"Miracle Mile"

 

Mare Winningham and Anthony Edwards meet cute at the La Brea Tar Pits at the beginning of Steve De Jarnatt's "Miracle Mile" (Hemdale Releasing, 1989). It's a playful start to what seems like it's going to be just a sweet little love story. 

 

 

 

We get a scene in the park in front of the Pan Pacific Auditorium during an event to support a restoration of the building.   

 

Anthony is playing in the band. 

 

Mare is there with her father, played by John Agar. 

 

Another shot from the scene. The poor Pan Pacific, at 7600 Beverly Blvd., was neglected and unloved after newer facilities took away many bookings. It had opened in 1935, closed in 1972 and was demolished after a spectacular fire in May 1989, the same month the film was released. 

See the page about the Pan Pacific Auditorium on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more photos.

 

 

We get a look at another fenced-off building when the trolley is on Wilshire, going by LACMA. That's the Ahmanson Building on the left and the new addition, the Art of the Americas Building on the right. The building with the Bing Theatre is farther to the right, out of sight. 

 

The Miracle Mile trolley takes them to Park La Brea, where Mare and her mother, played Lou Hancock, have an apartment. Her father has a separate apartment. The parents are estranged and haven't spoken to each other for years. Check out Jude Schneider's 2026 Zocalo article "What Park La Brea Says About Los Angeles."

 

Mare works as a waitress at Johnie's, on the northwest corner of Wilshire and Fairfax.  The film's tone suddenly shifts darker when Anthony answers a call in that phone booth. 

 

He goes inside to ask if anyone knows about the imminent event he heard about on the mis-dialed phone call.  On the left it's Denise Crosby, talking to Claude Earl Jones. On the right the drag queen with back to the camera is Danny De La Paz, talking to Earl Boen. 

 

O-Lan Jones plays a waitress at Johnie's and Robert DoQui is the cook. Also featured are Mykelti Williamson, Kelly Jo Minter, Kurt Fuller and Brian Thompson. Theo van de Sande was the cinematographer. The production design was by Christopher Horner. The art director was Richard Hoover. In addition to directing, Steve De Jarnatt also wrote the script.   

 

 

 

Later that day at Johnie's. The production relamped all the signage on the building. And then dipped all the hundreds of lamps with a blue tint as they were reading too yellow in test footage. 

 

 

Anthony oversleeps due to a power outage at his hotel. He's supposed to come back that night and pick up Mare. She waits and finally goes home. The revolving clock only has one side. The entire sign was made for the film and they could only afford to do one side of the clock.   

 

 

 

The sign's famous revolving hamburgers. 

 

Of course see lots lots of the May Co. building across Fairfax from Johnie's. It's now the home of the Academy Museum, with the Ted Mann Theatre in the basement and the David Geffen Theatre in a new orb behind. We also spend some time in that high-rise at 5900 Wilshire, at the time called the Mutual Benefit Life Building. 

 

On the right it's the building that had been built in 1962 for the Japanese department store chain Seibu. They soon closed and from 1984 to December 1986 it was Ohrbach's. At the time of the shoot it was empty and had to be filled with merchandise for the film. Later there's a scene inside with a stolen police car crashing through the front. The building is now the Peterson Auto Museum. 

 

Back at LACMA with Anthony running after a street sweeper in an attempt to get a lift to Mare's apartment. He wants them to get out of town while it's still possible. 

 

A shot a moment later. The Bing Center, where the Bing Theatre was located, is seen on both sides of that huge column of the Art of the Americas Building that's out at the sidewalk line. 

 

Anthony has no luck getting a ride. When he gets to Mare's apartment he finds that she had taken some sleeping pills and can't wake up enough to walk. So here we are back at LACMA using a shopping cart. 

 

Running toward Wilshire. Thanks to Steve De Jarnatt, the film's director, for this screenshot and the one below. The Bing Theatre is off to the left. 

 

A look back up the stairs. Steve notes that he did several early screenings of the film in the Bing, up the stairs and to the right in this shot.  

See the page about the Leo S. Bing Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It opened in 1965 and was demolished in 2020. The replacement venue, called the Steve Tisch Theatre, is on the south side of Wilshire in the new building designed by Peter Zumthor. 

 

Madness on Wilshire as the sun rises. On the right it's the May Company wing that was just east of the main building containing their appliance and budget departments.  

On IMDb: "Miracle Mile"  

Check out Steve's website for Miracle Mile items and posts on other topics: www.stevedejarnatt.net

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"Xanadu"

The Beverly Theatre in Beverly Hills makes an appearance in Robert Greenwald's 1980 Universal classic "Xanadu" with Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John. Mr. Kelly gets taken shopping to buy some "jazzy" new clothes. At the time of the filming the theatre had been turned into a Fiorucci store.

Another shot from the "Xanadu" shopping scene at the Beverly. The number is Electric Light Orchestra's "All Over The World."

The windup of the scene.  A clip of the number is on YouTube.

The theatre, demolished for a hotel project in the 80s, was at 206 N. Beverly Dr. in Beverly Hills. Opened in 1925, it had a long career as a first run venue before being turned into retail space and used as a bank. See the Los Angeles Theatres Beverly Theatre page for photos and more information.

"Xanadu" gave the Pan Pacific Auditorium its best known film role. The decaying ruin was transformed into a nightclub operated by Gene Kelly with roller skating patrons. Somehow roller skating in night clubs just didn't catch on. The film used only the building's exterior. 

A daytime look from "Xanadu."  

The poor Pan Pacific, at 7600 Beverly Blvd., was neglected and unloved after newer facilities opened. It had opened in 1935, closed in 1972 and was demolished after a spectacular fire in 1989. See the page about the Pan Pacific Auditorium on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more photos.

On IMDb: "Xanadu"

"Funny Lady"

Near the beginning of "Funny Lady" (Columbia, 1975) we're at the New Amsterdam in New York during a Ziegfeld Follies number by Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand).  It was a back lot set for the theatre exterior but, as we see here, the interior is the Los Angeles Orpheum. We take a walk through the house after the show with Fanny and fellow performer Bobby (Roddy McDowell). "I'm worried," he says. It's closing night for the show, the depression is deepening and Ziegfeld can't get backing for another show.

A lobby view at the Orpheum with Fanny and Bobby and "Pops." He says he'll see her again soon. She tells him to keep cleaning the gum off the seats.

A look out toward the doors onto Broadway. Except they don't want us to see that. When they open, we see another set of doors that they've put up for the film.

Head to the Orpheum Theatre pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site for photos and history. It's a 2,100 seat G. Albert Lansburgh design still on S. Broadway.  We''ll be back there later in the film.

About a half hour in we're in Atlantic City for a tryout of Billy Rose's show "Crazy Quilt." We get this nice balcony shot at the "Casino Theatre." We're actually at the Globe, 744 S. Broadway. Thanks to Michael Garay for figuring out where we were. See the pages about the Globe Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for many more views of this 1913 vintage legit house.

Still on the road getting the kinks out of  "Crazy Quilt" in some unnamed city when the theatre we're playing turns out to be the Los Angeles Theatre. After a fast pan with Billy Rose (James Caan) running through the lobby, we're up on the mezzanine for a photo shoot.

A run down the stairs at the Los Angeles for a walk through the lobby.

An inner lobby shot at the Los Angeles with  Billy and Fanny. A great chance to check out the lobby carpet pattern in in 1975.

Heading down an aisle at the Los Angeles toward backstage. 

Check out the many pages on various areas of the Los Angeles Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It's a 1931 design by S. Charles Lee.

When "Crazy Quilt" finally lands in New York it plays (of course) the New Amsterdam, with the L.A. Orpheum again standing in for it. We don't see much of the theatre this time around during a big production number -- just a few shots of the audience. But at the end of the number we get this view with a bit of the proscenium showing.

A look at the Orpheum box seats when we're in New York for "Crazy Quilt at the New Amsterdam.

After some dressing room scenes Fanny Brice comes out for a number on a bare stage. But we're not at the Orpheum anymore. It's not known where this was shot.

At the end of the number we get a reaction shot from Billy Rose, who has been lurking in the house. For this shot it's the Orpheum again. When "Crazy Quilt" actually played New York in 1931 it wasn't at the New Amsterdam but at the 44th St. Theatre.

The facade of the Pan Pacific Auditorium appears as the NBC radio studios about 10 minutes before the end of the film. Fanny Brice has just finished an episode of her long-running show and comes out to get in her car. She's in a hurry to see Nicky Arnstein for what turns out to be the last time. "All these years I was just in love with a bunch of toothbrushes" she finally tells him.

See the page on the Pan Pacific Auditorium on the Los Angeles Theatres site for information about the vanished complex.

On IMDb: "Funny Lady"

"Tuff Turf"

We spend lots of time in some back storage rooms of the Pan Pacific Auditorium complex in "Tuff Turf" with James Spader and Robert Downey, Jr. (New World, 1985). But there's nothing exciting to look at except a few signs left over from various events. It just looks like any old warehouse.

Head to the Los Angeles Theatres page on the Pan Pacific Auditorium for information and photos. The building burned in the 80s.

On IMDb: "Tuff Turf"