Tarantino's New Vista Theatre LA CA

[Terry Monohan]

I wanted to share my thoughts on my first visit to the remodeled Vista Theatre in Los Angeles CA owned now by Quentin Tarantino. Our group was down in the Hollywood CA area last week going to a few 16mm private home parties. The Vista looks so great now. As you guys know I am into color lights and curtains in movie theatres most are missing these days.

The inside main theatre has some of the best use of color deco dark blue/red type lights on the side walls. We watched a great condition 35mm B&W print from Columbia of 'Who Was That Lady' shown flat with the proper masking. Before the main feature they showed a great assortment of 35mm trailers plus a color cartoon in 1.33

I must mention about the new 35mm mono sound amplifier at the Vista It was the best sound of any old 35mm 1960 movie shown in a theatre I have heard in a long while. The Vista's sound system has great clear treble and deep base. Hope to visit again when they show a 4 track mag stereo or Dolby Digital 35mm film print 0r 70mm 6 track sound with the many surround speakers on.

The lobby was done very well with a nice assortment of candy RC Cola drinks and popcorn with lighted poster cases

As I mainly went to see the red curtains in action they did open and close them but at the wrong times. I talked to the manager after about the curtain timing. Like so many cinemas that still use their drapes at the Vista Theatre this past Saturday morning the projectionist in the booth dimmed the lights and opened the curtains on a blank white screen then the 35mm cartoon started a little out of focus. Same at the end credits on the main feature the projectionist waited till the movie ended and then closed the drapes on a white screen this was after most of the people had left. As many old time projection people tell me and I remember as a kid the proper way is to project the opening image both on the curtains and screen then open the drapes. Same at the end you wait till the 10 second cue upper right and start closing them so the end credits end around the same time the curtains have fully closed. You project on the drapes and screen at the same time. A plus like in the old days is to close the curtains one more time after the trailers and then open again on the feature attraction.

Hope Quentin reads this forum or the manger can change the curtain timings. It was still one of the best movie theatre showmanship presentations I have watched in the last 25 years. If you are visiting the LA area check the Vista Theatre out . They are at 4473 Sunset on the Film-Tech Cinema Systems or Blogs bus lines.

They even have a small 16mm &VHS cinema space next to the lobby but was closed on my Saturday morning visit. Next door in the Vista Theatre building is Pam's Coffy a smart little food and coffee place dedicated to Pam Grier with posters and memorabilia .Has a small old TV screen with old VHS movies playing.in a small booth space.

My visit to the restored Netflik Egyptian Hollywood Theatre also last week did not go so well curtain wise. Watch for my reports with photos on another topic soon.


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[Mark Ogden]

You're a man who takes his curtains seriously, Terry, and I would agree that a judicious use of them can be a fine and nostalgic thing, which is no doubt what the Vista is going for.

At the same time, what is showmanship to one movie-goer is pretension to another, and some classic theaters get a little too carried away with this stuff. Possibly the single most hostile crowd that I have ever witnessed in a cinema was during a showing of Interstellar in 70mm at the Ziegfeld Theatre in Manhattan, where patience with such things is in short supply to begin with. I don't know who was in the booth that night but he opened and closed the curtains no less than three times before the feature started, to the increasingly loud groaning of the audience. By the time he closed them again after the feature presentation dater, there was a sizable group that sounded ready to go up to the booth to shove him out of a projection port.

The old rule that I followed was open the curtain at the start of the trailers and leave it open to the end of the feature, unless there was going to be an aspect-ratio driven change to the masking between the feature dater and the feature. Then and only then, close the curtain until the masking has had a chance to settle, and then open again and go on with the show. It was a very nice effect if you were going from flat to 'scope.

Cool pictures, BTW.

[Terry Monohan]

Thanks Mark for the comments. I think the NYC Ziegfeld Theatre used two sets of curtains the waterfall up and down slow type and a side by side title curtain. The showing you talked about was probably with the slow effect waterfall up and down ones. The Vista only has side by side open ones and don't take to long to open and close.

Hope you can visit the Vista Theatre and see what Quentin spent his movie $ money on.

On another post soon I will put some photos up from my first trip to the Netflik/ American Cinematheque Egyptian Hollywood Theatre just re opened and renovated. They spent all this money on the remodel and turns out Netflik during the week uses the new blue side by side curtain with blue lights but on the weekends when AC American Cinematheque shows movies they mostly never close the curtains. You just sit there and watch a boring slide for 30 minutes on the screen. No class no showmanship they claim they run slides sometimes and can't close the curtains. That's bull If they want to show the boring repeated slide show let it be but after close and open the drapes please and at the end exit credits from the film.

I will be sending a letter to Netflik and the AC people. Next time I visit Hollywood we will have to go see the drapes at the Egyptian Theatre during the week. At least the projection guys at Netflik know what they are doing for proper presentation.
Going to see MaXXXine this weekend in SF. Seems all the large special effect theatres in San Francisco like Regal RPX ,Century XD, Imax 4DX and Screen X are showing the two animation movies this weekend in the best auditoriums too bad. The Drafthouse Sony New Mission Theatre may be showing MaXXXine in their large downstairs cinema Film-Tech Forums ?

Thanks again Mark for your notes. Have a fun 4th Of July. Terry

[Mark Ogden]

I can't remember if the gold main curtain there was a waterfall or a traveler, but you're right, they had the last title curtain I've ever seen in use. The thing was, set for 'scope the screen was 63' wide, and it took a helluva long time for the title curtain to close, and then the main, and then to open back up again. If it's only once or twice, great, three times gets annoying, and at four times people are reaching for the Glock.

If your travels ever take you to Toronto, see a movie at the Bell Lightbox on King Street. This is a beautiful modern theater whose main screen has a traveler that is lit from underneath by multi-colored LED panels. They built a macro for the show open that causes the LEDs to dim down and follow the curtain parting so that it is illuminated all the way back, but no light hits the screen itself. It's tough to describe the effect but I was madly impressed the first time I saw it.

[Agnius Acus]

There's actual Tarantino sitting in the lobby?
Or it's a prop?

[Ryan Gallagher]

What is the deal with the coffee/pastry stand and having so many cereals to choose from? Is cereal outside of the house a thing in LA? Or is that just a funny theme they decided to roll with?

Edit: Also are the seats new? That row spacing feels massive unless we just happen to be staring at an ADA row... are they planning dinner theatre service and wanted to leave room to walk?

[John Thomas]

I was lead installer onsite for the cinema system at the Vista. Glad to read such kind words about the final product. Every single aspect of the system from audio to picture to lighting to booth layout was a labor of love. It was truly an honor to be a part of that project. Plenty of unique problems with unique solutions.

Rest assured a fair amount of discussion and work went into how the grand curtain would work with the new masking track. Timing occurs on a case-by-case basis since it is a proper, manually operated booth.

The cereal is a Quentin thing.

The seats are brand new. I believe every-other row was removed decades ago, so yes the row spacing is massive but that is not a new feature to the Vista. I like it.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I was lead installer onsite for the cinema system at the Vista.

Some booth photos would be neato!

Personally with our curtain I've been looking forward to an opportunity to play with custom venue or film specific branding and a center wipe that reveals content as the traveler opens. I've done some proofs of concept for manual but getting it really dialed with proper timing will require a few more automation options in our booth, namely the ability to fire the curtain from the cuelist. I have a couple Jnior Series 4 now, and if they greenlight putting one in I'll be cooking with gas.

[John Thomas]

I have some great ones. Need to ask permission first though. They're strict about social media over there.

[Mark Ogden]

I have some great ones. Need to ask permission first though. They're strict about social media over there.

Someone’s all ready done it:

https://losangelestheatres.blogspot....sta-booth.html

[John Thomas]

Yes, trespassers with cameras were a regular issue.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Very impressive before and after! We've often been told we have a very tidy booth, but it's nothing compared to that! Wish we could bump out our wall or expand to the roof line behind us... our platter went into storage when the digital system claimed that footprint.

[Terry Monohan]

Thanks John for letting us know about your great work on the Vista Theatre. I forgot to mention in my first note about the sound of the movie piped into the Vista restrooms. A very nice feature no one does anymore. They could never do this in a multi screen theatre. So nice so you don't miss much of the film. .

Glad they still use the outside neon marquee with plastic letters to let all the drivers going by what is playing inside.

I wanted to ask you about the outside mustard color the Vista is painted now. Was this the first choice or did they have other colors to test before they went with this current one. Seems like I saw some photos a year ago that showed the outside cement stucco walls painted a blue type color or this may have just been a primer color.? Glad they didn't do red again.

Hope to meet you in person on my next Hollywood trip this Fall. Thanks again Terry

[Frank Angel]

Terry, you are right. He needs to do this to some theatre here in NY. It's not right that only CA gets the good stuff. I would come out of retirement to work in a booth like that -- and I'd pay THEM to let me run a show!

[Paul Finn]

Why does the Vista have a platter system for 70mm?? Do they show 70mm prints more than 3-4 times? They have such a beautiful reel-to reel-system available for BOTH 35mm and 70mm.

Paul Finn