Vista Theatre

Every screening at the Vista Theatre is on physical film: 35mm or 70mm, not a digital substitute. That matters here because the whole building seems built for the ritual of watching a print with a roomful of people, from first-run engagements to repertory films and occasional filmmaker Q&As.

The Vista opened on October 9, 1923, and still works as a single-screen neighbourhood movie palace on the stretch where Sunset becomes Hollywood Boulevard. Quentin Tarantino purchased it and officially reopened it in November 2023, programming the cinema around those 35mm and 70mm presentations. The reopening brought sold-out special screenings and Tarantino-hosted events, but the appeal is just as much in the ordinary pleasure of one screen, one audience, one shared film.

There is a lovely visual jolt to the place: Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival outside, Egyptian-inspired ornament within. Before the lights go down, Pam’s Coffee Café in the lobby adds coffee, cereal bowls and pastries to the pre-show routine.