Night in, night out, the Fox Tower sign lights up the Westwood
sky. As the neighborhood’s defining landmark, it’s so
ingrained in the collective consciousness of UCLA students that
hardly anyone pauses to wonder why exactly the Mann’s Village
Theater would have a sign that says “Fox” at all.
The Village Theater’s 70-plus-year history as a first-run
movie palace is one of the most illustrious in the world, going all
the way back to Westwood’s origins as a planned
community.
From its beginnings the theater has continued to be an integral
part of the development of Westwood.
Still, many know it simply as the site of big premieres and
opening days and remain unaware of its history.
“It’s an interesting film history question: Why is
it the Fox Theater when it’s the Mann circuit?” said
Ross Melnick, co-founder of Cinema Treasures, an organization
dedicated to the restoration and preservation of classic movie
theaters.
“When it opened in 1931, it was part of the Fox Theater
circuit, which was the dominant chain on the West Coast.
“At that time, whenever you built one of these theaters,
you were cementing not only a center for living, but a center of
entertainment.”
The page dedicated to the Mann’s Village on the Cinema
Treasures Web site features comments by a community of cinemagoers,
on everything from its digital projection quality to the murder of
a police detective there in 1932.
Melnick has also co-authored a book titled “Cinema
Treasures,” and is currently a graduate student in
UCLA’s Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media.
Witnessing firsthand the excitement generated by the Fox helped
spark his interest in classic theaters.
“The Fox is one of the theaters that led to the founding
of Cinema Treasures,” he explained. “In 1996, I was in
the apartments UCLA owns behind the Fox. I came when
“˜Independence Day’ first opened ““ the lines went
around three blocks. Seeing that swell of activity and moviegoers
night after night, when I grew up on multiplexes, was a formative
experience.”
Today, students still appreciate what the Fox’s single
screen and roughly 1,400 seats have to offer in an era dominated by
multiplexes.
“I really like the theater, in that it’s in this old
Hollywood style. It’s so glamorous and big,” said Kathy
Kim, a fourth-year psychology student.
“The atmosphere is different. A multiplex is just kind of
like a Borders. They have them all over the place. They’re
not really special ““ you just go to watch a movie.”
“It’s just so pretty in there,” added Jennifer
Chang, also a fourth-year psychology student. “The large
crowd definitely makes the movie theater seem like a place
that’s more than just somewhere to watch a movie.”
Melnick explained how the theater’s entertainment value
stems from more than just the movies it screens. The Fox is imbued
with an old architecture fantasy ““ the idea that the show
starts on the sidewalk, beginning from the exterior box office and
the lit-up tower.
“When you think of seeing an event movie you still think
of going to see it in the Fox theater,” he said.
Kim still remembers attending the opening night of
“Spider-Man 2″ there. “People were dressed up and
waiting in line forever, and they were tossing around beach balls
in the auditorium,” she said. “They turned out all the
lights to calm us down. … It was just a spectacle.”
However, the theater is best known as the site of some of
Hollywood’s biggest premieres.
Many have already seen it on TV long before they come to UCLA,
and perhaps without knowing it.
Students flock down to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars,
admitting they’re not above succumbing to the current
celebrity-worship culture.
When Chang realized at the premiere of “The Matrix
Revolutions” that neither she nor her friend had brought a
camera, she immediately set about fixing the problem.
“One of us saved our spot, and the other ran to Rite Aid
to buy a disposable. The shots weren’t that great, but I have
a close-up one of Keanu (Reeves),” she said.
Kim went a step further, managing along with a group of friends
to garner an invite to the premiere of “The Notebook.”
They had gone to see Ryan Gosling and Gena Rowlands, but were
treated to an appearance by a more celebrated Hollywood icon,
Morgan Freeman.
“I was like, “˜Oh my God, I’m standing three
feet from Morgan Freeman,'” she recalled, noting that
one of her friends even followed him into the bathroom.
Melnick’s previous work in publicity at Dreamworks and
other studios provided some insight into why the Village still
attracts so many premieres.
“Something about it looks great on television.
There’s something about the nighttime, and they’re also
catching the Mann Bruin across the street ““ it’s like
this nexus of neon marquees,” Melnick said.
He added that the external similarity between the Village
Theater and a Los Angeles theater torn down decades ago, the Fox
Carthay Circle, draws an unconscious connection to a tradition of
glittering premieres.
“It captures a long history of these beautiful white Fox
buildings ““ it ties old Hollywood to new Hollywood,” he
said.
After more than 70 years, the Fox remains at the heart of
activity in Westwood.
“The role of the movie theater has changed, but remarkably
stayed so much the same. … It’s one of the most inexpensive
and central gathering places we have as a community,” Melnick
said.
“The Fox theater has weathered depression, war, the
movement to the suburbs, home video, the Internet, and still
retains its importance.”