Quentin Tarantino Buys Historic Vista Theatre

BY SCOTTIE KNOLLIN

Located on Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, the Vista Theatre is a historic single-screen movie theater that opened in October 1923. At the time, in addition to showing first-run films, the theater also showed vaudeville acts. Over the years, the theater has been renovated to allow for modern expectations, like removing over half of its original 838 seats to allow for increased legroom, but remains one of the still-intact 1920s structures from the early days of Hollywood.

During an appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Quentin Tarantino announced he recently purchased the historic movie house with plans to reopen the cinema during the 2021 holiday season.

The director and film buff also owns the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, which he purchased in 2007 to show films on 35mm and 16mm. It reopened in June after shutting down during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vista also shut down during the pandemic.

Tarantino did say that he doesn’t plan to operate the Vista the same way the New Beverly is currently programmed. “It won’t be a revival house. We’ll show new movies that come out where they give us a film print. It’s not going to be like the New Beverly. The New Beverly has its own vibe.”

The Vista will also show older films, but only as exclusive runs in between new, first-run features.

The director also spoke about his disdain for modern cinemas. “Some of these chains where they’re showing commercials all through it, they don’t run the lights down, everything is stadium seating, plastic shit. They have been writing their own epitaph for a long time, but they assumed business would take you along. It’s been crazy throughout my career to see how the film experience is lessened for the viewer like every five years.”

Tarantino suggests that boutique and arthouse cinemas will thrive post-pandemic. “I’m not talking about the Lz-Z-Boy, order nachos and margaritas. I actually like the Alamo Drafthouse a lot, but I have a living room. I want to go to the theater.”

As one of the most vocal supporters of theater preservation, Tarantino’s acquisition is just one of the more recent notable cinema stories perserving the history of moviegoing. Netflix also recently purchased movie houses in Los Angeles (Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre) and New York (Paris Theater).