"Farewell, My Lovely"

The credit sequence of "Farewell, My Lovely" (Avco Embassy, 1975) features stylized footage of Hollywood landmarks. Here, just before the title appears, we're at the Earl Carroll Theatre, 6230 Sunset Blvd., just east of Vine St. The neon sculpture is of Beryl Wallace, Earl's girlfriend and a star of his shows. Thanks to Wayne King for noting the film's use of this footage. See the pages about the Earl Carroll Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. 

The film is an adaption of Raymond Chandler's 1940 novel.  Moose Malloy, just out of prison, is looking for his former girlfriend Velma Valento, who for several reasons doesn't want to be located. Jack O'Halloran is Moose. Robert Mitchum plays private eye Philip Marlow. Also involved are John Ireland, Charlotte Rampling, Sylvia Miles, Harry Dean Stanton, Anthony Zerbe, Sylvester Stallone and Kate Murtagh. Dick Richards directed. The cinematography was by the king of noir, John A. Alonzo.   

The book had an earlier adaptation as "Murder, My Sweet" (1944) starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger and Mike Mazurki. 

 

On the left it's the vertical of the Iris Theatre, 6523 Hollywood Blvd. It had opened in 1918 and in 1968, after a remodel by National General, emerged as the Fox Theatre. See the page about the Iris/Fox on the Los Angeles Theatres site.  

 

Looking east from Highland with the Hollywood Theatre on the right. Down the street it's the vertical sign for the Egyptian Theatre at 6712 Hollywood Blvd. and, a bit left of center, one of the radio towers atop the Warner Hollywood at 6433 Hollywood Blvd.   

See the pages about the Hollywood Theatre, the Egyptian Theatre and the Warner/Hollywood Pacific on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the buildings along with many photos both recent and vintage. 

 

A view west with Hollywood appearing to be on fire. On the right it's one of the Warner Theatre's roof towers and a look down to the vertical and the marquee. The Iris/Fox is part of all that brightness on the other side of the street.  

 

Just for variety, we then get a c.1940 clip shot on Main St. The cafe on the left at 527 S. Main was in the Green Hotel building, also housing the Star Theatre at 529. In the center it's a pawn shop at 525. The Gayety, at 523, is on the right. See the Los Angeles Theatres page about the Gayety Theatre. It opened in 1905 as the Novelty. 

On IMDb: "Farewell, My Lovely"

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"Star Spangled Girl"

The Hollywood Pacific is seen in the background of this shot from "Star Spangled Girl" (Paramount, 1971). The theatre, at 6433 Hollywood Blvd., opened in 1928 as the Warner Hollywood. Pacific Theatres took it over in 1968. 

It's a film directed by Jerry Paris based on the Neil Simon play. It features Sandy Duncan, Tony Roberts Elizabeth Allen and Todd Sussman. The cinematography was by Sam Leavitt. Thanks to Marc Edward Heuck for spotting the theatre in the film and getting the screenshot. He shared it as a post on the Facebook page of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation.

See the pages about the Warner Hollywood on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the building along with hundreds of photos.   

On IMDb: "Star Spangled Girl"

"Trackdown"

Karen Lamm plays a 17 year old who flees her constricting life on a cattle ranch in Montana and comes to the big city in "Trackdown" (United Artists, 1976). Here we're looking west across Cherokee St. with the entrance to the Hollywood Cherokee Building on the left and the Pussycat Theatre in the next block.

 

When Karen's character gets off the bus in Hollywood she is, of course, an easy mark for lowlifes on the street who steal her purse and suitcase, pretend to befriend her, get her on drugs and later sell her to a local pimp. James Mitchum plays the brother who comes looking for her. Cathy Lee Crosby is a social worker who tries to help him find her. Also featured are Anne Archer, Erik Estrada and Ray Sharkey. Richard T. Heffron directed. The cinematography was by Gene Polito. 

See the page on the Los Angeles Theatres site about the Pussycat Theatre, 6656 Hollywood Blvd. The marquee we see just had received a makeover. If the shoot had been a couple months earlier it still would have said New-View atop the readerboard.

She's been spotted by this guy. Here we're looking west toward the Holly Theatre, 6523 Hollywood Blvd. See the Los Angeles Theatres page about the Holly for information about the theatre's history. It opened in 1931 as the Studio, a conversion by S. Charles Lee from what had been retail space. It's now a restaurant. Thanks to Eric Schaefer for spotting the theatre in the film and getting the screenshot.

 

 

 

Karen walks by the Fox at 6508 Hollywood Blvd. It opened in 1918 as the Iris and was re-branded as the Fox in 1968. In recent years the space has gone through several names and operators as a nightclub. See the Fox Theatre page on the Los Angeles Theatres site. Thanks to Eric Schaefer for the screenshot.

 

A look at the north side of the street reveals the Hollywood Pacific at 6433 Hollywood Blvd. They were playing Robert Hendrickson's 1973 documentary "Manson" along with "Ripped Off." That program opened September 24, 1975.

 

 

Another shot with the Hollywood Pacific in the background. It opened in 1928 as the Warner. See the pages about the theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site about the Warner Hollywood.  

The brother, played by James Mitchum, comes to town and we get a shot of Broadway. One of the features on the marquee is the July 1975 release "Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold." See the page about the Palace Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It opened in 1911 as an Orpheum circuit vaudeville house.

 

Social worker Cathy Lee Crosby is on the right, joining James in the hunt for the missing girl. In the background on the left we get the Vogue Theatre, 6675 Hollywood Blvd. It was a 1935 design by S. Charles Lee. It's been through a number of uses after closing as a film house and is now a church. On the far right the glowing marquee and oval up on the facade is at the Pussycat Theatre. 

 

 

 

A shot on the corner after James arrives. 

 

 

 

The search continues. Here we are at the Le Sex Shoppe at 5507 Hollywood Blvd., on the north side of the street just west of Western Ave. The guy in front has been enlisted by James to help get some information from a guy working at another venue across the street. He's trying to get him to come over. 

 

 

 

A look at the premises across the street. 

 

Another shot as the Le Sex Shoppe guy gets the attention of the barker.  

 

 

 

A wider view reveals that the "Free Adult Movies / Live Semi-Nude Girls" emporium is at 5510 Hollywood Blvd., the west storefront in the Hollywood and Western Building. It's an S. Charles Lee design dating from 1928. Tenants in the four-story deco building have included the Motion Picture Association of America, Central Casting and the Hays Office.

 

The barker comes over and, once around in the parking lot next to Le Sex Shoppe, gets attached to a cable and hoisted to the roof by James. There's a bit more about this Le Sex Shoppe location on our page about Storefront Porno venues.

On IMDb: "Trackdown"   Sean Ault notes that the whole film can be seen on YouTube. 

 

"Trackdown" playing on a four-feature grindhouse bill at the Arcade Theatre on Broadway in 1976. Thanks to Sean Ault for locating the shot when it appeared for sale online.

"The Killing"

We're all over town in Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" (United Artists, 1956). It's a film about a heist at a race track. This shot is looking west from the top of the 3rd St. Tunnel. We'll be back to this neighborhood later in the film when Sterling Hayden buys a suitcase for the loot in the 800 block.

As we pan down there's a view of the building that used to be the Tunnel Theatre, 712 W. 3rd St. The arched opening on the lower left was the theatre entrance. By the 50s it had been a garage for decades. See the page about the Tunnel Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more data.

Here we're on Hollywood Blvd. as Sterling Hayden is coming out of a store just east of the Warner Hollywood, 6433 Hollywood Blvd. The fuzzy marquee in the background is the Warner.

As Hayden gets into his car we get a glimpse in the background of the Iris Theatre. It's the second vertical down -- the first is for a Karl's shoe store.

Another frame a moment later gives us sharper look at the Iris, 6508 Hollywood Blvd.  See the pages on the Warner Hollywood and the Iris, later rebranded as the Fox Theatre, for more on those two buildings, both still on Hollywood Blvd.

Hayden has engineered a heist at the track. His buddies have all been killed so he has all the loot. He heads to a pawn shop on W. 3rd St. to buy the biggest suitcase he could find to put it all in for his flight to Boston. It doesn't end well for him -- he needed better locks on the suitcase. A lovely film.

That pawn shop is adjacent to the Lux Theatre, 827 W. 3rd St., here seen at the right of the frame. It's no longer with us -- a victim of the Bunker Hill redevelopment. See the page about the Lux Theatre for more details. The posters we see for Lenny Bruce with a burlesque show aren't for the Lux -- they're for the Gayety Club in Hollywood.

On IMDb: "The Killing"

"Night of the Comet"

The film "Night of the Comet" (Atlantic Releasing Corporation, 1984) features lots of the El Rey at the beginning. It's directed by Thom Eberhardt and features Reggie (Katherine Mary Stewart) and her sister Samantha (Kelli Maroney) as two girls from the Valley who survive after a toxic comet wipes out most of the humans on earth. Here, the night of the comet's arrival, we're doing a special "Midnight Comet Show" at the theatre.

A lobby view -- we of course have special comet related concession items. If you want the thing that goes on your head with the two little silver balls on springs it's $9.50. Cheaper if you get the version without springs.

The manager is trying to get  Reggie to walk the house to make sure the customers are not tearing up the seats. She'd rather play one of the lobby's video games. She says when she goes down the aisles they throw things at her. "Ever get hit by Dots or Milk Duds?" she asks. "They hurt."

Reggie goes up see her boyfriend Larry (Michael Bowen) in the booth. They plan a sleepover.  She's worried somebody will see them. Won't happen, Larry says. Even Superman can't see through the steel covered walls. "Used to be a fire law," he adds. Reggie tells him that it was lead Superman couldn't see through, not steel.

Talking on the booth phone to her sister and mother.

Sleeping bag sex on the projection room floor. But it's OK, they have protection. No, not that kind -- it turns out the only people surviving the comet were those who spent the night in some sort of a steel enclosure.  When we find out that her sister Samantha survives the reason will be because she didn't go home. She spent the night in a metal tool shed for some reason.

The next morning in the booth. "Don't I even get an Egg McMuffin?" she asks.

But Larry's heading out the door looking for a friend he loaned a print to the night before. He heads out a side door to find the guy and gets hit with a pipe wrench and eaten by one of the zombie-like creatures that got enough of the comet dust to seriously change but aren't dead yet.

 With Larry gone, it's back to the video game in the lobby. She isn't yet aware of his demise. 

A look outside. Those piles of clothes? Humans that have turned to that brown dust nearby.

A closer look at the boxoffice. That sand urn propping open a door slides, allowing the door to close. She's locked out.  Head to the alley.

Reggie tries the side door that Larry left by. Locked as well. She knows there's trouble when she finds the keys to Larry's cycle -- and the bloody pipe wrench. This alley shot we're lead to believe is adjacent to the theatre. But we're actually behind the KFWB building (now demolished) on Hollywood Blvd. That's the side of the Warner Hollywood (aka the Hollywood Pacific) straight ahead.

 

 

Another alley shot. After Reggie has a bit of a fight with the guy that ate Larry, she hops on the cycle and heads home. We're only 16 minutes into the film but that's the last we see of the El Rey. Sorry -- we don't even so much as peek into the theatre's auditorium.  The film also features some fine shots of abandoned downtown L.A., mostly shot on Bunker Hill.

See the Los Angeles Theatres page on the El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd. for more on this theatre, a deco style house opened in 1937 that's now a music club.

On IMDb: "Night of the Comet"

Sean Ault notes that there's a good looking version of the full film on YouTube. Curbed L.A. writer Chris Eggertsen did a 2020 story about the film capturing a deserted city: "'Night of the Comet' is a feel-good dystopian movie set in LA."

"The Grifters"

This view of the top of the building housing the Million Dollar Theatre at 3rd and Broadway is one of many black and white stills seen during the opening credits of Stephen Frears' "The Grifters" (Cineplex Odeon Films/Miramax, 1991). 

 

We also get this shot of the top of the vertical at the former Warner Hollywood, here seen as the Hollywood Pacific.

This dark and bloody adventure is based on a Jim Thompson novel and stars John Cusak, Annette Bening and Anjelica Huston. Lots of the film is set in Los Angeles but after the credits we don't get any more theatre views. 

On IMDb: "The Grifters"

"The Nice Guys"

A fine look east on Hollywood Blvd. in "The Nice Guys" (Warner Bros., 2016) with the Warner Hollywood (aka the Hollywood Pacific Theatre) on the left. The film is set in 1977 but it's obviously not a vintage shot looking at both the faded paint on the theatre's vertical as well as the size of the trees.

Shane Black's film stars Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as two not very competent private detectives.  While much of the film was shot in Los Angeles, significant chunks were done in Atlanta.

Check out the many pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site about the Warner Hollywood, 6433 Hollywood Blvd., for the history of the now-dormant theatre along with many interior photos.

On IMDb: "The Nice Guys"

"The Zodiac Killer"

We get a look at Hollywood Blvd. near the end of Tom Hanson's unappetizing film "The Zodiac Killer" (Audubon Films, 1971). Here we're across the street from the New-View, a theatre later known as the Pussycat and the Ritz.

Ou killer is here helping an old lady across the street (without killing her afterward!). In the background is the Hollywood Theatre just east of Highland, now a Guinness Book of Records museum.

The stroll continues with a voice-over by our lead character discussing his philosophy of life. In the background the Warner Hollywood, here with signage as the Pacific Cinerama, is running "Little Big Man" with Dustin Hoffman.

See the pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site about the Ritz, the Hollywood Theatre and the Warner for a history of each theatre and hundreds of photos.

On IMDB: "The Zodiac Killer"