An exploration of historic Los Angeles theatres including the grand movie palaces, neighborhood cinemas, and legitimate playhouses. Browse thousands of photos from various archives.
Greetings! Welcome to this architectural exploration. There are several different ways to begin. There are survey pages for a dozen geographic areas that offer an overview as well as links to pages about the individual theatres. If you're looking for a specific theatre and have the name, there's a monster alphabetical list with several thousand names on it. part 1 - A to F | part 2 - G to O | part…
AMC operates two theatre complexes in Marina Del Rey: The Marina Marketplace 6 at 4335 Glencoe Ave. was opened in 1973 as the UA Marina Del Rey 4. The nearby Dine-In Marina 6 at 13455 Maxella Ave. opened in 1988 as the Cineplex Odeon Marina Marketplace Cinemas. The AMC Marina Marketplace 6 4335 Glencoe Ave. Marina Del Rey, CA 90292 | map | Opened: October 17, 1973 as the UA Cinemas Marina Del Rey…
4786 Admiralty Way Marina Del Rey, CA 90292 | map | Opened: June 30, 1971 by Metropolitan Theatres. Marina Del Rey is an unincorporated community just south of Venice, which is part of Los Angeles. It was a single screen house at the south end of a shopping center at Admiralty Way and Fiji Way. Admiralty is a block west of Highway 1, Lincoln Blvd. In ads they listed it as "Lincoln Blvd. at Fiji…
6081 Center Dr. Los Angeles, CA 90045 | map | Opened: July 13, 2001 as an 18 screen complex in the Howard Hughes Center called The Bridge Cinema de lux . It's in the Westchester area of Los Angeles, just east of Sepulveda. The north side of the center is along the 405. Thanks to Scott Neff for sharing this c.2001 image on the Cinema Tour page about the theatre. The Edwards circuit had begun the…
3323 S. Hoover St. Los Angeles, CA 90007 | map | Opened: October 11, 1978. Thanks to Alexander E. for sharing this 2010 shot on Yelp . Initially it was operated by the Sanborn family as part of their SoCal Cinemas circuit. Flagship took it over in 2006. They also had the Hawthorne 6, a former AMC house in Manhattan Beach In 2008 Yulree T. commented on Yelp: "Ggggghettooooo. Nothing good about this…
2700 Colorado Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90041 | map | Opened: October 1, 1973 by Robert Lippert as the Eagle Rock Cinemas 4 . It was on the east end ground level of the Eagle Rock Plaza mall adjacent to Montgomery Wards, the co-developer of the project. That store location is now a Target. The theatres opened along with the mall opening in 1973. Thanks to Bob Meza for sharing his March 2001 photo on…
18632 Ventura Blvd. Tarzana (Los Angeles), CA 91356 | map | Opening: Theeee Movies at Tarzana opened as a 6 plex on November 29, 1972. It was a remodel of a building that had been a Fox supermarket and later a Food Fair. The location was on the south side of the street two blocks west of Reseda Blvd. The Lefton family were the operators. The word is that they also had an interest in the Pan…
244 S. Main St. Los Angeles, CA 90012 | map | Opened: The Clark & Snow Museum was at this address by January 1911. It was on the east side of the street in the middle of the block between 2nd and 3rd. Once you bought a ticket to this venue's exhibits, the proprietors J. Sky Clark and Herbert C. Snow also offered a "Free Vaudeville and Motion Picture Theatre." In the 1910 city directory there seems…
100 N. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90048 | map | Opened: June 6, 1990 by General Cinema. The Beverly Connection shopping center was on the east side of La Cienega between 3rd and Beverly. It's across the street from the Beverly Center. Thanks to Scott Neff for sharing his September 1997 photo on the Cinema Tour page about the theatre. Architects: unknown. The shopping center had opened in…
206 W. Bonita Ave. Claremont, CA 91711 | map | Opening: January 17, 1940 with the British film "To the Victor" (original title "Owd Bob") starring Will Fyffe and John Loder. This Frasher Foto Postcard from 1946 is in the collection of the Pomona Public Library . At the time of the photo they were playing "The Green Years" with Charles Coburn, Tom Drake and Beverly Tyler. The co-feature was Joan…
AMC currently operates three complexes within several blocks of each other in downtown Burbank. Scroll down for data on the AMC Town Center 6 at 770 N. 1st St. and the AMC Town Center 8 at 201 E. Magnolia Blvd, in the mall on the 3rd floor. The complex was the highest grossing in the U.S. and Canada in 2025, with a total take of $23.3 million. See a story from KTLA5 . At the bottom of the page…
4767 Commons Way Calabasas, CA 91302 | map | Opening: December 18, 1998 as the Edwards Grand Palace Stadium 6 . It was part of Rick Caruso's Calabasas Commons development. Thanks to Michael Coons for this photo that he took in the week before the theatre's December 28, 2025 closing. It appeared with " The end of an era: Local movie theatres play final scene ," John Loesing's article for The Acorn.…
Laurel Canyon Blvd. between Magnolia and Weddington Valley Village (Los Angeles) CA 91607 The Valley Village real estate broker Bob Symonds put together two different packages to get a theatre built on property he owned. They were nearly a decade apart, with different people involved. Neither came to fruition. Thanks to Lisa Kouza Braddock for locating the articles. More unbuilt projects: Majestic…
4700 Western Heritage Way Griffith Park, Los Angeles CA 90027 | map | Website: www.theautry.org | film events | On Facebook: www.facebook.com/AutryMuseum Phone: 323-667-2000 Opened: 1988. The building is in the park, across from the Zoo. Until 2024 the theatre had been identified as the Wells Fargo Theater with big letters above the entrance in the courtyard. They were removed during the 2025…
450 W. Second St. Claremont, CA 91711 | map | The News: Laemmle's last day of operation was January 29. Regency Theatres now has the building. Expect a reopening after a refurbishment. Opened: July 27, 2007. Thanks to Kat for sharing this 2023 entrance shot on Yelp. The marquee is out on Indian Hill Blvd. but the entrance is set way back from the street at the end of a promenade lined with shops…
3105 Riverside Dr. Los Angeles, CA 90039 | map | Opened: March 24, 1950. Michael Kilgore found this item in the March 11, 1950 issue of Boxoffice: "Booking and buying for the Los Feliz Drive-In, new 600-car ozoner owned by Marvin Chesebrough, will be handled by Jim Finkler’s booking service. The operation is set for a March 15 opening with Tom Osa as manager." They didn't make that March 15 date.…
This complex started as a single screen venue in 1964. In 1969 and 1971 two additional free-standing single-screen theatres were added nearby. Later, with the 1974 twinning of the second theatre it was General Cinema South Bay Center Cinemas I-IV . In 1986 after the triplexing of the original building it was the Galleria Cinemas 1-6 . At the end of the complex's life it was down to just the…
18441 Vanowen St. Reseda (Los Angeles) CA 91335 | map | It was on the north side of Vanowen, just east of Reseda Blvd. The 1978 photo by Elisa Leonelli appears on Calisphere from the Claremont Colleges Library, Special Collections. The Reseda was an operation of Pacific Theatres. Opened: April 7, 1949 with Glenn Ford in "The Man From Colorado" and Ronald Reagan in "John Loves Mary." Thanks to…
1089 N. Oxford Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90029 | map | In this view we're looking north on Oxford toward Santa Monica Blvd. Oxford is a block east of Western Ave. The mainstage of the Eastwood is on on the second floor of the end of the building closest to us. Photo: Bill Counter - 2025 Website: eastwoodpac.com | tickets | on Instagram | Eastwood Revival on Facebook | Phone: 323-207-6108 | 818-942-4868…
6309 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles 90028 | map | Architects: Clifford A. Balch and the firm of Walker and Eisen. The $250,000 "modernistic type" project was announced in the April 12, 1931 issue of the L.A. Times. Thanks to Lisa Kouza Braddock for locating the story. The Times got Mr. Balch's initials reversed. It's C.A. Balch. Carl Laemmle was proposing to replace the building he owned on the…
Beverly Blvd. at La Brea Ave. Los Angeles CA 90036 | map | Date: In 1934 the plans were being drafted for erection of a venue called the Beverly Theatre . No, it's not the current New Beverly Cinema that's at 7165 Beverly Blvd. This was proposed for the corner of Beverly and La Brea, a block and a half to the east. The New Bev's building had been around since about 1929 but in 1934 it seems to…
W. 7th St. at S. Grand View St. Los Angeles, CA 90057 | map | Architects: Morgan, Walls and Clements Seating: 1,200 The project was announced with this illustration appearing in the July 13, 1929 issue of the Los Angeles Evening Express. Thanks to Lisa Kouza Braddock for locating it. The caption: "The above architects' sketch shows the new Wyatt Park Square Theater, to rise at West Seventh and…
1118 Mission St. South Pasadena, CA 91030 | map | Opened: The city's first movie house made its debut on September 1, 1910. The initial proprietors were E.C. Friese and R. Gummrig, both of South Pasadena. It's unknown what they called the venue but by October 1910 it was branded as the South Pasadena Theatre and already had new operators. It was in South Pasadena's historic business district, in a…
55 Union St. Pasadena, CA 91103 | map | Opened: Sometime around 1900 on the northwest corner of Raymond Ave. and Union St. The theatre was upstairs with an entrance at 55 Union. There was retail on the first floor. The building is now sometimes given an address of 65 N. Raymond. A three story retail and office wing that's seen to the right in the photo below was added later. Architect: Seymour…
6063 Sunset Blvd. Hollywood (Los Angeles), CA 90028 | map | Opened: April 7, 1934 as a performance space called the Theatre Mystic , a project of Herschel Lander and Henry Seymour. The building, dating from 1926, is on the north side of the street, just east of Gower. Within a matter of months it had been rebranded as the Epic Theatre and then as the Ginger Box Theatre . Architect: Arthur Siebel…