It’s Intermission Time, Folks!

A tribute to the great Lance Alspaugh

(Lance Alspaugh and Lily Leirness at the Autry Museum of the American West prior to “Viva Los Feliz: Hidden Gems” on 31 July 2024; Photo by Larry Underhill)

After the glorious blue sky and sunshine made yesterday feel more like a Sunday in spring than one in October, this Monday morning in Los Feliz felt positively gloomy. This was befitting the news that the great Lance Alspaugh, the longtime owner of Vintage Cinemas, including the beloved Vista Theatre and its no less important sibling, the Los Feliz Theatre, had died. Much of my life I have held romantic visions of living in a small town somewhere, a walkable village where I could get to know everyone. I wasn’t sure where I would find such a place, but I knew it had to have a “main street” movie theater. Of course, I was looking for what I already had. For has been often said of Loz Feliz, our community is truly a small town in the center of a big city. And we have two historic main street cinemas. And we have them thanks to Lance.

When I first started going to movies in the neighborhood, the Vista was a run-down, rather scary place. I think the first thing I saw there was a Hong Kong exploitation film. It was at the still single-screen Los Feliz Theatre where the in-demand (if decidedly highbrow) movies would play. Among the earliest offerings I took in there were David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Double Life of Veronique (both released in 1991). A few years later, the Los Feliz Theatre was converted into a three-screen complex, and a few years after that, the Vista underwent a glorious renovation. Because of its historic location, its size, and breathtaking décor, the renovated Vista attracted the headlines.

Built on the site where D.W. Griffith had once erected a set of unprecedented size for his problematic epic Intolerance, the theater first opened as the Lou Bard Playhouse in 1923. Located at the intersection of Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards, an intersection known at the time as “the great crossroads of Los Angeles”, it’s where Hollywood Boulevard literally begins, and because of its use by Griffith, serves as a metaphoric landmark of Hollywood beginnings. Lance Alspaugh was a man dedicated to community outreach and under his stewardship, the gorgeous Vista Theatre became something of a town square for the neighborhood, and eventually, the theatre’s house manager, Victor Martinez (aka the “Epic Manager”), became the neighborhood’s unofficial greeter, the host who would welcome locals to the movies, and non-locals to Los Feliz.

My wife and I were direct beneficiaries of how much community mattered to Lance. When we were getting married, after some twelve years of dating, we wanted our wedding to be both a celebration of the neighborhood where we met and fell in love as well as a celebration of our shared love of movies, a love that inspired each of us to move to Los Angeles in the first place. So, where else could we hold the ceremony but at the Vista? When I later expressed surprise at how little he was charging us, Lance let me know that after all we (especially Lily) had done for the community, it was a delight to him to have us celebrate our love there. This man was truly bighearted.

(The Leirness-Holleman wedding party moments prior to the ceremony on 17 February 2019; Photo by Miki & Sonja Photography)

As health travails began to afflict him more seriously, and as the pandemic threatened the existence of so many business, especially movie theaters, Lance worried about the future of the Vista. The landmark was nearing its 100^th anniversary. By selling it to Quentin Tarantino, Lance ensured the theater’s success, and Tarantino’s fame might just ensure that the theater will still be around for its 200^th anniversary! Mr. Tarantino and his team restored some features, and renovated others, and the theater continues to be a source of great local pride. Yet, if you want to see the theater in its glorious peak of breathtaking beauty, you would need to see photos from the morning of 17 February 2019, more than a year prior to the pandemic and two years prior to the sale of the theater to Quentin. And if you have trouble finding photos from that morning, come by our place, my bride and I would be happy to share with you our wedding album. Our local picture palace, its Epic Manager, and its bighearted owner are permanent parts of the fabric of Lily and my marriage.

(Phil Leirness and Lily Holleman get married at the Vista Theatre on 17 February 2019; Photo by Miki & Sonja Photography)

Again, because the Vista attracted the headlines, the little Los Feliz 3 often felt overshadowed. In reality, from a business standpoint, the symbiotic relationship between the two was critical for both venues’ financial success. When a big movie would open, especially one that aspired to cachet (either for its artistry or for the commerce it generated), it would open at the Vista. To be able to operate a large single, screen theater successfully, it was critical to assure large audience turnouts. So, if after a couple of weeks, a title was no longer drawing as it had (if it had), they would need to switch up the programming. This could prove challenging as most distributors required a run of a specified length. Because of the proximity between the two theaters, Lance and his team could move the title playing at the Vista to one (or more) of the screens at the smaller Los Feliz 3, thereby fulfilling the terms of their agreements with distributors while at the same time opening up the larger venue for a new title that might attract larger crowds.

Beyond its significance to the financial health of Vintage Cinemas (which includes the Village Theatres in Coronado), the Los Feliz 3 offered a coziness and charm perfectly befitting any neighborhood theater, let alone a neighborhood as historically cozy and charming as Los Feliz! “Auditorium One” maintained the original stage and screen, as well as the ability to project on film. This ability gets showcased today through the marvelous programming provided by the auditorium’s current occupant, the American Cinematheque. The deal Lance struck with the Cinematheque has not only ensured the continued existence of the venue, but that the decidedly refined and adventurous tastes of local cineastes will continue to be served and rewarded, tastes Lance himself played a major role in nurturing for decades. Auditoriums two and three are intimate (some might say “tiny”) screening rooms, each with its own décor, one with colorful walls and a starry ceiling, the other with drapes on the walls. The lobby is warm and inviting and the employees are always in very good moods, which I feel is as great a tribute to Lance as he could have ever wanted.

The gorgeous, historic façade of the Los Feliz 3 has become a favorite of artists, photographers and even filmmakers. In fact one filmmaker (let’s just call him “yours truly”) once “stole” (i.e. did so without permits) a shot of the façade, using it as a location for a Lifetime movie on which he served as 2^nd Unit Director. The ever-cheery employees aware of (and perhaps, perplexed by) what was being done nevertheless played along. As I write these words, I realize this was actually the second time yours truly used the Los Feliz 3 as a movie location. And both times, it was used without permission. Lance definitely should have charged me more for my wedding.

Of course, I have taken numerous photographs of the theater for my own pleasure through the years. In fact, one of my favorite photos I have ever taken was of the Los Feliz 3 marquee. It was November of 2012. The films playing there were Ang Lee’s The Life of Pi, the James Bond blockbuster Skyfall and the Steven Spielberg historic biopic Lincoln. Because I believe the artwork for the movies was arranged in such a way on the marquee as to let passersby know in which auditorium each film was playing, Skyfall was positioned next to Lincoln. Hence, the public was treated to the image of Daniel Day-Lewis in a close-up profile as Abraham Lincoln and next to him, seemingly pointing a gun to Lincoln’s head, was Daniel Craig as James Bond. Almost 150 years had passed since his assassination and yet Lincoln still could not catch a break in a theater!

(November 2012 - Almost 150 years after his assassination, the former President still can’t catch a break in a theater!)

Despite a marquee declaring “Since 1934”, the Los Feliz Theatre opened in 1935. The theatre was going to be the subject of a tribute video my partner, Debra Matlock, planned to produce for our next “Viva Los Feliz” stage show. Taking place on December 17 at the Autry Museum of the American West, this installment will celebrate both the Hollywood history as well as the holiday history of our community. Hence, it will be called “Viva Los Feliz: Tinseltown” (get it?). The Los Feliz Theatre fits nicely into both topics being celebrated. Its history dates back to the golden age of Hollywood, of course, but when it opened on Valentine’s Day 1935, the first film shown was the Laurel and Hardy musical Christmas film Babes in Toyland. In an interview, Lance was once credited with “keeping old Hollywood alive”. That the opening film at the Los Feliz Theatre has become such an enduring holiday perennial certainly is fitting given that the motto of Lance’s Vintage Cinemas is “Timeless Moviegoing” (a motto he trademarked, by the way).

(“Epic Manager” Victor Martinez on stage at “Viva Los Feliz: Hidden Gems”, 31 July 2024; Photo by Larry Underhill)

Debra and I had hoped to interview Lance for the tribute video. That we won’t get to is a source of great personal sadness, and, I truly feel, a loss for posterity. It makes me all the more grateful, however, that we took the time at our very first “Viva Los Feliz” (on July 31 of last year) to honor both Lance and Epic Manager Victor Martinez. Both men were in attendance (Victor even came on stage) and the fact Lance could receive a heartfelt expression of love and gratitude from the assembled community members is a memory I will always treasure and a moment I am deeply proud to have helped facilitate. True to its origin, every opportunity to enter the Los Feliz 3 makes me feel like a genuine babe in Toyland. Whether it’s a nighttime screening of a classic or a foreign language masterpiece as part of the Cinematheque’s programming, or a weekday matinee of the smash hit Weapons, or Wes Anderson’s latest whimsical concoction, no matter the time of day, no matter the time of year, whenever I enter the Los Feliz 3 lobby and make my way to the appropriate auditorium, it always feels like Christmas morning.

Long after Lance stopped occupying his office upstairs from the Los Feliz 3 auditoriums, I continued to feel his bigheartedness, permeating and enlivening every square foot of the beautiful venue. Each one of my hundreds of cinematic experiences at the Los Feliz 3 has felt, true to his wish, and true to his promise, timeless. And as Lance has now left the realm of time and has, himself, become fully a part of all that is timeless, I like to think he will now be returning to his office, albeit one perhaps a little higher up than the one he occupied for so long. He will be free of the pain and discomfort that had for too long been his constant companions, but he will continue to be full of the pure love he always had for the truly timeless nature of art, community, and of stories that nourish our souls.

I send much love to Lance’s mother, to Lance’s sister, and to my dear friend Victor Martinez.

And now … As the ending of the vintage pre-show reel that precedes each movie shown in auditoriums 2 and 3 so ceremoniously announces … ON WITH THE SHOW!