Vista Theatre (Los Angeles)
{{short description|Movie theater in Los Angeles}}
{{Infobox venue
| name = Vista Theatre
| image = 4473 Sunset.JPG
| image_size =
| image_alt =
| caption = The theatre in 2005.
| image_map =
| map_caption =
| pushpin_map =
| pushpin_map_caption=
| address = 4473 Sunset Drive
| city = Los Angeles, California
| country =
| designation =
| coordinates = {{coord|34.0984|-118.2869|type:landmark_region:US-CA|display=inline}}
| owner = Quentin Tarantino
| tenant =
| operator = Vista Theater Inc.
| type = Movie theater
| opened = October 9, 1923
| reopened = 2023
| yearsactive =
| rebuilt =
| closed =
| demolished =
| architect = Lewis Arthur Smith
| othernames = Lou Bard Playhouse
Bard's Hollywood Theatre
Vista Continental
The Vista
| production =
| currentuse =
| website = {{Url|http://www.vistatheaterhollywood.com/}}
}}
Vista Theatre (formerly Lou Bard Playhouse, Bard's Hollywood Theatre and Vista Continental), also known as The Vista, is a historic single-screen movie theater in Los Angeles, California, located in Los Feliz on the border with East Hollywood.
History
{{Image frame|width=275|content=275px
|caption=Opening of Lou Bard Playhouse, 1923.|align=left}}
Located at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, the location first came to prominence when director D.W. Griffith built an antebellum town set there for his controversial 1915 film The Birth of a Nation, often regarded as the first "blockbuster". Lou Bard later chose the intersection, referred to as "the great crossroads of Los Angeles", to be the location for the next theater in his chain.{{cite web |url=https://laist.com/news/la-history/the-fascinating-controversial-history-of-quentin-tarantinos-revamped-vista-theater |title=The Fascinating, Controversial History Of Quentin Tarantino's Revamped Vista Theater |last=Meares |first=Hadley |website=LAist |date=November 17, 2023 |access-date=March 26, 2025}}
=Design=
The Vista was designed by architect Lewis A. Smith, and presents a hybrid of two different styles: while the exterior was designed first and sports a Spanish Mission Revival style, the interior features an Egyptian Revival style, inspired by the later excavation of King Tut's tomb in 1922.{{cite web |url=https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/vista-theatre/ |title=Vista Theater - LA Conservancy |website=Los Angeles Conservancy |access-date=March 26, 2025}} The theater's forecourt features cement handprints and footprints of notable film figures.
File:Interior of Vista Theatre, Los Angeles (2025) 03.jpg
The Vista is one of the remaining historic structures from the 1920s, when Hollywood was first developed and began attracting residents to its new suburban homes from areas near downtown Los Angeles and East Los Angeles, which, at the time, were middle-class and wealthy areas of Los Angeles.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}
=Opening=
The Vista opened on October 9, 1923, as a single-screen, 838-seat theater, known as either the Lou Bard Playhouse or Bard's Hollywood. The cinema's first screening was the film Tips, starring Baby Peggy.{{cite web |url=http://www.vintagecinemas.com/vista/ |title=Welcome to Vintage Cinemas |publisher=Vintagecinemas.com |access-date=June 3, 2012}} In addition to screening films, the theater also featured vaudeville acts on its stage.{{cite web |title=Vista Theatre |url=http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/32 |work=Cinema Treasures |access-date=June 3, 2012}} After experiencing only modest success, Bard sold the theater in 1927, when it was rebranded as the Vista. Eventually, every other row of seats in the theater was removed to allow for increased legroom, reducing the number of seats to 400.
=Later ownership=
In the 1950s, the Vista reopened as the Vista Continental and was the only southern California theater to screen films from the Soviet Union, a decision met with controversy in the midst of the Cold War. In the 1960s, the theater also courted controversy when they began screening pornographic films, including those with same-sex themes, which continued until its refurbishment by Thomas Theaters in 1980.{{cite news |last=Gordon |first=Larry |title=Vista Theater May Have Had Its Last Revival |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-15-ca-12505-story.html |access-date=December 26, 2016 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=June 15, 1985}} It also showed gay-oriented non-pornographic films, including the local premiere of The Times of Harvey Milk in 1984.
After going through a number of different owners, the Vista was purchased by Landmark Theatres in 1982, but business declined with the advent and rise of home video. In 1997, it was acquired by Lance Alspaugh's Vintage Theater Group, who focused on "community outreach" and often rented the theater out for weddings, late night screenings, local premieres and other events.
The Vista has drawn many famous actors and directors to attend, host, or sometimes surprise audiences at screenings of their films there: Taika Waititi, Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson,{{cite AV media |title=Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Kevin Feige, and Taika Waititi surprise the Vista |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlhVldtEzlA |publisher=Daniel Anderson (Glowbug) |via=YouTube |language=en |date=November 4, 2017 |access-date=May 12, 2020}} John Cho,{{Cite web |title=John Cho arrives to the Neon Los Angeles Premiere Of "Gemini" held at... |url=https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/john-cho-arrives-to-the-neon-los-angeles-premiere-of-gemini-news-photo/932656652 |website=Getty Images |language=en-gb |access-date=May 12, 2020}} Lupita Nyong'o,{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} Anne Hathaway{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} and Zoë Kravitz{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} have attended screenings of their films at the Vista since 2018.
The theater closed indefinitely in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
File:Vista Theatre, Los Angeles - Marquee (March 9, 2025).jpg.]]
=Quentin Tarantino ownership=
In July 2021, director Quentin Tarantino revealed that he had purchased the theater and intended to screen titles only on film, but added that, unlike his other theater, the New Beverly Cinema, it would not be a revival house.{{Cite magazine |last=Parker |first=Ryan |date=July 5, 2021 |title=Quentin Tarantino Buys Vista Theatre |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/quentin-tarantino-buys-vista-theatre-sunset-hollywood-1234977694/ |access-date=July 5, 2021 |magazine=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}} The theater also announced plans to sell beer and wine and open an arcade featuring 12 games.{{Cite news |last=Holmes |first=Mona |title=Quentin Tarantino's Vista Theatre Plans Include Cafe, Booze, and Arcade |url=https://la.eater.com/2022/3/14/22973111/quentin-tarantino-director-vista-movie-theater-renovation-los-angeles-am-intel |date=March 14, 2022 |access-date=March 15, 2022 |work=Eater LA |language=en}}
The Vista officially reopened on November 17, 2023.{{Cite news |title=Quentin Tarantino-owned Vista Theatre will return with 'True Romance' and 'Thanksgiving' |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-11-07/quentin-tarantino-vista-theatre-movie-cinema-november-reopening |date=November 7, 2023 |access-date=November 15, 2023 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Under Tarantino's ownership, the Vista incorporated a new 70 mm film projection system and new sound system, and screens only on film, rather than digital, with an emphasis on first-run releases and occasional classics. Shortly afterward, the theater began operating a cafe, Pam's Coffy, named after Pam Grier's 1973 film Coffy.{{cite web |url=https://la.eater.com/2024/2/16/24075103/pams-coffy-los-angeles-quentin-tarantino-coffee-shop-cafe-pam-grier-vista-theater-los-feliz |title=Quentin Tarantino's Coffee Shop Dedicated to Pam Grier Is Now Open at the Vista Theater |website=Eater Los Angeles |last=Roland |first=Rebecca |date=February 16, 2024 |access-date=March 26, 2025}} It also hosts the Video Archives Cinema Club, a 20-seat micro-cinema named after Video Archives, screening films on 16mm and VHS.{{cite web |url=https://thenewbev.com/quentin-news/video-archives-cinema-club/ |title=Video Archives Cinema Club |website=New Beverly Cinema |date=March 18, 2024 |access-date=March 26, 2025}}
In popular culture
=Film and television=
The "Walls of Babylon" scenes from D. W. Griffith's film Intolerance (1916) were filmed on the site before the theater was constructed,{{Cite web |access-date=August 11, 2024 |title=Vista Theatre (Originally Bard's Hollywood Theatre) |url=https://waterandpower.org/Museum2/Vista_Theatre_(Originally_Bard_Theatre).html |publisher=Water and Power Associates}} and the completed theater first appeared in the film The Crooked Web (1955).{{cite book |last1=Bible |first1=Karie |last2=Wanamaker |first2=Marc |date=2010 |title=Location Filming in Los Angeles |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |page=48 |isbn=9780738581323}}
In 1980, the theater was featured as the "Starbrite" in season 4, episode 16 of the TV show Charlie's Angels. The theater has also made appearances in the TV series Southland and Lethal Weapon, and in the made-for-television film Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt (2003).{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIlCXqoA0M8 |title=Did You Know? The Vista Theater's Hollywood History x THE IDEA OF YOU |publisher=IMDb |type=video |via=YouTube |date=May 4, 2024 |access-date=March 26, 2025}}
The Vista also appeared in the films Throw Momma From the Train (1987), The Big Picture (1989), True Romance (1993),{{cite book |last=Alleman |first=Richard |date=2005 |title=Hollywood: The Movie Lover's Guide: The Ultimate Insider Tour to Movie Los Angeles |publisher=Broadway Books |page=168 |isbn=9780767916356}} Get Shorty (1995), Café Society (2016), and the Amazon original film The Idea of You (2024). The interior appears in the film Scream 2 (1997), although the exterior is the Rialto Theatre in Pasadena.
=Music=
The Vista is pictured on the cover of Suicidal Tendencies' album Lights...Camera...Revolution! (1990).{{Cite web |title="Lights...Camera...Revolution!" by Suicidal Tendencies Album Cover Location |url=https://rockandrollroadmap.com/places/album-cover-locations/los-angeles-area/lights-camera-revolution-by-suicidal-tendencies |access-date=December 15, 2021 |website=Rock & Roll Roadmaps}} Both the exterior and interior of the Vista appears in the 1997 music video for Violent Femmes' song "Blister in the Sun".{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&t=167&v=fGGujZ9V4ic |title=Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun (clip) |date=2007-10-09 |last=kast0l |access-date=2024-12-26 |via=YouTube}}{{better source needed|date=March 2025}} It also appears in the nighttime portions of the music video for Pharrell Williams's 2013 song "Happy". On December 15, 2021, the Vista appeared in a new official music video for George Harrison's 1970 song "My Sweet Lord", directed by Lance Bangs and created as part of the ongoing 50th anniversary campaign for Harrison's album All Things Must Pass (1970).{{Cite web |last=D'Zurilla |first=Christie |date=December 15, 2021 |title=51 years later, George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord' goes Hollywood with celebrity video |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-12-15/george-harrison-my-sweet-love-music-video-fred-armisen |access-date=December 15, 2021 |website=The Los Angeles Times}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- https://www.vistatheaterhollywood.com
- {{Commonscat-inline|Vista Theatre (Los Angeles)|Vista Theatre (Los Angeles)}}
{{Movie theaters in Los Angeles}}
{{Quentin Tarantino}}
{{greater Hollywood}}
{{Northwest Los Angeles}}
Category:Cinemas and movie theaters in Hollywood, Los Angeles
Category:History of Los Angeles
Category:Movie theaters owned by Quentin Tarantino