A Timeless Palace

It’s a Friday night in Los Feliz. A crowd is gathered outside one of the oldest theaters in the L.A. area, the Vista. With its unique architecture reminiscent of ancient Egypt and its colorful history, it stands out among megaplexes and mall theaters around town.

Karie Jacobson, a local resident and patron of the Vista, says that when she enters the theater, she “can’t take her eyes off of those beautiful Egyptian heads.” Jacobson reiterates something that the operators at the Vista are well aware of: The look of the theater adds to the moviegoing experience.

The Vista has been around since 1923 and attracts hip new crowds as well as neighborhood loyalists. It shows mostly first-run movies like “The Cell” and “Almost Famous,” sprinkled with an occasional re-release of a vintage film like “Gimme Shelter.”

Its Friday the 13th program features screenings of the feature “House of Dark Shadows” and an episode of the spooky 1970s soap opera that inspired it. The Vista can try something a little offbeat now and then because it is one of the few independently owned theaters in town.

The Vista has survived a multitude of owners, controversy, mishap and success throughout the years. Today, when neighborhood theaters have all but vanished, it stands as a landmark of the past with present-day relevance.

Stepping into the Vista for the first time, most people are amazed at the elaborately decorated movie house. Gold-painted pharaohs loftily survey the audience from the walls. Serpents loom near pointed pyramid lamps. Walls plastered to look as though constructed of large stone blocks give it the feeling of an Egyptian tomb.

Lance Alspaugh, the president of Five Star Theaters, has been operating the Vista since 1993. He says he became interested in acquiring the Vista because of its prime location. Alspaugh has spent more than $1 million upgrading the decaying interior and exterior of the building, restoring it to some of its former glory.

“Because the restorations to the theater were done in segments, from 1993 up until last July, the audience became involved in the process,” Alspaugh recalls.

The theater got a new projection system, Dolby digital sound, 50-foot screen and a multitude of paints. It was exciting for Alspaugh because he observed that as more improvements were made, the audiences grew larger. That parking, available on nearby streets and in the Asian Community Goodwill Center behind the theater, is not usually a problem hasn’t hurt. Alspaugh says he spared no expense on the renovations, noting that the Vista is one of the last dozen free-standing single-screen theaters in the L.A. area.

Opening as Bards East Hollywood, named for owner Lou Bard, the theater was built on the site of the enormous Babylon set for D.W. Griffith’s “Intolerance.” Bard had opened the theater with the hope of bringing second-run movies to the suburbs. Having had only moderate success by 1927, he sold it; the new owners renamed it the Vista.

In one of several flirtations with controversy, the Vista was picketed in the late ‘50s for showing Russian films, which neighborhood critics considered a symbol of communist sympathies. In the ‘60s, the theater ventured into risky territory by featuring soft-core, hard-core and finally gay pornography. That policy got the Vista and its manager at the time, Stewart Burton, some unwanted attention from the city as officials tried to revoke the theater’s operating permits. In June 1968, however, the California Supreme Court found the city’s ordinance on licensing movie theaters to be unconstitutional because it denied theater operators the right of free speech.

Beginning in July 1980, the Vista attracted a series of would-be renovators. The San Francisco-based Thomas Theaters wanted to create a comfortable, creatively programmed movie house that featured documentaries, classic shorts and films dealing with the stereotypes of women, gays and minorities.

Even Landmark Theatres, operators of the Nuart in West Los Angeles and the Rialto in South Pasadena, tried resurrecting the Vista but sold it instead in 1985, convinced that videocassette had virtually killed revival theaters that had survived on cult films, foreign favorites and classic Hollywood fare.

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But today people like Merri Biechler appreciate the mix of the occasional vintage program with the regular first-run fare. Other patrons of the Vista regard it as a haven. Steve Lange, for one, believes that “the Vista is one of the last great original theaters in the L.A. area.”

The Vista’s location, at the complicated intersection of Hollywood and Sunset boulevards and Hillhurst Avenue, has a built-in draw. The hip Good Luck Bar and Akbar are neighboring businesses, and restaurants abound in Los Feliz village and nearby Silver Lake.

Whether it’s a two-reeler starring actress Baby Peggy from the ‘20s, opera movies on Sundays, Tennessee Williams on Tuesdays, Japanese films on Thursdays, Greta Garbo on Saturdays or revival movies like “Gone With the Wind,” the Vista has offered unique cinema experiences. Nowadays studio fare dominates the program, though Alspaugh tries to schedule movies that “have an edge.”

Patrons find other things to like about the theater too. Image-conscious girls appreciate being able to consult the large mirrors in the bathroom. And all Vista patrons--the hippies, the insouciantly chic Silver Lake crowd or the young kids--appreciate that they’ll never feel a kick in the back of their chairs; in one of the latest renovations, every other row of seats has been removed, and it still seats 400.

The theater celebrated its 77th anniversary Monday. Bucking the trend toward megaplexes that seem like something out of Las Vegas, the Vista survives as a jewel of old Hollywood and a reminder of how the movies began, with a free-standing building, a single-screen theater and a story to tell.

BE THERE

“House of Dark Shadows” 30th Anniversary Celebration Friday, 7:30 p.m. Vista Theatre, 4473 Sunset Drive, Los Feliz. (323) 660-6639.