For as long as I can remember, that the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood has always been a live theater but back in 1942, it was playing a pretty good double bill: Paramount’s Take a Letter, Darling with Rosalind Russell and Columbia’s They All Kissed the Bride with Joan Crawford, which indicates it was a second-run movie house. Interestingly, the place next door is “Dr. Beauchamp” who I assume was the same dentist whose prominent offices stood at Hollywood and Cahuenga Blvds in the 30s and 40s. He bills himself as a “credit dentist” which I assume means “fillings now, pay later.”
The same view in March 2018:
That marvelous detailing over the marquee is still intact:
The El Portal was, in fact, long a cinema venue for most of its existence. In the 1950s and 1960s it was my principal neighborhood movie house. The 50¢ my mother would give me would cover the movie, plain popcorn and some candy. Thrifty Drugs was just to the south for some ice cream before or after the show(s). And, along the side of the theater on Weddington Street, kids could leave their bikes unlocked while at the movies.
That sounds like my local movie house when I was a kid. I was movie mad so I often went by myself and would always ride my bike and park it against the wall of the movie house. Even if though it was and is still a nice area, I’d never leave my bike unlocked there now – assuming they’d even let me!
My Mom was a client of Dr. Beauchamp in that very office in North Hollywood. Around 1960 a lifetime of haphazard dental hygiene caught up with her. She had every tooth in her head pulled and used dental plates for the rest of her life.
The El portal was also her theater of choice, even though we lived all the way over in Pacoima. We’d see a double bill either preceded or followed by lunch across the street at Woolworth’s lunch counter, for me a grilled cheese sandwich and a chocolate malt in one of those tin mixing cups with enough for a half-refill of the tall glass. My earliest memory of the El Portal was seeing Disney’s Peter Pan in its first release, when I was 6 years old.
Sorry if this is too much about me. It just brings back so many memories.
No, Gene, it’s not too much at all. I LOVE hearing people reminisce about the places I post. I didn’t know there was a Woolworth’s across the street. I’d love to be able to go in there for a grilled cheese and choc malt!
For as long as I can remember, that the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood has always been a live theater but back in 1942, it was playing a pretty good double bill: Paramount’s Take a Letter, Darling with Rosalind Russell and Columbia’s They All Kissed the Bride with Joan Crawford, which indicates it was a second-run movie house. Interestingly, the place next door is “Dr. Beauchamp” who I assume was the same dentist whose prominent offices stood at Hollywood and Cahuenga Blvds in the 30s and 40s. He bills himself as a “credit dentist” which I assume means “fillings now, pay later.”
The El Portal was, in fact, long a cinema venue for most of its existence. In the 1950s and 1960s it was my principal neighborhood movie house. The 50¢ my mother would give me would cover the movie, plain popcorn and some candy. Thrifty Drugs was just to the south for some ice cream before or after the show(s). And, along the side of the theater on Weddington Street, kids could leave their bikes unlocked while at the movies.
That sounds like my local movie house when I was a kid. I was movie mad so I often went by myself and would always ride my bike and park it against the wall of the movie house. Even if though it was and is still a nice area, I’d never leave my bike unlocked there now – assuming they’d even let me!
Here’s the lowdown on Dr. Beauchamp:
http://articles.latimes.com/1998/sep/09/news/mn-21033
Wow, PDQ, that answers a lot of questions I’ve always wondered about him. Thanks!
My Mom was a client of Dr. Beauchamp in that very office in North Hollywood. Around 1960 a lifetime of haphazard dental hygiene caught up with her. She had every tooth in her head pulled and used dental plates for the rest of her life.
The El portal was also her theater of choice, even though we lived all the way over in Pacoima. We’d see a double bill either preceded or followed by lunch across the street at Woolworth’s lunch counter, for me a grilled cheese sandwich and a chocolate malt in one of those tin mixing cups with enough for a half-refill of the tall glass. My earliest memory of the El Portal was seeing Disney’s Peter Pan in its first release, when I was 6 years old.
Sorry if this is too much about me. It just brings back so many memories.
No, Gene, it’s not too much at all. I LOVE hearing people reminisce about the places I post. I didn’t know there was a Woolworth’s across the street. I’d love to be able to go in there for a grilled cheese and choc malt!