Megaforce car on the street:

[speeder]

This where the intersection of car culture and film geekdom come together, at the New Beverly theatre. The New Bev, as it's affectionately known, is one of the few surviving revival house cinemas in L.A. They change the films every 2 days and it's always a double-feature that goes together, frequently by the same director or star. Two Steve McQueen films would be a typical bill.

The place has been owned and operated by the same guy for decades, a dedicated cinephile operating at barely a profit, truly a labor of love. He died a couple of years ago and his son had been running it but it was getting run-down and business was down with the rise, (at the time), of Netflix, etc. In 2010, Quentin Tarantino quietly bought the place and refurbished it completely. He made a deal with the family that owned it to allow them to continue running it but with money in their pockets for once.

Here's a good brief history:

New Beverly Cinema - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anywhoo...., I drive by the place most every night and frequently smile from ear-to-ear at the marquee. Tonight was a special treat, though somewhat common for QT, where he parks a prop vehicle from the film being shown out in front. Check out the films and the car:

[speeder]

Here's a link that tells a little about the car:

Megaforce - The Movie - Deeds Not Words

It was actually quite well built. All-steel construction, nicely finished and well preserved for a 30 y.o. prop car. They spent some serious coin making these.

These photos sum up why living here feeds my OCD in the area of film and all forms of motorised transport. Frequently they go together. Tarantino, as most everyone knows, is the ultimate film geek who used to work in a video store and has seen every film ever made. Hal Needham is the schlock-meister who made the Smokey and the Bandit movies as well as Cannonball Run and about 100 other summer popcorn flicks. He was a stuntman as well in about a thousand films before becoming a director.

The New Bev is the shiznit. I got a signifiant part of my film education seeing all of the classics and French New Wave films there over the last 30 years. It's heaven for film geeks and of course the popcorn is excellent with real butter.

[Dottore]

Thanks for posting. The intersection of car and film culture in LA is unique and I get your fascination with it. Good on QT for rescuing the theater. I came very close to doing something similar with my favourite indy theater in Vancouver a few years ago, but eventually realized I didn't have the coin to keep the thing going indefinately. Fortunately someone else did.

[speeder]

Well, good on you for even considering it. We had a few good ones in Minneapolis, where I grew up. Most are gone but the Varsity theatre in Dinkytown, near the UofM, was bought by a friend a few years ago and is being kept alive as a revival house. I saw "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant" in it 30 years ago with a hot date. Smoked a fatty and bought the biggest tub of popcorn with butter.

I'm telling you, it's just never gotten any better than that.

[speeder]

Minneapolis actually has a good history with revival cinema and one very eccentric theatre owner. The Westgate on 44th and France in played "Harold and Maude" for 3 years straight when it was released. On either the second or third anniversary, they threw a big party and Bud Court and Ruth Gordon came. It was a blast. I was an adolescent and saw it several times, starting a major Hal Ashby worship that continues to this day.

On a more commercial scale, the Ted Mann started his theatre chain in Mpls. It was the right city at the right time for the Cohen Bros. to grow up in.

[GWN7]

The only problem with these small screen houses is that everything is going digital. No more film and the owners have to come up with a bag of cash to buy a new digital projector. There was a article in last weeks paper about how many small screen movie houses will be closing as a result. The sad part is all of the remaining drive in theaters will be closing too.

[speeder]

There will always be film, my friend. Don't know where you heard that.

[GWN7]

I read it. While I agree there will always be film the majors are going digital.

Conversion to digital equipment means end is near for drive-in theatres rural cinemas - Winnipeg Free Press