What happened to Westwood?
Until a few years ago, Westwood was the place to go if you wanted to treat yourself. When I first moved to Los Angeles, I wanted to find a place where I could walk…look at shops, etc. Something, perhaps, that would remind me of New York City. Los Angeles is not a city for walking…however, Miss Susan P. from Encino told me that the best places to walk were the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and Westwood Village. I hadn’t been there in years, however, after going to Westwood with Ron last week, I thought I would pay again…
Located about 30 minutes from my apartment, Westwood is on the west side of Los Angeles, just east of the San Diego Freeway (405). Home to the esteemed UCLA, Westwood was once a thriving college town…with great shopping, dining, record stores and fantastic movie theaters. Parking was a pain and expensive… but it was worth it. One could easily have spent the day in Westwood and have a good time…not anymore.
In the past, I’d drive from Hollywood specifically to hang out in Westwood… I’d have a slice or two of La Monica’s pizza at Gayley’s… I’d pop into Baskin Robbins for ice cream, check out Circuit City in Gayley, spending a year at Tower Records on Westwood Boulevard, visiting an independent record store or two, and of course, seeing a movie…
When I first started hanging out in Westwood… there were no less than six individual Mann Theaters screens, a Mann 4-plex, a United Artists 3-plex, a General Cinema 4-plex, and a gorgeous owned and operated movie theater. by Pacific Theaters called The Crest. Ten different cinemas… all within walking distance. You can see why I would love a place like this… It was like Westwood really was a real MOVIE TOWN…
On Saturday night, I visited the old Movie Town… and what I found was more like a Ghost Town. Since 2006, there has been an uneasy exodus in Westwood…everyone was leaving and no one was moving.
Before the movie on Saturday, I took a walk through the once lively neighborhood… at least what’s left of it. The 2 story Tower Records is gone…every other Westwood record store is gone too. The Rite Aid is gone… now just an empty space. I was surprised to find that even the Gardens of Glendon restaurant (site of two dates in the past) had closed its doors for good…with nothing in its place. The streets now felt dark and lonely… though a few things remained…
The In N Out Burger is still there… that’s where I took Ron last week. And then there’s Lamonicas… Thank goodness Lamonicas is still alive and kicking. I loved going there whenever I could. Great pizza…very good. On Saturday I had two delicious Sicilian slices… I wanted to have 100 more. The theme of the place is all New York… making it all too easy for me to love it.
My Baskin Robbins is still there…I’ve never seen it busy, but it’s always open…even late. After my pizza, I would always get a vanilla ice cream cone from Baskin Robbins in Westwood…just like I did on Saturday night.
After pizza and ice cream, I would usually check out the giant kiosk next door. On Saturday, I couldn’t help but drop by here…checking out the music magazines as usual…I was very glad to see that the bandstand had survived, however other places weren’t so lucky…especially in terms of what What has happened to Westwood theaters in recent years…
Since then, the Mann Westwood 4-Plex has been closed and destroyed. It’s not a great theater, but it’s still a loss. I had seen three movies there… GODS AND MONSTERS… and the Dennis Rodman action movie SIMON SEZ… which I watched completely alone… I mean… NO ONE was in the theater except me…
The Mann Plaza has closed. I think I only saw one movie there… FREE COMPANY… It was a decent single screen though… I think it even had a balcony. It was a nice old theater…
The Mann Festival has closed. The seats weren’t that great…they sagged…I think they fixed that though. I had many experiences there. It’s where I met Jamie Lee Curtis and saved their seats for GONE WITH THE WIND…it’s where I saw various PGA screenings featuring movies like ABOUT ADAM and PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS…It’s where I saw SNOW FALLING ON THE CEDARS. ..and where I licked my wounds watching IRON MONKEY after a disastrous date in 2004…
The Mann National has closed and been destroyed… a vacant lot takes its place… It was one of my favorite theaters in Los Angeles. It had a lot of character… a big theater with a giant screen… It was dirty and outdated, but I loved it. I had the pleasure of seeing SAVING PRIVATE RYAN there on opening day in June 1998, as well as movies like LITTLE SOLDIERS, THE EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS OF ADAM SANDLER, 30 DAYS TO YUMA, and WAR. It hurts me to think that he is gone forever…
The United Artists Westwood 3-plex was closed and destroyed. It is now a CVS Pharmacy. It’s not the best theater but I loved it… I watched a lot of movies there… PLAYING BY HEART, 15 MINUTES, THE OTHERS, BOILER ROOM, RUN LOLA RUN, AMERICAN HISTORY X and more…
Once a thriving metropolis of ten movie theaters… Westwood now has just four theaters…
The Mann Regent in Broxton is now run by Landmark Theatres, and is thankfully still operating as a single screen. I had seen TEA WITH MUSSOLINI there, then Landmark bought it… I saw things like PERSONAL VELOCITY and SESSION 9.
The General Cinema Avco 4-plex is now operated by AMC. It’s not a great theater… it never was. There was always something off or weird about it… I never felt like someone was running the show… However… I had visited the AVCO on more than a few occasions to see movies like DIRTY WORK, THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR , COMPANY MAN, HOT ROD, MR. WOODCOCK, as well as TAKEN with my mom.
The Mann Bruin is still alive and well…however, it is my least favorite theater in the area. The reason… amazing design and vintage awning on the outside, but bland plain Jane nothing on the inside. I saw some things here… SPHERE, DR. DOOLITTLE, FREDDIE GOT FINGERED, CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND, plus a screening of NATIONAL TREASURE 2: BOOK OF SECRETS.
The Crest is now a struggling independent theater owned and operated by a guy named Bob. A beautiful art-deco theater inside and out…sadly on its last legs. Bob ran out of money… and he sends desperate emails to people like me asking if anyone wants to buy it… I watched a lot of movies at The Crest… EVE’S BAYOU, JANE AUSTEN’S MAFIA!, DR. STRANGELOVE (OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB), LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE BICENTENNIAL MAN, THE NANNY DIARIES, THE HUNTING PARTY, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS with my mom, plus special screenings of CRASH and THE AVIATOR…
Fortunately, the Westwood Premiere Theater still remains intact…the glorious historic Westwood Village Theater…site of many movie premieres to this day due to its large capacity, beautiful and glamorous old-school architecture and great balcony. Its front canopy is a site to behold. When I first moved to Los Angeles in 1998, I made sure to visit the Village right away (having seen it on a visit in 1997). The Village was the first theater in the US to install a THX sound system (in 1983). It was always a great thrill every time I went there. I watched as many movies as I could… like TITANIC, LETHAL WEAPON 4, THE X-FILES, THE SIEGE, GREASE, 3000 MILES TO GRACELAND, RED PLANET, SUPERMAN RETURNS, STAR WARS EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE, EYES WIDE SHUT, HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE (for the premiere of my first film), THE BRAVE ONE plus the Saturday night show… SHUTTER ISLAND. If it were up to me, I would see all the movies there…
What happened to Westwood? I really don’t know… Before I moved to Los Angeles, I had heard that there was a gang problem… Maybe Westwood was already dying when I arrived… I was too naive to realize it. Plus, with the advent of popular outdoor extravaganzas like Third Street Promenade, The Grove, and The Anericana in Glendale… people have fewer and fewer reasons to spend time in Westwood. It still has UCLA, the Armond Hammer museum, a live theater for plays, two Starbucks, two or three gyms, and of course the many movie premieres that still happen in the Village… So… not yet is dead. I miss it terribly, at least what it once was… However, I have faith… there are plenty of vacant lots there. It’s time for Westwood to come back, it’s been long overdue…