Doesn't look like much I suppose, but the theater in this photo is indelibly marked on the good memories of many L.A. film go-ers who date back to the 1970's and 1980's. For close to 15 years, the FOX Venice was something of a Mecca for those of us who lived on the West Side, had little money, and were discovering foreign films, art films, older auteur films, sleaze fest films, political films. It was the neighborhood cinematheque and admission was cheap. Every night a double bill for $1.50. The price rose over the years, but as I recall when they closed in the mid 1980's the price was still low enough for the unemployed such as myself to call it very reasonable.
Oh, the movies we saw. I was introduced to everything. It would be silly to try to list them, but my friends and I seemed to go 3 times a week at least. Imagine it's the 1970's, Venice Beach still has low rent. We lived near the ocean, spent most of our time on the dole discussing left wing politics, spending our days at the beach off Brooks Avenue smoking good hash and pot. To exercise our smoke addled brains we played Jeopardy or cribbage, the intrepid even venturing into chess. Later we might grab a Burrito and chips for dinner at Campos when it was still on Ocean Park and Lincoln, go home to shower, maybe a little sex and conversation, then off to the Fox Venice to see a Godard double bill, or Tarkovski, or Herzog, Wim Wenders, Fassbinder, Margarethe Von Trotta, Von Schlondorff, Alain Tanner, Chabrol, Travernier, Louis Malle, early Veerhoeven, Dusan Makavejev, the British kitchen sink realism films, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, oh it just went on and on. The photograph I posted seems to have Japanese movies on the top of the marquee: Okamoto's SWORD OF DOOM and Koboyashi's SAMURAI REBELLION, both of which feature the great Tatsuya Nakadai and Toshiro Mifune. The next night's films seems to have been an Ermanno Olmi double bill: SOUND OF TRUMPETS (better known as IL POSTO) and THE FIANCES (I FIDANZATI). Imagine that register of excellence on a nightly basis at your neighborhood theater.
During each screening the smell of pot was in the air and always some unfortunate would kick over his beer bottle so the rest of the audience had to hear it roll all the way to the front of the hall. At some point the front 4 or 5 rows of seats were removed so that no-one wouldn't have to sit too close to the stage and be forced to crane their neck to see. Owing to the spacing, we could sit in the font on the side aisle and let the baby sleep on a blanket on the ratty carpet floor. The view was great and we had as much leg room as needed. There was a camaraderie in the audience, and in the 80's many film buffs from foreign countries were in attendance. I saw my first Balkan films there, also remember attending the first night of a Sergei Parajanov festival and dragging my friends to see the remaining titles. I had never seen anything like those movies. Well, I ramble. But damn were we lucky. A few of the movies which I've placed on my list of under-rated titles were first seen in this theater. I notice that I only mention foreign movies as if there were no American titles, which would be untrue. The choices were adventurous and exciting no matter where the films originated. How they found those titles in 35 mm prints with subtitles and programmed their listings I have no idea. If they made a profit is doubtful. But I thank them all.
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