Went to a show recently at the restored Los Angeles Theatre

I saw Kim Lenz a couple of weeks ago at teh Los Angeles Theatre. Man this place was beautiful. reminds you that at one time Hollywood was glamorous. Even down to the bathrooms. I went into the bathroom and it was split into two rroms, one was all stalls, the other was all urinals, both were completely florr to ceiling covered in marble. Marble bathrooms, how snazzy is that? There was a round room with mirrors that went all the way around. Looked like something out of a Disney movie. the ceiling was incredibly ornate.

I hear soon they will be reopening the Million Dollar for shows too. I used to go the Million Dollar with my folks when I was a little kid and have fond memories. I hope that place gets as good of a restoration job as the Los Angeles Theatre.

The place is SSSSSSSSSSSmokin'!

http://losangelestheatre.com

I need to find a list of future performances there. Any idea Sam?

Hey Kids,
I also highly recommend going to an event in the Los Angeles theater as well as to the other old movie palaces (the few that are left) downtown. Granted, the LA theater has had a bit of an easier time keeping up the place since it's now privately owned and mostly rented out for location shooting. Therefore it no longer gets the daily abuse it used to get as a first-run theater.

I would also recommend seeing the Orpheum theater down the street (at Broadway and 9th). It's about as big as the LA theater with a more French Renaissance look to it. It just underwent a full restoration and updating of their sound system. They will be having more live events there in the future.

In fact, I've attended and been involved with an annual classic film series put on by the LA Conservancy that uses the remaining movie palaces downtown. It happens every year in June. If you want to know more about it go to laconservancy.org and look for the Last Remaining Seats film series. This year they'll be using the LA theater, the Orpheum, the Palace (not the one on Vine St.) and the Wiltern in Hollywood. In the past they've also used the State and the Million Dollar theaters.

In general, don't be afraid to venture downtown and discover some great old buildings and environments. And thanks to folks like the LA Conservancy, a little bit of new life is finally being breathed into the area.

....AND don't forget the UNITED ARTISTS, wow what a place! I used to take foreign visitors on a tour of the Broadway theaters downtown LA when they were still running Mexican movies, one could just walk in and marvel at the architecture. The Mayan was showing porno movies then: Imagine a giant screen with red lit copulation close ups flanked by precolumbian idols, the few remaing believers staring at it like a pagan ritual.

I off course liked the fact that they were kind of run down then, it felt more like urban archeology....

We can thank the Hispanics who took over downtown for actually LIKING the pomp of those theaters and keeping it unaltered because it went along with their aesthetic sensibilities, rather than renovating it away as was done with the Egyptian and most other movie palaces around town. And then off course the LA conservancy for keeping it going....

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2003-01-30 14:46 ]

changing the subject a bit...
Sam-
Is Kim Lenz playing regularly again? I knew she had moved out west and I've been waiting for her to start touring. Haven't seen her play in years. How'd she sound?

Heather and Carlos that used to do Bowlarama put that show on. I'm not suree if they'll be using the venue again. As for Kim Lenz, she moved to LA recently, but also had a kid recently, so I think shows will be sparce but once she gets ready to get a few more shows going there should be some local ones lined up.

suicide_sam wrote:
As for Kim Lenz, she moved to LA recently, but also had a kid recently, so I think shows will be sparce...

That probably explains why there hasn't been an update on her site since August '02.

http://kimlenz.com

Is she a sight or what, you should have seen her that night. She totally got her figure back, her hair was firey red and had a blonde streak going down the site. It was like a cartoon, my tongue rolled out and big cartoon hearts were popping out of my eyes.