Vista Theatre (Los Angeles) facts for kids
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Lou Bard Playhouse
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| Address | 4473 Sunset Drive Los Angeles, California |
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| Coordinates | 34°05′54″N 118°17′13″W / 34.0984°N 118.2869°W |
| Owner | Quentin Tarantino |
| Operator | Vintage Cinemas |
| Type | Egyptian |
| Capacity | 400 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | October 9, 1923 |
| Reopened | 2023 |
| Architect | Lewis A. Smith |
Vista Theatre is a historic single-screen movie theater in Los Angeles, California, located in Los Feliz on the border with East Hollywood.
History
Vista Theatre opened on October 9, 1923, as a single-screen theater. In addition to screening films, the theater also showed vaudeville acts on stage. Originally known as Lou Bard Playhouse on opening day in 1923, the cinema played the film Tips starring Baby Peggy. The original seating capacity in the auditorium held space for 838 seats. The owners later removed every other row to allow for increased legroom, reducing the number of seats to 400.
It is one of the remaining historic structures from the 1920s, when Hollywood was first developed and began attracting residents to its new suburban homes from areas near downtown Los Angeles and East Los Angeles, which, at the time, were middle-class and wealthy areas of Los Angeles.
The theater was refurbished by Thomas Theaters in 1980.
The theater is a local landmark. It was renovated to play new release movies, and retains its historic architecture. The theater's forecourt features cement handprints and footprints of notable film figures.
The Vista has drawn many famous actors and directors to attend, host, or sometimes surprise audiences at screenings of their films there. Anne Hathaway, Taika Waititi, Lupita Nyong'o, John Cho, Zoë Kravitz, Chris Hemsworth, and Tessa Thompson have attended screenings of their films at the Vista since 2018.
In July 2021, director Quentin Tarantino revealed that he had purchased the theater. Tarantino plans to operate a cafe and mini screen room that will offer beer and wine.
The Vista is officially reopened on November 17, 2023.
