Breaking news. The Beverly Center 13 movie theater is closing today. I wont even have a chance to say goodbye.
For those of you who came of age after say 1988, this will have little meaning. And even for me, losing what is arguably the worst designed theater in Los Angeles is only of sentimental, not practical sorrow. Would be hard pressed to make a case that the theater deserves keeping.
But for those who were alive when the Beverly Center and its Cineplex Odeon theater opened, it was a glorious time to be young and an insufferably pretentious film nerd.
Back when it opened, there were basically two places to see movies in LA: Westwood and Hollywood Blvd; at the former of which you had to wade through massive throngs of breakdancers and cruising frat boys and you had to stand on ticket lines for hours in advance. The latter was still scary and not even slightly gentrified and you stood a decent chance of being stabbed while you watched Top Gun. Then there were a handful of arthouse and revival houses dotted around the city. The Nuart, New Beverly, Vista, State, Vagabond, Rialto for old movies. The Monica 4, the Royal, the Plaza and Regent in Westwood and a couple others for foreign or independent films, but there weren’t a lot and the same movies occupied it screen for ages.
When the Beverly Center opened, suddenly it felt like our ability to see small film exploded and the number of options soared. The screens were tiny and horribly designed, even by the standards of the day. But even so, it was a miracle of arty-ish choices.
Other Beverly Center formerly Cineplex Odeon facts:
- In her struggling actress days, 24’s Mary Lynn Rasjkub worked as an usher there and has horrible heartbreaking stories about the lonely women who would come and spend the whole day there going from screen to screen and hiding from the world.
- Not actually about the theater, but still my favorite line of Bret Ellis, in Rules of Attraction, Clay says - I paraphrase and maybe get it wrong - “Some girl asked me to meet her at the beverage center but I thought she said the Beverly Center.” Somehow, that line evokes my entire youth.
Films I saw at the Beverly Center (if memory serves, which it might not)
Repo Man, 28 Up, Paris Texas, Eureka, Stranger Than Paradise, Swimming to Cambodia, Blood Simple, She’s Gotta Have It, Mona Lisa.
Well, it wasn’t the best era for fim, but it meant a lot at the time. Thanks for the memories Beverly Center former Cineplex Odeon
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