"Escape From L.A."

In 1998 Cliff Robertson, the religiously inclined president of the United States, predicts in John Carpenter's "Escape From L.A." (Paramount, 1996) that Los Angeles will get the big one soon to punish citizens for their sins. The earthquake hits in 2000 with a chunk shearing off from the mainland.

The government then declares it no longer part of the United States and starts deporting undesirables to the Island of Los Angeles. Fast forward to 2013 when notorious criminal Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell, first seen as Snake in "Escape From New York") is sent to the island, tricked into helping the government retrieve a controller that can shut down all of earth's technology.

He goes from the mainland to someplace near Hollywood via a one-man sub. After hiking over the hills he gets this view of Hollywood Blvd. about 26 minutes into the film. See the Grauman's Chinese and the Mann Chinese Twin pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about the theatres. Grauman's still survives as major first-run venue but the Twin was demolished in 1999 for construction of the Hollywood & Highland shopping mall.

 

He's looking for a team sent in previously and comes across this Hollywood street scene. Well, we're actually on the 7th St. side of the State Theatre, 703 S. Broadway. They've added some exit doors, a readerboard, and a faux version of the sign that's in the alley north of the Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway.

 

See the pages about the State Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the 1921 vintage film and vaudeville palace. 

It's nice that after seeing the sign for the Los Angeles that we actually go there.  Here our hero ("Call me Snake.") is on the stairs in the grand lobby.

Coming down the stairs. He's on a mission and not interested in the distractions arrayed behind him.

A great look at the carpeting in the theatre at the time.

 

 

They're using the man he's looking for as a target for knife throwing practice. 

Another shot at the bottom of the stairs. 

The main floor inner lobby. He's just come up from the basement, as if that makes any sense. It doesn't. On the right is the snack bar that was in this area until the big recarpeting project of 2016.

A last look at the inner lobby. We're looking toward house left with the auditorium off to the right. Sorry, we don't go there.

Part of the scene with Snake Plissken vs. the Knife Thrower can be seen on YouTube. The film also features Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, Valeria Golino and Stacey Keach.

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: "Escape From L.A."