garcia played several times and brought with him his colorful Dead fans that provided an ironic contrast with the elegant Art Deco surroundings. DEVO filmed a video there over several days for which I was a grateful witness. During one BB King concert both Prince and Michael Jackson jumped on stage with him and performed an unforgettable impromptu set. As I recall, Walter Matthau would walk down from his house up the street on a regular basis and give the boys pointers on changing the marquis. I remember a somewhat inebriated Tom Petty being thrown out for punching someone. This was a magical time for me and I’d love it if other people from that time would find this board and post their memories. I know I’ve missed some show because I cannot find my 1982 journal. Jay, Steve, Oliver, Wally, Bill, Karen, and the rest of us, you know who you are.
Deborah Palmer
I used to patronize this theatre back in the 70’s when Pacific ran it. It was a nice theatre but Westwood was the top choice in that area during that period. Funny, now Westwood is becoming the new Beverly Hills and may be virtually void of any theatres in the next few years.
The only things saved from the booth was the two Black Simplex XL projector heads and parts from the Norelco AA-2 35-70 projectors. Everything else was razed with the building. I have some photos of the booth without the auditorium and the bulldozer in the opened up pit area with no stage house.
It was a real loss to the city. It was the right size house to work with for concerts and film and other programs.
My husband (boyfriend in the early 80’s) worked as the projectionist at the Warner when Lou ran the theatre. I’d hang out watching the movies from the booth and after hours we’d explore every nook and cranny of that wonderful place. I still have pix somewhere of the fresco that was on the ceiling of the balcony lobby. I remember wanting to go back when they closed and take the old carbon arc spot light that had been there since the 1930’s and the sea-shell shaped brass water fountain that was in the down stairs lobby, I wish I had. When we drove by it as it laid in ruins I cried like crazy, what a horrible loss.
Here is another USC photo circa 1939:
http://tinyurl.com/csal22
Here is a USC photo from the late 1930s:
http://tinyurl.com/d2x8e6
This 1937 photo from the LAPL is a new addition:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics45/00072199.jpg
This is a 1953 shot from UCLA’s collection, with Joan Crawford’s Torch Song on the marquee. (The location is misidentified in the database as Los Angeles, CA.)
I may have missed it in the earlier comments, but probably the main reasor for the closing of the Warner was that the city of Beverly Hills passed a law that no place of entertainment could operate after 10PM, thus pretty much ruining evening performances. I think this was mainly done to stop the rock shows at the theatre.