Seeing Classics in a Classic

When the Los Angeles Conservancy launched the Last Remaining Seats film festival six years ago, there were nearly 15,000 seats available in theaters in the Broadway Historic District. Now, on the eve of the seventh annual festival--the first show is Wednesday--the remaining seats in operating theaters number fewer than 6,000.

The Last Remaining Seats is a film festival with a twist. This time the theaters are the real stars: the Orpheum, the State, the Palace, the Los Angeles, all on Broadway, and the Rialto in South Pasadena. But the movies are hardly chopped liver, as they say in Hollywood: the Marx Brothers’ “A Night at the Opera” (1935), “Show Boat” (1936), “The Wind” (1928) with Lillian Gish and Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights” (1931). The conservancy’s notion is to show classic pictures as they were meant to be seen, on the Big Screen, in five of the last classic local theaters. (For tickets, call (213) 466-1767.)

The conservancy was formed in 1978 to prevent the demolition of the Central Library. The group now runs many programs designed to help preserve and revitalize the historic architectural resources of greater Los Angeles, including the Downtown Walking Tours, neighborhood tours and the Last Remaining Seats.

Thanks to the persistence and faith of the conservancy, and many other groups, there are some heartening signs of new life for some other old downtown classics. The renovated Bradbury Building celebrates its centennial this year; the rebuilt Central Library, severely damaged in a 1986 fire, opens this October, and even the Grand Central Market, too long ignored, is looking sharper these days.

But L.A.’s historic theaters need help. They are, truly, among the last of the classic L.A. glamour spots.