Last week, I was doing some scouting around Studio City (yup, already back to work!), and every time I drove down Ventura…
…I found myself admiring the simple but beautiful art deco movie theater near Laurel Canyon, which almost feels like an anchor to the neighborhood:
Except it’s not a movie theater, as I realized when I got out to take a closer look – it’s actually a branch of the Barnes & Noble off-shoot Bookstar.
Was this just a faux movie theater facade designed to appeal to out-of-towners like me? Had I already been duped on my first day of scouting??
Nope – it’s the real thing.
This was once the Fox Studio City Theatre, which opened in 1938 with seating for 880 (the above picture was taken shortly before its premiere screening). A classic example of the streamline moderne style, it was designed by architect Clifford A. Balch, who was also responsible for more than twenty art deco theaters throughout southern California, including the El Rey.
Finding historic exterior pictures of the theater is difficult (and interior pics impossible). Below, a photograph taken eight years later in 1946…
Note how the entrance has been given a bit of an overhaul, with circular poster windows and a chandelier:
The last photograph I was able to find comes from one of the most highly regarded repositories for Los Angeles history…
In the first episode of the 1968 season, Joe Friday and Bill Gannon head to the Fox Studio City Theatre to investigate a bizarre acid-pouring crime, and we get a view of its exterior once more, now restored to its original design.
Sadly, unable to compete with nearby multiplexes, the single screen theater finally closed its doors in 1991, and was soon after converted into a bookstore.
But what remains of the original theater? I decided to take a closer look…
Thankfully, the entrance is nearly the same as it was 77 years ago:
Taking center stage is the gorgeous ticket booth…
…covered with dramatic swoops and flourishes:
A side view – the pattern surrounds the booth, as though a plant bursting up from the ground:
The original movie poster windows are still in place, now used to display merchandise and ads:
Finally, the original terrazzo floors, with designs unique to the theater:
Stepping inside, it takes a moment to get your bearings, but this area would have been the lobby…
…with the theater just beyond the pair of columns. Head past them…
…and you’ll find yourself inside the ghost of the old Fox Studio City Theatre, which has been left surprisingly untouched.
The screen is still visible at the end of the room…
Thought quite skinny by modern standards, it was originally set up to handle 70mm projections.
According to movie-goers who once frequented the Fox Studio City, the ceiling design is original to the theater…
Also original are the deco lamps lining the walls (the adjacent illustrations are modern additions, inspired by the terrazzo pattern outside):
A close-up:
Finally, look to the rear of the theater, and you’ll see the original projection cut-outs still in place (the projectionist’s booth is currently being used as the store’s office):
In its heyday, the theater rented out its two front wings for retail (in the episode of Dragnet, it was apparently occupied by a clothing store called Isabelle’s).
Today, those areas have been opened up as part of the main store:
The ceiling design:
One last little minor detail…
…a little swoop of art deco goodness…
…which continues up to the projectionist’s booth (note the banister rails and the circular ceiling):
When the movie theater closed, the owners, the Rothman family, were adamant that as much of the original structure be preserved as possible. You know a theater has been lovingly converted when you could still mistake it for its original purpose.
Driving by in the daylight, the old Fox Studio City is showing little wear for its 77 years…
And at night?
It’s as majestic as ever.
-SCOUT
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