majesty

Tonight was another of our movie nights in the LA Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats series, which shows old movies in now-closed movie palaces in LA. Tonight's movie was "Streetcar Named Desire," yet another classic that I had never seen. We had planned some themed activities to go with the movie - Sazerac cocktails and dinner at a restaurant in the building that used to be the hub for LA's streetcar system, but I got behind on some work and messed up our plans. Luckily, I did make it to the movie itself. The Los Angeles Theater opened in 1931 and was the last of the great movie palaces on Broadway, and perhaps the grandest. The size of the theater, complete with a downstairs ballroom, childrens playrooms and enormous and elaborate bathrooms and lobbies, is impressive in itself; but its elaborate French Baroque-inspired decor explains why they are called movie palaces. Indeed this is.