Top Gun, Some Like It Hot, Double Indemnity and More: LA Conservancy Picks Classics for Its 30th Last Remaining Seats

Our favorite event of the year is back! The Los Angeles Conservancy has announced the movie roster for this year's 30th Last Remaining Seats -- and to celebrate the anniversary, this year's movie roster contains several classic faves from years past!

The Last Remaining Seats, which takes place from June 4 – 25, 2016, celebrates downtown's historic Broadway movie palaces by showcasing classic movies, bringing those wonderful stages back to life. And as more of Broadway gets revitalized, there's even more reason to celebrate.

Tickets for the 2016 season of Last Remaining Seats go on sale March 30 to Conservancy members and April 13 to the general public. Tickets are $18 for L.A. Conservancy members and $22 for the general public. (Go to the LA Conservancy website for more info.) Read all of our posts about Last Remaining Seats here.

Meanwhile, here's what you've been waiting for, the list of this year's screenings:

2016 Schedule

Top Gun (1986)
Saturday, June 4, 2pm & 8pm
Los Angeles Theatre

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Wednesday, June 8, 8 pm
Million Dollar Theatre

Some Like It Hot (1959)
Saturday, June 11, 8pm
Los Angeles Theatre

Dos tipos de cuidado (Mexico, 1953)
Wednesday, June 15, 8 pm
Palace Theatre
Co-presented with Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Saturday, June 18, 2pm & 8pm
The Theatre at Ace Hotel

Double Indemnity (1944)
Wednesday, June 22, 8pm
The Theatre at Ace Hotel

Safety Last! (1923)
Saturday, June 25, 8 pm
Orpheum Theatre

"Psycho," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and More: The 2015 Last Remaining Seats Schedule Is Here

Our favorite event of the year is back! The Los Angeles Conservancy has announced the movie roster for this year's 29th Last Remaining Seats -- and it's the most diverse mix of movies I've seen on the roster that I can remember!

The Last Remaining Seats, which takes place from June 10 – 27, 2014, celebrates downtown's historic Broadway movie palaces by showcasing classic movies, bringing those wonderful stages back to life. And as more of Broadway gets revitalized (see the recent Night on Broadway event), there's even more reason to celebrate.

Tickets for the 2015 season of Last Remaining Seats go on sale March 25 to Conservancy members and April 8 to the general public. Tickets are $16 for L.A. Conservancy members and $20 for the general public. (Go to the LA Conservancy website for more info.) Read all of our posts about Last Remaining Seats here.

Meanwhile, here's what you've been waiting for, the list of this year's screenings:

Psycho (1960)
Wednesday, June 10, 8pm
Million Dollar Theatre

City Lights (1931)
Saturday, June 13, 8pm
Los Angeles Theatre

Dios se lo pague/God Bless You (1948)
Wednesday, June 17, 8pm
Palace Theatre

How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
Saturday, June 20, 8pm
The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)
Wednesday, June 24, 8pm
Orpheum Theatre

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Saturday, June 27, 2pm & 8pm
The Theatre at Ace Hotel

GO: LA Conservancy's Holiday Matinee Features "Home Alone" This Sunday

A sure sign of December is the Los Angeles Conservancy's annual holiday matinee, held at one of downtown's movie palaces. Last year we enjoyed "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and the year before that, "A Christmas Story," both at the historic 1926 Orpheum Theatre.

This year, the 8th annual holiday matinee is back at the Orpheum with "Home Alone" (1990). Details:

A great event for families, architecture lovers, and film fans, the Conservancy’s eighth annual holiday matinee begins at 2 p.m., allowing time before or after the film to explore the theatre, the Broadway Historic District, and downtown Los Angeles.

Doors will open at 1:15 p.m., and guests will be ushered in to the tunes of holiday classics performed by Tony Wilson on the Orpheum’s famous Mighty Wurlitzer organ, the last remaining theatre organ on Broadway.

Guests can show their movie tickets at nearby restaurants for special discounts*: Umami Broadway (852 S. Broadway) will offer a 10% discount per table, and Two Boots Pizza (826 S. Broadway) will offer a 30% discount per order. Two Boots will offer a special pizza just for the day, “The Marv,” inspired by the film.

Make a day of it -- go ice skating in Pershing Square. Go get a drink at Perch. Buy some holiday gifts at The Last Bookstore. It's a great way to get into the holiday spirit. Tickets are available at laconservancy.org/holiday.

"Back to the Future," "Citizen Kane," More: The Last Remaining Seats 2014 Schedule Is Here!

Our favorite event of the year is back! The Los Angeles Conservancy has announced the movie roster for this year's 28th Last Remaining Seats -- and I think it may be the best yet.

The Last Remaining Seats, which takes place from June 11 – 28, 2014, celebrates downtown's historic Broadway movie palaces. And these days, there's a lot to celebrate, as more of the theaters get long-needed makeovers. This year, for the first time since 1990, the United Artists Theatre -- now The Theatre at Ace Hotel -- will be a part of the rotation. (And even better: "Back to the Future" is screening there!)

Tickets for the 2014 season of Last Remaining Seats go on sale March 26 to Conservancy members and April 9 to the general public. Tickets are $16 for L.A. Conservancy members and $20 for the general public. (Go to the LA Conservancy website for more info.) Read all of our posts about Last Remaining Seats here.

Meanwhile, here's what you've been waiting for, the list of this year's screenings:

Wednesday, June 11, 8 PM
The Lady Eve (1941)
Los Angeles Theatre (1931)
615 S. Broadway, Downtown L.A.

Saturday, June 14, 8 PM
West Side Story (1961)
The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (1964)
135 N. Grand Avenue, Downtown L.A.

Wednesday, June 18, 8 PM
Footlight Parade (1933)
Orpheum Theatre (1926)
842 S. Broadway, Downtown L.A.

Saturday June 21, 2 PM & 8 PM
Back to the Future (1985)
The Theatre at Ace Hotel (former United Artists Theatre, 1927)
933 S. Broadway, Downtown L.A.

Wednesday, June 25, 8 PM
El Gran Calavera [English translation: The Great Madcap] (1949)
Palace Theatre (1911)
630 S. Broadway, Downtown L.A.
Co-presented with the Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles

Saturday, June 28 2 PM & 8 PM
Citizen Kane (1941)
Orpheum Theatre (1926)
842 S. Broadway, Downtown L.A.

A Day Touring Downtown Los Angeles' Broadway Theatres

Los Angeles's Broadway -- the home to countless grand, old movie palaces -- is finally joining in the downtown renaissance, and on Saturday, hundreds of Angelenos toured the street ("Day on Broadway") to get an update on how Bringing Back Broadway is going.

Sadly, the Clifton's Cafeteria is still closed (that renovation is taking much longer to complete), but those great theaters are being made over, one-by-one. The biggest success story remains the Orpheum Theatre, but the Palace Theatre also has been given a nice update. The Globe, which had been somewhat gutted, is now also coming back, while the United Artists has now been renovated as part of the Ace Hotel makeover.

Some pics from the event, which was sponsored by the LA Conservancy and the office of City Councilman Jose Huizar:


The Palace screen


The Palace Theatre's auditorium


One of the Palace Theatre's two large murals


A fixture adorns one of the Palace Theatre's handrails.


The Palace's "Gentlemen's" room.


Outside the Palace


The Tower Theatre wasn't open for tours, as filming was going on. But we did pass by the outside facade.


The curtain inside the Los Angeles Theatre


I know, we've posted pics of the inside of the glorious Los Angeles Theatre many times, but here's another.


Even after its run as a swap meet and later, as a nightclub, the Globe's theater curtain remains.


The Globe's ceiling


The sloping theater floor was flattened, but much of the Globe's inside is still preserved.


The upstairs balcony at the Globe Theatre


The spruced-up United Artists marquee, now home to downtown's brand new Ace Hotel


The Ace Hotel entrance


Ace Hotel front desk


New restaurant at the Ace Hotel


"Hello LA"

Sunday at the Orpheum with "Nightmare Before Christmas'" Jack Skellington

I took the Blogger Kid 2.0 to the Los Angeles Conservancy's 8th annual Holiday Matinee on Sunday, and he had a blast watching one of his favorite movies, "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas," on the big screen. The little guy also enjoyed being at the Orpheum Theatre -- he was impressed with the upstairs, and wanted to check out the opera seats after the showing.

He also brought along his Jack Skellington doll, and Jack also enjoyed the trip to the Orpheum, as you can see from these pics.

Here are some more shots from the event:


















Looking for a holiday gift idea? Get your friends a membership to the LA Conservancy. Go here for more details.

GO: LA Conservancy's Holiday Matinee Features "Nightmare Before Christmas"

Last year, thanks to the LA Conservancy, we had a great time at the Orpheum Theatre introducing the kids to "A Christmas Story." This year, I'll be taking the Blogger Kid 2.0 to see one of his favorite movies of all time, "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas."

Yep, the 4-year-old has watched "Nightmare Before Christmas" at least 30 times. But he's never seen it on the big screen, until now. It's the Los Angeles Conservancy's eighth annual holiday film matinee, and we hope to see you there!

Beforehand, theatre organist Dean Mora will perform pre-show holiday music on the Orpheum’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ, and the Sound Stage Barbershop Quartet will sing carols around the theatre. "Bring family and friends, come early or stay late, do some holiday shopping, go ice-skating at Pershing Square, and dine at nearby eateries!" the Conservancy recommends. And we do too. Go here for ticket info. And we'll see you this Sunday!

LA Conservancy's 8th Annual Holiday Film Matinee
"Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas"
Orpheum Theatre
Sunday, December 8 at 2 p.m. (doors at 1:15 p.m.)
$15 general public, $10 Conservancy members, and $5 children 12 and under

An Evening With the LA Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats

Our annual pilgrimage to the LA Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats was another winner. Neither Maria nor I had seen the Bette Davis classic "All About Eve" (1950), and the grand, historic Los Angeles Theatre seemed like the place to do it.

After a drink at The Association and a quick bite straight off a taco truck parked on 7th, we found our seats up in the balcony and settled in. To kick things off, LA Conservancy leader Linda Dishman gave the crowd a status report on the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments (1939) in Boyle Heights, which is in very real danger of being demolished. (Separate post to come.) Leonard Maltin then introduced the film, offering a few trivia tidbits.

We've been to the Los Angeles Theatre countless times -- it's the venue we always seek out during the Last Remaining Seats -- but it still thrills. There's nothing like seeing a classic film in such an ornate movie palace. A few pics from this visit:









Read all of our Last Remaining Seats posts here. Also, your last chance to take part in this year's event happens tonight or this weekend. More details from the Conservancy:

The Los Angeles Conservancy will wrap up its twenty-seventh season of Last Remaining Seats this week with screenings at the historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A. and Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
Wednesday, June 26, 8 p.m.
Orpheum Theatre (1926), 842 S. Broadway, Downtown L.A.
The June 26 screening of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ will be hosted by historian Mark A. Viera and feature live accompaniment by Clark Wilson on the Orpheum’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ.

Casablanca (1942)
Saturday, June 29, two shows – 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Saban Theatre (1930), 8440 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills
KPCC’s “Off-Ramp” creator and host John Rabe will host the 2 p.m. matinee, and film historian, writer, and director of the Film Noir Foundation Alan K. Rode will host the 8 p.m. evening screening.

Tickets for all three screenings are still available at laconservancy.org. Advance tickets are $16 for L.A. Conservancy members and $20 for the general public. Any tickets remaining at show time will be $20 at the door.

Introducing The Kids to "A Christmas Story"

Hope this is the start of a new tradition for the Franklin Avenue family. The L.A. Conservancy screened the now-classic perennial "A Christmas Story" at the Orpheum this month, and we brought along the Blogger Kid and Blogger Toddler to see the movie for the very first time.

After a quick bite at the Two Boots pizzeria next door, we got in line late -- and as the crowd snaked around the corner, off Broadway, I began to wonder whether we'd get a seat. No worries. The Orpheum, currently the most grand of Broadway's surviving movie palaces (until the Los Angeles Theatre, the most beautiful of them all, is finally rehabbed), seats more than 2,000 people -- so there was plenty of room once we made it inside.



I always love visiting the Orpheum, be it for a movie screening (usually via the LA Conservancy; we saw "Chinatown" there earlier this year) or a concert. The Orpheum is also home to the Mighty Wurlitzer, the last of the great theater organs remaining on Broadway; for this screening, Bob Salisbury got the festive mood going with a selection of Christmas tunes (some of which the crowd sang along to). That was followed by a Looney Tunes short, "Gift Wrapped" (Warner Bros. 1952, starring Tweety Bird and Sylvester) -- and it dawned on me that the Blogger kids have quite possibly never seen a Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies cartoon. They've seen the characters, but never the actual works that spawned them. We'll have to continue to rectify that.



As for "A Christmas Story," cable TV (notably, TBS, which airs it on a 24-hour loop for Christmas every year) helped turn it into a holiday staple. And for good reason. It remains a funny, heartwarming tale with just a touch of edge -- and its timeless stories hold up 30 years later (which makes the movie's 1940s setting nearly 70 years old!). Now that he's nearly 8, it seemed like a good time to introduce the Blogger Kid to the movie's joys. He's now old enough to get the humor and relate to the storyline. Granted, it's no "Ninjago" or "Jessie," but he could easily sympathize with Ralphie as the character pined for a certain Christmas present (although the BK couldn't understand the obsession with a BB gun; these days, kids pine away for XBox points); dealt with parents who weren't thrilled with that pick; struggled to stay on his teacher's good side; lived with a pesky younger brother; navigated the school's bullies; and so much more. The Blogger Toddler, on the other hand, eventually fell asleep in the dark theater.

After the movie, we stopped by downtown's The Last Bookstore and raided their upstairs $1 shelves for a bunch of new books. I don't think there's a better place than downtown to get into the holiday mood; next up, we'll be hitting the Pershing Square ice skating rink, another Franklin Avenue holiday tradition.

"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!" This Christmas at The Orpheum

(Poster via Warner Bros.)

Cable TV has helped turn "A Christmas Story" into a true holiday classic -- but I'll bet you've never seen it like this. The Los Angeles Conservancy will celebrate the holidays on Saturday, December 2, by screening the movie at downtown's historic 1926 Orpheum Theatre movie palace.

"While the cult hit runs often on TV during the holidays, there’s no better way to see it than on the big screen in a beautiful movie palace, surrounded by hundreds of fellow fans," the Conservancy notes. "A great event for architecture lovers, film fans, and families, the Conservancy’s seventh annual holiday film matinee begins at 2 p.m., allowing time before or after the film to explore the theatre, the Broadway Historic District, and downtown Los Angeles."

This screams FRANKLIN AVENUE, and I can't wait. Make a day of it -- go ice skating in Pershing Square. Go get coffee on Spring Street. Buy some holiday gifts at The Last Bookstore. It's a great way to get into the holiday spirit.

And here's some great news: It's a economical event. Tix are just $10 for Conservancy members ($15 for the public), and $5 for kids under 12. Go here to get your tix!

As a bonus, Bob Salisbury will play holiday music on the Orpheum’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ (the last remaining theatre organ on Broadway); the cartoon "Gift Wrapped" (Warner Bros. 1952) with Tweety Bird and Sylvester will play before the feature; and diners who show their Conservancy movie ticket at UMAMIcatessen (next door to the theatre) will get a treat.


(Pic by BergerConser Photography)

We'll see you on December 2!

Sneaking Inside Downtown's The State Theatre

Thanks to the Los Angeles Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats event, we've had the opportunity many times to spend time inside some of downtown's grand Broadway theaters -- including the Los Angeles Theatre, the Palace and the Million Dollar Theatre. (We've also been to countless events at the rehabbed Orpheum). But there are still several old movie palaces on Broadway that are tougher to visit -- they're either shut down, being used as churches or otherwise inaccessible.

A few weeks ago, Maria and I were walking down Broadway when we noticed that the door to The State theatre, currently operating as a church, was open. We decided to walk in and take a look. Nothing was going on at the time, and only a handful of people were inside, busy doing various things. So I did my duty for the blog, and started snapping pictures.

The State is not nearly as grand as most of the other Broadway theatres, but it looks like the lobby was quite attractive at one point. It's now in bad need of an overhaul -- one that it may soon be getting. According to Curbed LA, "the Delijani family, longtime owners of the Palace, State, Los Angeles, and Tower theaters expects to file documents with the Department of City Planning for a proposal that would bring the turn-of-the-20th-century theaters back to life by transforming them into concert venues and delivering restaurants and bars."

It looks like The State is probably at the bottom of the priority list for the Delijani family, and their work is indeed cut out for them. When Maria and I visited, I peered into the auditorium and immediately saw a rat dash down the aisles. Welcome!

Here are some of the pics I snapped at the State:



Inside the auditorium.



The lobby ceiling.



More of the State's peeling ceiling.



The 2nd floor.



The State lobby.



The State aisle



More from the auditorium.



The State staircase.



The State's ticket booth.

Originally known as Loew's State, the theatre was built in 1921. The State was still showing movies as recently as the late 1990s (here's a photo of the marquee from 1995, when "Money Train" and "Ace Ventura 2" were playing); check out this site for a great, thorough history of The State. More info also at Cinema Treasures here.