New Life in Old Theater

          

  The Regent Theater is one of two remaining theaters left on Main Street and has been dark for a number of years. Not quite restored, it's still a visual anchor in Gil-Ville with a lot of potential. The Regent's previous life of being a grind house or just in the background in film and TV chase scenes, (including Hill Street Blues) may be over.

  Old   Bank DVD is screening "Iraq for Sale: The   War Profiteers" on October 10, part of "an international grassroots screening  week".

As for the film, Kenneth   Turan of the LATimes wrote:

    

  "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" is the sixth of these  films Greenwald has produced since 2002. It's also the fourth he's directed,  after "Uncovered: The War on Iraq," "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism"  and "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price." This is a man who knows how to  turn the colon into a weapon of political warfare.

    

  Like Greenwald's previous films, "Iraq for Sale" is made from  a progressive political point of view but spends considerable time talking  to regular people who likely voted Republican. And this time he's focused  on one of those issues that might unite viewers across all political spectra:  unconscionable war profiteering coupled with catastrophic decisions by major  American companies.   

   

Mark Schumacher of Old Bank DVD also writes "Tickets are 5 dollars and people  are welcome to bring refreshments and snacky treats."

The Regent Theater
448 S. Main St. 
Downtown Los Angeles,  90013.
(213) 613-9654, or go to www.iraqforsale.org and RSVP.    

(In the old photo you can see a former chicken stand at the corner of 5th and Main. That diner has been through different lives while being a neighbor with an Adult Video Store. Now both spaces are being culled so it can be converted to a full service cafe.)

Photo: Regent Theater from 5th and Main courtesy of LAPL

Added: Scott, The Victor Plukas photo is from 1973. Here's the same corner shot this afternoon. To confirm your comment about theaters, there were more than 20 at one time. Info about that here.

Comments

[Scott Mercer]

When is that picture from? Looks like the 1970's. The streetscape was still relatively well-preserved.
The movie theatres on Main Street (mostly small and definitely not movie palaces) used to be so well known for showing Exploitation Films in the 1930's and 1940's that urban theatres that showed this type of low-rent fare were known in the industry as "Main Street Theatres." I believe there were at least seven theatres along Main Street at one point, including the Burbank Theatre, just north of Sixth and Main on the east side.