Wednesday, November 2, 2016

"Earthquake"

The title sequence of "Earthquake" (Universal, 1974) includes a flyover of Hollywood. On the left it's the Huntington Hartford, 1615 Vine St. It's now known as the Ricardo Montalban Theatre. 
 
The film stars Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, Genevieve Bujold, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Richard Roundtree, Victoria Principal and Marjoe Gortner. Mark Robson directed. Philip Lathrop got the credit for cinematography. The big attraction was Sensurround. When the film ran at the Chinese Ted Mann put a net under the ceiling, allegedly to catch debris falling during the earthquake scenes. 
 
 
 
A moment later the Pantages comes into view in the upper right. The theatre, at 6233 Hollywood Blvd., was still a movie house at the time of this shoot. Thanks to Kurt Wahlner for noting its appearance in this sequence. That's vine St. running up the center of the image. The concave yellow facade on the far left is the Vine Theatre at 6321 Hollywood Blvd. 
 
 

Here on the left it's the Hollywood Palace, 1715 Vine St. It had opened as the Hollywood Playhouse and is now a music venue known as Avalon. The roof of the Pantages is on the right.
 
 

Much later in the film we get a look at the Cinerama Dome, 6360 Sunset Blvd. This shot also includes the Huntington Hartford over in the upper right. Thanks to Cliff Carson for calling attention to the Dome's appearance in the film in a post on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. The skinny building in the center is the Sunset Vine Tower. The highrise to the right is the Sunset Media Center, 6255 Sunset Blvd. 
 
See the pages about the Montalban Theatre, the Pantages, the Vine Theatre, the Hollywood Palace/Avalon and the Cinerama Dome on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of  each of these theatres along with many photos. 
 
On IMDb: "Earthquake

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