Located on Sunset Drive, where Sunset Boulevard turns into Hollywood Boulevard, the Vista Theatre was originally known as the Lou Bard Playhouse or Bard’s Hollywood.
This is one of the few remaining historical buildings from the 1920s, when a newly built Hollywood began attracting residents to its new suburban homes from areas close to downtown Los Angeles and East Los Angeles, at that time the middle and upper classes of the city.
Designed by the famous theatrical architect Lewis A. Smith, the venue is a unique combination of decorative styles. Originally intended to reflect the Spanish architecture prevalent in the area, the 1922 discovery of King Tut’s tomb in Egypt sparked a proliferation of Egyptian-inspired themes, especially in theater design. Apparently, the exterior of the venue was too advanced in the design phase, but the interior plans were still on the drawing board. The result was a curious combination: a Spanish exterior and an Egyptian interior.
The theater originally had a capacity of 838 seats and featured vaudeville acts and silent films. In 1942, an Egyptian-themed golden ticket booth was added. Over time, the seating capacity was reduced to 400 seats. The Vista also features a variety of hand and footprints in the cement commemorating some of the cast and crew members of the films shown in this cinema.
The Vista continues to operate as a single-screen cinema and is a historical and vital part of the Los Feliz area, although it is currently not officially designated as a landmark.
This cinema appeared in the great movie “True Romance” (1993), directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino, as the place where Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette first meet.
To close the circle, Tarantino bought this iconic movie theater in 2024.
