New Beverly Cinema

New Beverly Cinema   16" x 20"   oil on panel

I walk past the Beverly Cinema 3 or 4 times a week on my way to Dick Blick, and have wanted to paint it for quite some time.  One morning, I caught it in the early sunlight without any parked cars out front.   I liked all the bright reds and yellows against the deep blue sky along with the billboard sitting on top – this one was between advertisements.  The classic pyramid composition….

The New Beverly Cinema dates to the 1920s beginning as a vaudeville theater hosting acts such as Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Jackie Gleason, Phil Silvers, and later converted into a nightclub. In the late 1950s, the space was converted into a movie theater, with several incarnations including a stripclub.  The theater was closed in 1977, but reopened in 1978 as The Beverly Cinema showing modern and classic films in a variety of genres.
A few years after its previous owner died, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino bought the Beverly Cinema in 2010  pledging "As long as I'm alive, and as long as I'm rich, the New Beverly will be there, showing double features in 35mm."