L.A. Conservancy The Palace Theatre is one of the old picture
palaces being used for the "Last Remaining Seats" film festival in
downtown Los Angeles.
By Chris Young
Daily Bruin Staff
Watching classic film can be like stepping back through time.
The “Last Remaining Seats” film series lets people
watch classic movies at historic theaters in downtown Los
Angeles.
Now in its 15th year, the program features six films that will
screen at The Palace in Los Angeles and at the Million Dollar
Theater on Broadway.
“In the golden era of movies, going to a movie was like
going to live theater today,” said Ira Yellin, owner of the
Million Dollar Theater. “It was a major social
event.”
Fifty-thousand people have attended the series since its
inception, with 10,000 tickets projected to be sold this year.
“There’s been a great public response,” said
Linda Dishman, executive director of the L.A. Conservancy, a
private, nonprofit group dedicated to the preservation of
L.A.’s historic buildings. “Typically the programs sell
out on most of the nights.”
Each season a silent film with live musical accompaniment and a
Spanish-language film are scheduled. This year they are “Our
Hospitality” and “Santa,” respectively.
The evening screenings feature an onstage element prior to the
main film, such as a short newsreel, cartoon or an interview with
someone involved with the making of the film. For example, the
actor who played the villain in Alfred Hitchcock’s
“Saboteur” spoke at last night’s screening.
The screening of “The Adventures of Robin Hood” on
June 20 will have a stage-combat exhibition and a Looney Toons
version of Robin Hood with Bugs Bunny in “Rabbit Hood.”
Also, critic Leonard Maltin will speak at two of the films,
“Pal Joey” and “Our Hospitality.”
Los Angeles has the largest historic theater district in the
country, located on Broadway. The theaters currently do not have
steady programming; some are used for location filming and special
events like “Last Remaining Seats.” Their sporadic use
now belies their heyday in the first half of the 20th century, when
13 theaters covered Broadway.
“These truly are movie palaces, covered in detail, with
nothing spared,” Dishman said. “They were built when
going to the movies was a special event, unlike today when you go
to the mall or multiplex.”
Despite the fact that some of the theaters, like the Los
Angeles, were built during the Great Depression, they are
nevertheless opulent.
“The Los Angeles theater is probably the most elegant and
ornate,” said Amy Anderson, coordinator for the Broadway
Initiative, a division of the L.A. Conservancy. “Almost
without exception everyone walks into that theater and draws in
their breath.”
Yellin said that the Million Dollar theater, which first opened
in 1917, was considered one of the great theater and music halls in
the country when it was completed, and has unique architectural
qualities such as one of the world’s largest column-less open
spans. It also has impeccable acoustics and sightlines.
“Last Remaining Seats” is produced by the L.A.
Conservancy, the largest local preservation group in the country.
The Conservancy concentrates its efforts on preserving historic
downtown Los Angeles with its educational program, advocacy and
policy planning.
Anderson said the overall vision of revitalizing the historic
core district downtown is to recreate a traditional urban
environment, with 18- to 24-hour-a-day use for commerce,
entertainment and living. The Conservancy would also like theaters,
nightclubs and restaurants to revitalize downtown.
Anderson said the Initiative, part of the advocacy and planning
arm of the Conservancy, expects its goals to be met in 10 to 15
years. In three to four years they hope the Initiative will have
jump-started activity downtown, then have the market take over.
Already, more people have presented Yellin with ideas for
programming the theater in the last six to nine months than in the
past 10 years.
Yellin invested in a number of historic buildings in downtown in
the 1980s, trying to start the revitalizing process.
“I love historic architecture, and I like the fabric of
this city, its urban sense,” Yellin said. “I saw all of
these buildings in this area that nobody was dealing with. These
were slowly becoming slums. It seemed to me an opportune time to
reawaken what I consider the center of this region; downtown is the
common meeting place of greater Los Angeles.”
FILM: Shows start at 8 p.m. Advance tickets are
recommended for $15 per show or $65 for the series. Tickets are
also available at the door, starting at 7 p.m. for $18. Conservancy
prices are $12 per show or $50 for the series.
For information go to www.laconservancy.org, for
tickets call (213) 430-4219.
Original by ADAM BROWN/Daily Bruin Web Adaptation by MONICA
KWONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff