Warner Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, CA
9404 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90212 (map)
Status: Closed/Demolished
Screens: Single Screen
Style: Art Deco
Function: Unknown
Seats: 1500
Chain: Unknown
Architect: B. Marcus Priteca
Firm: Unknown

Vintage exterior view of the Warner Beverly Hills (circa 1938)

Photo courtesy of William GabelDesigned B. Marcus Priteca in the early 1930's, the Warner was a medium sized theater, designed after its sisters in Huntington Park and San Pedro. This theater, like the other two Warners (the Pantages and the Wiltern), are outstanding examples of what Art Deco can be.

With changing times and audiences & neighborhoods, the large Beverly Hills theaters would soon become parking lots, banks, and office buildings. The only theater to be saved was the Wilshire Theatre.

A few years ago when the restored Lawrence of Arabia was having its special reissue premiere in Los Angeles, the Warner was being torn down. Ironically, the Warner was the site of the original LA premiere for the film.
Contributed by William Gabel
YOUR COMMENTS

I worked as an usher and later an assistant manager there from March 1973 thru Spring 1975. Pacific Theatres had the lease at that time. Although I never counted all the seats, we said the capacity was 1314. The night janitor started working there in 1947. What a nice guy! Most of the movies booked there were sub-runs, but a few times we would have exclusive engagements for reissues. Both "The Sound of Music" and "Gone With The Wind" were there for several months each during my employment. I still have several "Lawrence of Arabia" road show programs that I found in one of the old dressing rooms backstage. What a great place to see films. I couldn't believe Beverly Hills, with all it's money, couldn't save that wonderful palace,
posted by lee on Sep 23, 2001 at 7:46pm
The demolition of the Warner Beverly Hills Theater in 1988 was a major loss to the city of Beverly Hills!
posted by BHousos on Apr 20, 2002 at 11:45am
During the 50's thru the early 70's, the Warner Beverly Hills was one of the Best Places to see Roadshow movies. They were one of the best equipped theatres in the city. They had 70MM and was one of the only theatres to have true VistaVision projection. During the 30's they had a neon tower that read Warner. But was later removed because of re-zoning of signs. But the way the theatre was designed and located at Canon Dr and Wilshire Blvd., you could see the theatre from 6 blocks away. The Warner Beverly Hills was part of the Warner Bros.chain then part of the Stanley Warner chain till late 1970 when Pacific Theatres bought the Southern California part of the chain. In this sale they picked up the Warner Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Wiltern, Huntington Park and the Topanga. The Warner's Forum Theatre was part of Pacific owned Cinerama division. During it's last years it played host to many local concerts and shows. The theatre was still in great shape at the time it was razed. But the owners Glendale Federal Savings did not want to put any more money to Earthquake refit the building. (around 12 million dollars)When they were razed the building they started from the rear of the building, so if you were passing it looked like they were just working on the front.

Today the Warner Beverly Hills has become the parking lot for the Rolex Beverly Hills offices.

posted by William on Oct 8, 2003 at 8:36pm
Just a quick update/correction. The Stanley Warner chain, borne of the consent decrees of the early 50's was indeed acquired by Pacific Drive-In Theatre Corp, (as it was originally known,) but in 1961. Included in that group was today's Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro.

The Beverly, as it was last known as, was razed in 1989, by Columbia Savings, who were intent on building a parking garage. In fact, the infant L.A. Conservancy, got word the theatre was being dismantled and when initial queries were made, the demolition company was told to stop dismantling and instead were offered a $100,000 bonus to drop the ceiling in one day. They succeeded, receiving the bonus and preventing any saving of this once elegant neighborhood palace.

Ironically perhaps, as this was the same Columbia Savings that became infamous for its Charles Keating scandal. The hole created after clearing the Beverly's debris, remained a hole in the ground for over 10 years.
posted by WGTRay on Oct 10, 2003 at 1:56am
If Pacific acquired the Stanley Warners here in 1961. Then why were they still listed as Stanley Warner Theatre assets as of January 1969 in the International Motion Picture Almanac from Quigley Publications and also in the Film Daily Publication. And I have also a film log from the Screen Room at the Warner Hollywood Theatre, that shows it was still part of the Warner chain till the late 60's.
posted by William on Oct 13, 2003 at 7:49pm
I worked here with my first girlfriend right around 1976-7, when Chuck Yelsky was the manager (nice guy). I was just out of high school. Changed the letters on the marquee, went up into the catwalks to relamp when the theater got rented out for the High Holidays, you name it. This beautiful old palace, then known as the Pacific Beverly Hills, was being booked with the worst movies ever! But such was the movie business is those days immediately before the rise of Spielberg and Lucas--
Countless adventures were had there, and there was plenty of room to run around the utterly empty auditorium what with films like Scalawag, the soft-core porn movie Maitress, Terry Gilliams's Jabberwocky, and The Missouri Breaks playing. The time I can remember it most crowded was for the premiere of that memorable film Fun With Dick and Jane. Cranky executives from the home office came in and really made our life miserable for a few hours.
However, the real fun began when we ran an exclusive engagement of The Passover Plot. Remember that one? Zalman King (later the soft-core tzar behind Red Shoes Diaries, et cet) in the role of Jesus Christ; this--I believe--Golan and Globus production suggested that the Crucifixion was a trick. Local fundementalists--LA's got 'em by the thousands--phoned in bomb threats, and we on the staff drew extra hours to protect the otherwise empty theater from suspicious characters. Since the theater still had a stage, and since there were an average of three people a night paying to see this movie, and since the movie was a true lox, one time I rode my bicycle across the stage in mid film on a bet. Got a nice hand; no complaints.
One of the reasons I left LA is because they were tearing down buildings like this, and I'm sorry to hear it's gone.
posted by Blofeld on Nov 12, 2003 at 3:46pm
To see an early exterior view of the Warner Bros Beverly Hills Theater, complete with tower (LAPL collection) go here:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014435.jpg
To see a 1931 view of the Warner Bros Beverly Hills Theater auditorium (LAPL collection) go here:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014431.jpg
posted by David Thompson on Dec 23, 2003 at 5:16pm
The last film I saw in this beautiful theatre was "The Mirror Cracked" with Elizabeth Taylor,Rock Husdon,Kim Novak and Angela Landsbary. It was showing 2nd run features at the time. As the film
industry changed in the 1970's and the roadwhow prestige pictures were now out of favor I always had the feeling that Beverly Hills no longer saw these theatres as desirable. Mann theatres made the mistake of booking The Exorcist and movies like Woodstock in exclusive runs which brought at times unruly crowds into Beverly Hills and the city was not going to put up with this.brucec
posted by brucec on Feb 29, 2004 at 12:36am
When the "The Exorcist" opened it played exclusively at the Mann's National Theatre in Westwood. Then they opened a second westside engagement at the Mann's Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills. "Woodstock" opened at the Mann's Fox Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills. Both the Fine Arts and the Fox Wilshire Theatres were located in the eastern side of Beverly Hills. The large single screen theatres in Beverly Hills and Downtown Los Angeles were slowly dying during this time. The ones Downtown were all action/horror or Spanish by this time. The three large Beverly Hills theatres were dropped by their chains during the mid to late 70's. They tried to reopen the Warner Beverly Hills with double features and low admission prices, but it was to late. The Warner Beverly Hills Theatre was one of 340 theatres equipped with a full 70mm Norelco 70/35mm projection equipment and a Full 6-Track Ampex Stereo sound system.
posted by William on Apr 12, 2004 at 4:11pm
I show the address for the Warner Beverly Hills at 9404 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, Ca. 90212.
posted by CharlesVanBibber on May 13, 2004 at 5:00pm
I was lucky enough to attend two exclusive engagements at this theatre in the late 1960's, both Franco Zeferelli films--"Taming of the Shrew" and "Romeo and Juliet". And make no mistake about it--the name of this grand old Wilshire Blvd. theatre was the Stanley Warner.
posted by L. Thomas on Oct 15, 2004 at 3:34pm
The Warner Beverly was the place I saw both Lawrence of Arabia and Becket, in their road show engagements. That was in 1962 and 1963. The theater was impressive, and was still very well kept at that time. It was my favorite building in Beverly Hills, and, both inside and out, one of the best pieces of art deco in California.
posted by Joe Vogel on Oct 28, 2004 at 6:46am
I recall this being a 99-cent theater (along with the Criterion in Santa Monica, and the Meralta in Culver City) during the early 1980s.

posted by Ron Newman on Nov 18, 2004 at 11:29pm
Yes, during that time the theatre operated as a 99 cent house along with the Criterion, Meralta and also the Holiday in Canoga Park.
posted by William on Dec 14, 2004 at 12:26pm
It seems bizarre for a theatre in Beverly Hills to be a dollar house.
posted by RobertR on Dec 14, 2004 at 2:12pm
Well after Pacific Theatres dropped the theatre from their chain. The theatre sat for a time empty. Then there was a plan to use the theatre as a playhouse. They where to stage I think the play "My Life in the Theatre". They were going to have the audience seated on stage and play was going to take place in the auditorium. The city of Beverly Hills put a stop to it, before it opened. So the theatre sat another year or so. Before Lou from the Four Star Theatre leased the theatre. So they reopened the theatre at 99 cents a seat. At that time they were operating those other three theatres. The theatre was still equipped to run film. Pacific Theatre left all the equipment in the booth. They were once a Road Show house. They ran second run and a few classics in 4-Track Mag Stereo. The theatre did not last a year, before they closed it forever as a movie house. It would sit for another year before a company reopened it as a concert type theatre like the Beacon Theatre in NYC. In one of my above posts you'll find the rest of the story of this once Grand Theatre in the Heart of Beverly Hills. The Norelco DP-70's were stripped for parts and were in the booth when the theatre was razed. The two Simplex Black bodied XL's were installed in the Vagabond Theatre near the Westlake Theatre in Los Angeles.

For people to see what the Warner Beverly Hills Theatre was once like should take a trip down to the Warner Grand Theatre. The Warner Grand Theatre is the only Warner Theatre in Los Angeles that was never remodeled like other theatres of that era. The Warner Huntington Park Theatre another sister theatre to the Beverly Hills and San Pedro was twinned by Pacific Theatres.
posted by William on Dec 14, 2004 at 3:33pm
William I always wondered why Pacific didn't try to book in Exclusive upscale films after the era of the roadshow failed. Was it to difficult to get bookings due to the day and date bookings in Westwood and Hollywood? I remember talking to a high ranking executive from Pacific and he said this was his favoite theatre in the entire chain. This was my personal favorite of the Beverly Hills movie palaces.brucec
posted by brucec on Dec 18, 2004 at 4:34pm
December 22nd 2005 To the many friends of this so very much missed grand palace, I wish all the happiest of holidays filled with health happiness and peace and wish You the happiest of New Years 2005. I too, also, worked as an usher, doorman, candy man and later assistant manager to Robert Blankenship, Manager Stanley Warner Theaters. I was nicknamed the young Jerry Lewis in my mustard yellow double breated gold buttoned waistcoat with green and brown patches by Zsa Zsa Gabor the night of the premiere of The Ship of Fools. I had lied about my age (I was 12) convincing the manager to hire me free of charge for two weeks. I guess he liked me, I got to stay, and with it received minimum wages. $1.35 an hour. lol ! The theater was two blocks from my parents home and working day and night seemed to be the norm in my most unusual childhood. I loved this theater since I was a child and I could never believe with its gilded golden ceilings, hanging priceless art deco light fixtures, full stage, hidden dressing rooms (downstairs behind the stage) an incredible balcony, magnificent neon and a spiral tower that litup the skies that blinked Stanley Warner and could be seen for miles. My family, owner of The Beverly Hills Liquor Castle on Beverly Drive were one of three companies that were demanded to remove the large signage in the City of Beverly Hills. Before working in this great palatial movie palace, I would go with young friends and with huge barrel of buttered popcorn and large orange soda and a box of bon bons, I was ready to "live large" in the front balcony for many a great film. Robert Blankenship was a very nice man. I remember him believing in me and lent me his managers tuxedo for the after premiere parties that were held throughout the city. I had made friends with living legends such as; Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton, Duke Ellington, Ronald Reagan, Peter O'Toole, Andy Warhol, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Bill Cosby, Mohammed Ali (Cassius Clay), Jerry Lewis, Jayne Mansfield, so many stars. The Beverly Hills Courier Newspaper started their world-famous publication with March Schwartz as Editor in Chief upstairs (over the liquor store) so Press Passes were always available to me. I crashed some of Hollywoods biggest and best parties EVER! :) Hernando Courtwright's The Beverly Wilshire Hotel ( known more now for the movie "Pretty Woman" was the backdrop for many a huge celebrity gathering. The pool area located on the Rodeo Drive side of the hotel behind Milton Kries 24 Hour Coffee Shop was a meeting place from Presidents, celebrities, sport figures to locals alike. I met President Richard Nixon in the mens room on the lobby level (security were close family friends) I also attended the Frank Sinatra 50th Birthday Bash and was photographed for Modern Screen Magazine with Nancy & Tina Sinatra, Buddy Hackett, Eddie Fisher, Deana Martin and me. I escorted the beautiful and lovely Lucille Ball into the banquet. Desi Jr. and I attended Beverly Hills High School and shared the same birthdays January 19th . The theater played host to Beatlemania in the 80's. I went to just about every performance. In 1984, Motown Records, started its 25th Anniversary and The Four Tops and The Temptations appeared, in concert. As did Dionne Warwick and Pia Zadora and many other top concert and fundraisers alike. To say I loved this exuisite art deco masterpiece theater is truly an understatement of fact. Franco Zeferelli films--"Taming of the Shrew" and "Romeo and Juliet", Rosemary's Baby, Ship of Fools, Lawrence of Arabia, were just some of the films I attended/ and or worked. They tried to reopen the Warner Beverly Hills with double features and low admission prices, but it was to late. The Warner Beverly Hills Theatre was one of 340 theatres equipped with a full 70mm Norelco 70/35mm projection equipment and a Full 6-Track Ampex Stereo sound system. The demolition of this grand palace, The Stanley Warner Movie Theater's demolition is truly a black mark in Hollywood movie history. No one of any age could ever justify nor comprehend the importance of the theaters preservation in Hollywood movie history. Its archetiture and interior was truly one of granduer and statis. During the 50's thru the early 70's, the Warner Beverly Hills was one of the all-time favorite places to see Roadshow movies. We were one of the best equipped theatres in the city. We had 70MM and was one of the only theatres to have true VistaVision projection. During the 30's they had a neon tower that read Warner. But was later removed because of re-zoning of signs. But the way the theatre was designed and located at Canon Dr and Wilshire Blvd., you could see the theatre from blocks away. The Warner Beverly Hills was part of the Warner Bros. chain then part of the Stanley Warner chain till late 1970's when Pacific Theatres bought the Southern California landmark. As I reflect on my life and the past memories as a child growing up here , a resident of Beverly Hills, and more importantly a history and architectural lover. Realizing parking was a major factor and with the opening of the Century City Mall in 1969, the Westside Pavilion, and the remodeling of the Westwood Village theaters, The Mann and The Bruin, what with dieing audience attendance, and the newly introduction of multiplex theaters in malls throughout Southern California, Beverly Hills' diamond in the rough, was to be lost , FOREVER! :( I miss the theater, I fondly called home to my close friends, yet, I certainly don't miss having to carry the many 70 mm film cans up the many flights of stairs to the projection room. I tried contacting Columbia Savings to find out the status of the spiral tower removed from the property as I am very versed in historical signage and owned two TV and Film galleries in Beverly Hills on Beverly Drive specializing in historical and irreplaceable Hollywood signage. Respectfully I Remain; David Harrison Levi, David Levi Communications, Inc. Beverly Hills, California 90210 USA itsmr5012u@aol.com
posted by David Harrison Levi on Dec 21, 2004 at 7:10am
David:

I was born on January 19th, too! That's not too surprising, I suppose, since about one of every 365 people would be, but I'm always a bit surprised to run across someone who shares my birthday anyway.

You must have been working at the Warner about the time of my visits to the theatre- first, to the road show of Lawrence of Arabia, then the road show of Becket. I went back to see both of them twice, as much for the theatre as for the movies. I would have liked to have gone to the Warner more often, but I lived on the far side of Los Angeles, in the San Gabriel Valley, and it was a long and costly trip by bus in those days.

I attended movies at many of Southern California's grand old movie palaces in the 1960s, but there was always something special about the Warner Beverly. It had, and was surrounded by, an air of elegance and sophistication, almost as though it had somehow remained suspended in an earlier age while most of the other theatres had been caught in the tides of change and had fetched up on the tatty shores of the more modern world, surrounded by McDonald's franchises and discount stores.

The last time I passed by the Warner was in the mid-1980s. I had impulsively taken a bus jaunt to Santa Monica, and, on the way back to Los Angeles, I noticed that the bus was full of hippies, by then a rare species. I wondered at the oddity, and this sudden feeling of displacement in time. Then, at the bus stop near the theatre, the hippies all disembarked, which seemed to me even stranger than their presence. What on earth could they be doing in Beverly Hills? Then we passed the Warner, and I saw the marquee. The Grateful Dead were playing a concert there! I think that this must have been one of the last events the theatre ever hosted.

But even at that late date, the facade of the Warner was still splendid. It looked as though it would last forever. When I heard, only recently, that it had been demolished, I could scarcely believe it. It is very sad that the City of Beverly Hills could not save this marvelous gem.

posted by Joe Vogel on Dec 21, 2004 at 8:03am
My New Friend Joe; Hi Saw Your comments. Yes, indeed the Warner saw a lot of concert and comedy action in its later days. I get teary eyed when I realize the importance of historical landmarks and the roles they play. The demolision, was wasteful and wrong. It is a surface lot ONLY, NOT a high rise structure or business office. The Rolex Company has turned this magnificent structure into a mere surface street parking lot for regular vehicles. I passed the theater today, remembering the goodtimes and fond memories that forever will be etched in my memory during those teenage years. After all, I kissed my 1st girlfriend Patti in the balcony and well, a large tub of buttered popcorn , a couple large orange sodas, a nestles crunch bar, two boxes of raisinettes and some bon bons, sure made the women, ready and willing! lol!?! The City of Beverly Hills could not save this marvelous gem. It's ALL about $$$
Pleased to make Your acquaintance; David Harrison Levi
posted by David Harrison Levi on Dec 21, 2004 at 8:26pm
A parking lot seems an incredibly low-end use for prime Wilshire Boulevard real estate, especially when it's been no more than that for almost twenty years. But, given what Rolex charges for its watches, I guess they can afford the extravagance. Still, it seems to me that even had the main floor of the theatre been turned into retail space, as was the Beverly Theatre, it would have been a more economical use of the place.

I don't remember Beverly Hills having a Civic Auditorium of any sort (or do they use the auditorium at the high school?) I would have thought that they would have been glad to spend a bit ( and take one small lot off the tax roles) to catch up with cities such as Santa Monica, Pasadena, and Glendale, which have had such facilities for decades. I doubt that it would have cost very much to convert the Warner to public use. The building appeared to have been well maintained through the years. When even the small city of San Gabriel has managed to operate a 1500 seat municipal auditorium for ages now, (and San Gabriel probably doesn't have even a tenth of the wealth that is concentrated in Beverly Hills), it really is a shame that they didn't make the effort to save at least this one theatre, which could have provided so much benefit to the city.

posted by Joe Vogel on Dec 23, 2004 at 8:03am
Joe; I was thinking how wonderful a Christmas Wonderland with Santa Elves and Scenery would have been, for a holiday show, yearly. They promoted this usage at The "Original" Pan Pacific Theater in the 60's. I would have loved to be the executive producer to such an event. I remember, it was like magic, You asked Santa for a gift off a list on a chalkboard, got Your photo taken with Santa and Elves, then a gift, wrapped magically came down a metal slide from the workroom above. But rather, Beverly Hills NEEDED those 16 parking spots. I get upset, everytime I think of this most disasterious decision, by community leaders. The theater, in fact, was in need of interior painting in the lower floor lobby, ONLY. It was in fact; very well maintained. As years passed, the empty theater collected debris in its entrance doors, on busy Wilshire Blvd., as no one seemed to care. Every great while city workers would clean the sidewalks and remove the excess leaves and newspapers. What a pity, what a shame, with no aim, the city came, with all its fame and all the game, with such a name, and much of the same, it was tamed. DEMOLITION! :( David Harrison Levi David Levi Communications, Inc. Beverly Hills, California 90210 USA
posted by David Harrison Levi on Dec 23, 2004 at 10:40pm
(ref. Stanley Warner theatre on Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills, CA.)What ever happened to their two horizontal vistaVision projectors?(Century custom designed and manufactured)Someone mentioned that part of their Norelco 70 M.M. projectors(vertical)were in the booth at the time that the theatre was raised but, what ever happened to those two original horizontal vistaVision projectors? Do any of the original horizontal vistaVision prints exist today? (At Technicolor, Paramount,etc.) With HDTV now available, what a treat it would be to see them as orignally presented in that theatre, after having them tranferred via horizontal vistaVision projection to a 1080i or 720p type HDTV format! Even if the color is gone some of them were released in B&W originally anyway.
posted by GB on Dec 27, 2004 at 4:58pm
Not a nail was salvaged from this royal palace. Seems a shame, the world was asleep, while the bulldozers played, with movie history. I truly believe the City of Beverly Hills, is a sadder place, when one thinks of the beauty, the history, the importance of so rich a theatre, now nothing more, but a few vintage photographs and fond memories, of what was unmistakingly, one of the finest examples of art deco in America. The planning commission here in Beverly Hill's continues to hold on tight to architecture review but fails and falls short of what was and what is! How could anyone in their right frame of mind, destroy a work of art so important to the landscape and rich history of our fair city. Where were the history buffs, the movie palace buffs, the historical society who swear an oath to keep history of demolition, from repeating itself. My heart is empty inside, daily, each time I must drive by this shallow street level Rolex parking lot. I'm sure I don't speak for myself, as this is happening all over the United States and in big and small citie's around the world. Who really is watching out, for the next demolition. Maybe Rolex may build another office building in Italy, maybe, just maybe, the Vatican is next up for demolition?! hmmmm !@#$%^&$(*)$$#@ I'm confused who's really in charge here? Is it REALLY all about $$$? Respectfully I remain; David Harrison Levi - Beverly Hills, California 90210 USA itsmr5012u@aol.com Please respond ---
posted by David Harrison Levi on Dec 28, 2004 at 12:39am

Stanley Warner Theatre Beverly Hills CLOSED/DEMOLISHED --David Harrison Levi