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Photography

Tuesday, March 4, 2008 – Little Egyptian

The Vista Theater, 4473 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake - designed by Lewis A. Smith - opened on October 16, 1923

The Vista Theater, 4473 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake – designed by Lewis A. Smith - opened on October 16, 1923 with Baby Peggy in "Tips" along with vaudeville acts on stage.  It's smaller than the famous Egyptian Theater in the center of Hollywood, the site of the first-ever Hollywood premiere – "Robin Hood," starring Douglas Fairbanks, on October 18, 1922.  It's sort of the Little Egyptian.

From the Los Angeles Times:

    Locals adore this 75-year-old theater at the juncture of Hollywood and Sunset boulevards for its beauty, comfort and choice in films. The faηade is ornate Spanish, the theater itself lavish Egyptian-Deco, with carved serpents and sarcophagi, inverted-pyramid chandeliers of opaque glass and, looming over the audience, busts of Egyptian maidens with Mona Lisa stares. Several years ago every other row of seats was pulled out, meaning a yard of spare legroom. The seats are very comfortable, the screen is wall to wall and the picture and sound quality are excellent. There are always first-run flicks, and they're almost always right in step with what the arty Los Feliz-Silver Lake crowd wants to see. -  Nancy Rommelmann

And this corner has its history – D. W. Griffith's Fine Arts Studio was located diagonally across the street, and Griffith's back lot, where the famous Babylon set for Intolerance (1916) stood for years until it burned down, was behind the theater.  All that is now gone – just this theater remains. Curiously, Edward Davis Wood, voted the Worst Director of All Time, had an office in this building

The Vista Theater, 4473 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake - designed by Lewis A. Smith - opened on October 16, 1923
The Vista Theater, 4473 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake - designed by Lewis A. Smith - opened on October 16, 1923
The Vista Theater, 4473 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake - designed by Lewis A. Smith - opened on October 16, 1923
The Vista Theater, 4473 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake - designed by Lewis A. Smith - opened on October 16, 1923
The Vista Theater, 4473 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake - designed by Lewis A. Smith - opened on October 16, 1923
The Vista Theater, 4473 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake - designed by Lewis A. Smith - opened on October 16, 1923
The Vista Theater, 4473 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake - designed by Lewis A. Smith - opened on October 16, 1923
The Vista Theater, 4473 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake - designed by Lewis A. Smith - opened on October 16, 1923

Just up the street –

Hollywood Premiere Hotel, Hollywood Boulevard, Thai Town
Hollywood Premiere Hotel, Hollywood Boulevard, Thai Town - negative print

If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back this site.

Technical Note:

Photographs after March 3, 2008, were taken with a Nikon D200 – or a Nikon D70 when noted. All previous photographs were taken with the D70.  The lenses used are (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto, or (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED.  Photography here is modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  The earliest photography in the archives was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

[Little Egyptian]

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik