About four miles east of the grand TCL Chinese Theatre lies a small, quaint movie theater on the historic Sunset Blvd. Its entrance features the names and handprints of artists like John Woo and Spike Jonze on the floor leading to an Egyptian-style ticket booth and a lobby ripped from the Golden Age of cinema.
This is the Vista Theatre, an iconic Hollywood staple that opened in 1923. However, the pandemic caused the theater, like many other small theaters across the country, to close its doors in 2020.
That was until renowned Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino of “Pulp Fiction,” “Kill Bill,” and “Inglourious Basterds,” bought the theater in 2021. The theater officially reopened November 17, over a month after its centennial anniversary.
The next day, more fans stood in front of the theater, snapping photos and discussing their favorite films as they waited for it to open for a screening of Eli Roth’s “Thanksgiving.” Among them was Cesar Ortiz, who first went to the Vista after seeing the location in the opening scene of “Scream 2,” leading to his repeated attendance.”
“My first time was a couple of years before they shut down for the pandemic, and then my second time, it was when they had ‘Scream,’” Ortiz said. “I’m really excited to see what the new changes are with the remodeling and everything.”
At precisely 2:20 p.m., the metal grate in front of the theater lifted and fans streamed in as the smell of popcorn floated out of the lobby and into the streets of Los Angeles.
The theater’s interior is something to behold – decorations range from a mannequin of Gogo Yubari, a character from Tarantino’s “Kill Bill: Volume 1″ and various Egyptian-themed installations.
The auditorium itself has been renovated from the ground up. The sides of the wall continue the ancient Egyptian imagery, featuring the faces of pharaohs overlooking the audience as the brick walls are adorned with wings and serpents. Audience members piled in as they awaited the red curtain to pull back.
Theater manager Victor Martinez stood at the front door dressed in a red tuxedo as he scanned audience tickets and welcomed them into the lobby.
Martinez has been working at the Vista for 35 years and is overjoyed to finally be able to bring it back after its closure.
“I was devastated. I mean, this has been my home away from home,” Martinez said. “We’re very proud to reopen with [Tarantino], because if that theater is going to survive another 100 years, it’ll be because he took over.”
The theater’s appeal extends beyond its status as a Hollywood staple. Martinez hopes that they can be a part of carving out a unique niche for showing movies on film. This means that they will be run on traditional film reels as opposed to being played digitally.
“We’re going to show [films on] 35 millimeter and 70 millimeter,” Martinez said. “We’re building this cool Hollywood film club for all the film fans, and we’re very proud of that because Quentin does not like digital.”
Martinez said that the relationship between the Vista Theatre and Tarantino started many years ago. He stated that the director was a regular attendee before its closure in 2020, which is what eventually led to their collaboration.
“He saw me work over the years,” Martinez said. “He would come in and see sold out shows. He would see how fast we were cleaning up with the crowd, and we used to joke around and say ‘Hey, maybe someday you’ll be the owner…’ I’m so flattered because I feel like Quentin gave me a life achievement award as a manager.”
The opening night of the theater on Friday saw hundreds of excited moviegoers greeted by the cast and crew of “Thanksgiving,” but it did exactly not go off without a hitch. Leonardo Baricala, a local who attended the Vista Theatre for the first time on Friday, stopped by the theater on Saturday in hopes of getting another ticket after leaving the opening screening early.
“The movie started about 15 minutes late, but we were surprised by the director and the cast… the movie started fine, but about 30 minutes in, the audio started to go in and out… and then it started to get really crazy and it was like two minutes without audio,” Baricala said. “What I saw yesterday was really good. The place looks amazing, and they had this unfortunate problem, so I hope to come back to see [”Thanksgiving”] before it closes.”
Martinez attributed this to “little bugs that come with projectors,” but explained that all these issues have been ironed out ahead of the weekend. With the massive crowd waiting in line for concessions and piling outside of the theater prior to opening hours, it’s safe to say that audiences have not been deterred from checking out the venue.
Martinez said that he holds the theater close to his heart following its shutdown and subsequent revival. Now, he is more than excited to greet old regulars and new visitors alike outside of the refurbished Vista lobby.
“I definitely learned a valuable lesson that it is true what they say; ‘You don’t know what you got until it’s gone,’” Martinez said. “The good news is that because of the pandemic, I will never retire.”
If watching movies on film and occasionally seeing the cast and crew of movies does not seem interesting enough, Martinez gave one last reason to catch a show at the Vista.
“We have the best popcorn.”