AKA: Bard's Hollywood Theater, Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA; Vista Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

Structure Type: built works - performing arts structures - theatres

Designers: Smith, L.A., Architect (firm); Lewis Arthur Smith (architect)

Dates: constructed 1923

4473 West Sunset Boulevard
Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA 90027-6017

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Louis L. Bard's second theatre in Los Angeles, Bard's Hollywood Theatre as it was originally called, screened its first film, 10/9/1923; it reputedly cost $70,000 to erect and seated 838; (this seating figure is disputed somewhat, as Film Daily's Motion Picture Yearbook reported its capacity as 600); after the famous impresario Sid Grauman opened the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in 1922, there appeared several movie palaces done in the Egyptian Revival Style in Los Angeles, Bard's Hollywood being one of the first; this wave of interest in Egyptian antiquities corresponded with the discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamen in November 1922 by Howard Carter and the Earl of Carnarvon in the Valley of the Tombs near Luxor; their expedition electrified the world having recovered over 5000 relics, many composed of gold and alabaster; the theatre's exterior, done in the Spanish Colonial Revival Style, clashed notably with its Egyptian interior; by the late 1920s, it became known as the "Vista;" a new neon marquee erected in 1938 for $1,000, replaced the original;

The Vista got a new screen in the early 1980s during the time it was owned by Landmark Theatres; at this time the theatre reverted to showing revival films, c. 10/1980; Landmark dropped the lease on the Vista in 1985;

PCAD id: 3398