The Crest Theatre, formerly known as Majestic Crest and Bigfoot Crest Theatre, is a
movie theatre
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
located in the
Westwood neighborhood of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It was founded as the UCLAN in 1941, and was built for live performances but switched to a
newsreel cinema during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Through ownership changes, it has been known at various times as UCLAN Theatre, Crest Theatre, and Metro Theatre. The original 500-seat
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style theater was designed by Arthur W. Hawes.
In October 2018, with support from
Susan Nimoy and an anonymous donor,
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
’s Center for the Art of Performance and
The School of Arts & Architecture acquired Crest Theatre. When it repoens following an extensive renovation, the name will be changed to the UCLA Nimoy Theatre, in honor of Nimoy's husband, the late
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the '' Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, th ...
.
History
Arthur Hawes designed the theater in an austere Moderne style for financer Frances Seymour Fonda, wife of Henry and mother of Jane and Peter, as a live performance theater.
The theatre was opened in 1941
[ as the UCLAN.][
The venue was changed over to being a movie theater which was exclusively devoted to newsreels during World War II. After the war ended, the theater featured foreign films.][
]
Crest Theater
After being renamed the Crest Theater, avant-garde films began screening there including ''Dr. Strangelove
''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'', known simply and more commonly as ''Dr. Strangelove'', is a 1964 black comedy film that satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and t ...
'', '' Rosemary's Baby'', ''Goodbye, Columbus
''Goodbye, Columbus'' is a 1959 collection of fiction by the American novelist Philip Roth, comprising the title novella "Goodbye, Columbus"—which first appeared in ''The Paris Review''—and five short stories. It was his first book and was ...
'' and ''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice'' is a 1969 American comedy-drama film directed by Paul Mazursky, written by Mazursky and Larry Tucker, who also produced the film, and starring Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, Elliott Gould, and Dyan Cannon. The origi ...
''.[
]Pacific Theatres
Pacific Theatres was an American chain of movie theaters in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of California. Pacific Theatres was owned by The Decurion Corporation which also owned and operated ArcLight Cinemas. In 2008, it sold its store loca ...
purchased Crest in 1985.El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre) is owned by The Walt Disney Company and serves as the ...
and the Crest.
Disney's Buena Vista Theaters and Pacific began renovated the Crest in 1987 with its motif changed to a Hollywood fantasy-land. Joseph Musil was engaged to overhaul the theater's interior.[ The first part of the renovations was upgrading its film and sound systems which was done before the 1987 opening of '']Three Men and a Baby
''Three Men and a Baby'' is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy. It stars Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson as three bachelors as they attempt to adapt their lives to de facto fatherhood with the arrival of the love ...
''. The next phase was to re-theme the theater in an Art Deco motif while rehabbing the lobby, auditorium, restrooms and seats. This was finished by the 1988 premiere of ''Big Business
Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly ...
''. Disney ended their partnership in the Crest in 2002.[
Eventually Pacific sold the theater to independent operator Robert Bucksbaum in 2003 then renamed Majestic Crest Theater after the 2001 film '' The Majestic''.][ In 2008, it was designated Historic Landmark No. 919 by the city of ]Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.Bigfoot Entertainment
Bigfoot Entertainment is the American parent company of Bigfoot Films, Bigfoot Productions, Bigfoot Production Services, Bigfoot Partners, the International Academy of Film and Television, New Cebu Films and Fashion One Network. The Bigfoot Grou ...
and managed by the Carmike
Carmike Cinemas was a motion picture exhibitor headquartered in Columbus, Georgia. As of March 2016, the company had 276 theaters with 2,954 screens in 41 states, and was the fourth largest movie theater chain in the United States. The company b ...
theater chain for around $4 million. Bigfoot's scheduling was improved by Carmike getting a number of higher profile movies and would include niche showings, midnight horror movie, Asian Film Nights and an annual film festival.
In popular culture
* Larry David
Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...
attends a film screening at The Crest for the pilot episode of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm
''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...
''
References
External links
*
The Majestic Crest, Los Angeles
at Flickriver.com
Majestic Crest Theatre
at Cinema Treasures
The Crest Theatre
on Cinema Sightlines
{{DEFAULTSORT:Majestic Crest Theatre
Cinemas and movie theaters in Los Angeles
Westwood, Los Angeles
Theatres completed in 1939
1939 establishments in California