Vista Theatre

One of the last remaining early 20th-century historic theaters in Los Angeles, the Vista retains the nostalgic glamour of old Hollywood thanks to a recent revival led by Quentin Tarantino. After decades of financial trouble, the iconic movie house closed during the pandemic. It reopened in 2023 under Tarantino’s ownership and has since re-established itself as a premiere moviegoing destinations. 

First opened by businessman Louis Bard in 1923, Vista Theater—originally called Bard’s Hollywood Theatre—was one of several Los Angeles movie houses built in Lewis Arthur Smith’s signature Spanish Revival style. Though the film industry was still nascent, Bard sought to capitalize on the growing demand for silent pictures, building a small chain of Egyptian-themed theaters across Hollywood and Los Feliz. Inside, the theater’s walls are lined with glowing Egyptian figureheads, inspired by the worldwide excitement over the excavation of King Tut’s tomb the year before its opening.

Just a few years later, however, Louis Bard faced financial troubles and sold the theater in 1927. Over the following few decades, ownership transferred many times, and the theater became entangled in controversy. In 1948, the theater showed the highly controversial and notoriously racist film “The Birth of a Nation,” which was met with opposition and protests. A decade later, at the height of the Cold War, the theater drew controversy again for showing what some critics described as “pro-Communist” Soviet films.

Towards the turn of the century, the theater struggled to maintain business and survived mainly as a local venue for weddings and showing smaller, independent screenings for local filmmakers. It officially closed in 2020 but was quickly revived a few years later, aided by a substantial renovation that preserved its original design while modernizing its interior.

Since its reopening, the Vista Theater has committed to only project movies on film, featuring both a 70mm and 35mm film projector. It is also among the few theaters in the world capable of projecting VistaVision, giving film enthusiasts the rare opportunity to view VistaVison films in their original widescreen horizontal format. Originally developed by Paramount Pictures in the 1950s, VistaVison has experienced a revival through popular filmmakers such as Paul Thomas Anderson and Christopher Nolan. Many claim VistaVison captures a film’s color with more vibrancy and clarity than a standard 35 or 70mm projection.