"Armageddon"

About a half hour into Michael Bay's "Armageddon," (Touchstone, 1998) we get this very quick shot of the FBI pulling up to a bar in New Orleans. This building supposedly across the street is the Shrine Auditorium, 665 W. Jefferson St.

Bruce Willis is trying to round up a team of drillers to head off to an asteroid. They're to drill 800 feet down, plant a nuke and head out. Otherwise we're all doomed as the big rock is headed to earth. One of the guys we're looking for is Steve Buscemi, hanging out in the bar. Thus the FBI visit to round him up for the urgent job. The film also stars Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, Owen Wilson, Will Patton and Michael Clarke Duncan.

Another very quick shot, here with the FBI guys getting out of the cars on Royal St., the dead-end street the Shrine actually faces toward. That's all we see of the Shrine. And no exterior of Al's Oyster Bar as the next shot is an interior view with Buscemi and a lady at the bar.

What's actually across the street from the Shrine is just their parking lot. Thanks to theatre explorer Mike Hume for spotting the Shrine in the film and providing the screenshots. Check out the fine page about the Shrine on his Historic Theatre Photography site.

Also head to the Shrine Auditorium pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about the theatre including many vintage photos. It's a 1926 design by G. Albert Lansburgh situated near USC.

We get some action in the lobby of the Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway. It has a brief scene as a rather opulent Florida strip club several of our astronauts go to for a last night of debauchery before departing for the asteroid. Thanks to Eitan Alexander for spotting this one and providing these two screenshots.

Cavorting on the lobby landing near the crystal fountain.

See the pages about the Los Angeles Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the building and many photos.

On IMDb: "Armageddon"