"New York, New York"

 

The Los Angeles Theatre is featured in a scene from Martin Scorsese's "New York, New York" (United Artists, 1977). Robert De Niro is at the top of the stairs looking down into a hotel lobby -- actually the main basement lounge of the Los Angeles Theatre. He hadn't paid his bill and hoped to sneak in, grab his bag, and leave. He tries walking down the stairs backward. But he's spotted by both the desk clerk and Liza. 

 

 

Leaning against one of the columns. He's decided to pretend he's a wounded war vet. Note the 70s carpet on the landing but in the lounge itself we're seeing the original 1931 carpet. Later it was substantially cut down.

 

Limping across the hotel lobby.  

 

 

 

Liza and the clerk at the desk. 

 

Startled guests as DeNiro throws a tantrum.

 

Making a run for it and getting tackled by the clerk. 

 

The men's room re-designated as the "Baroque Room." 

 

The Los Angeles Theatre is used again near the end of the film as a New York movie palace when DeNiro goes to a theatre to see Liza's new hit film "Happy Endings." 

 

Immediately after the feature we get Movietone Newsreel footage covering the triumphant return to New York of Liza's character after making it big in the movies.  The production design was by Boris Leven. László Kovács did the cinematography.

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: "New York, New York"