Coyote in Coronado

I semi-regularly check back to the Village Theater in Coronado to see what’s playing; my positive experiences at this place have gotten me back to the theater after years of rarely going to the movies in person. Just the thought of driving to a mall and navigating the mall multi-plex parking lots is enough of a deterrent to keep me away. Not so at The Village. This time, the drawing card was “Coyote vs. Acme,” a film with a stormy background that almost didn’t see the light of day.



On a side note, the popcorn is good, too, served by a very friendly staff member. The medium size would be large enough for two.



The Village has three separate screens. This time, I was able to experience #3. Like the other two, it feels magical, with murals of Balboa Park, deco styling, and CLEAN!





The movie: apparently, after it was completed, Warner decided to shelve it and use it as a tax write-off. Three years later, it finally hit the big screen. I have no idea why this film would have been buried, although usually in Hollywood at the big studios it comes down to money. I have heard it described as a cross between “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” and “Erin Brockovich,” and I would say that’s a very good description. Pretty much all the Looney Tune characters are on hand, and I found myself laughing out loud frequently in the first half of the film. The situations in that portion are creative, well-written, and keep in line with the spirit of the original Warner cartoons. Once the courtroom portions begin, the film loses a bit of gas, and becomes a bit more predictable and preachy. I would still recommend it, but would have to give the first part an A+ and the last half closer to a C+.



My other goal of the evening was to try the Night & Day Café located just across the street. This late-night hangout closes at 10pm on Thursday nights, and I sailed in at 9:30pm. Unlike many other restaurants in town, I did not get the death look. Instead I was warmly welcomed and immediately seated at the counter.



It’s a true authentic diner. Just take a look at the counter and the grill.



I will def do this on my next visit:



It’s a tad dark in here, but it fits perfectly with the vibe, which I would say is akin to the 1942 Edward Hopper painting, Nighthawks.





My Beef Chimichanga was DELICIOUS. The large portion will serve as my lunch today!



I will definitely be returning to both places; I love neighborhoods where you can have a perfect evening without driving all over, and that definitely describes Coronado Island.
 
See more Coronado Island photos at my main website.

Toy Story 5 at The Village

Last night I went to the semi-recently reopened Village Theater in Coronado. I had discovered it just before its temporary shutdown and transition to new owners. It was good to be back! This little gem is a treasure that far outshines the other theaters that are located at the overpopulated malls.



The Village first opened in 1947 and was a lively entertainment center for Coronado until the birth of the multiplex dampened its popularity. In 2011, the theater was revamped by designer Joseph Musil (the genius behind the restoration of Hollywood’s El Capitan Theatre).



From the Coronado History Page:

In 2011, the revamped Coronado Village Theater opened with the premiere of the film “Cars 2”. It retains its original Art Deco theme on the interior. While the original theater featured one room and sat 600 people, the renovated theater has three showing rooms, with its main room seating 215. The main room features artistic renditions of both the Coronado and San Diego Skyline, as well as other landmarks such as the Bay Bridge and the Hotel del Coronado. The other two rooms have 38 seats, respectively, and showcase murals of the famed San Diego Exposition of 1915 as well as San Diego’s Balboa Park. The murals were hand painted by Bill Anderson, a Disney muralist. Both new residents and locals who remember the original, quaint theater greatly appreciate the Coronado Village Theater as a lively source of activity and entertainment on the island.



I love the art deco styling inside, which still has a modern feeling to it.



I skipped over “The Odyssey” and “Moana” (!) and went right for “Toy Story 5,” which was playing in the Balboa Room theater.



The saturated colors in the smaller theater were right up my alley.



On either side of the screen were murals that represented San Diego’s Balboa Park; on the left were buildings from the 1935 Exposition in Balboa Park:



…and the Casa del Prado:



And the movie? I LOVED the first “Toy Story,” but each time a sequel was announced, I thought, “Why do they need to go back?” Each time, I have been pleasantly surprised. Somehow, Pixar has managed to keep this franchise fresh and innovative. This time, Jessie (voiced by Joan Cusack) is the lead, ably supported by her faithful horse, Bullseye.



Navigating the hot topic of what “devices” have done to kids (and our society), the film tugs at heartstrings, challenges the way we live, and also makes you laugh. What more can you ask for in a film? In a time when people have shut off their brains for AI, it is refreshing to see this movie tackle the controversy and attempt to remind the audience that all of these “devices” are tools, not substitutes for intelligence and creative thinking…and most importantly, play!



On the way out, I noticed the Night & Day Cafe, which stays open until midnight. It looked like a scene straight out of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. I need to go back here!



See more Coronado Island photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Roman Holiday

“Roman Holiday,” the Audrey Hepburn/Gregory Peck classic, had its world premiere in New York City at Radio City Music Hall on August 27, 1953, followed by the Los Angeles opening on September 30.



A special premiere was held on September 14, with the proceeds going to the Santa Monica Hospital’s building fund. It was appropriate for Shirley to attend (with her handsome husband Charles) as she was born there in 1928:



The Los Angeles Times announced on the morning of the premiere:

A charity premiere of the film “Roman Holiday” will be held tonight at the Village Theater in Westwood with funds from ticket sales and donations expected to add $75,000 to the Santa Monica Hospital’s building fund. The hospital is planning a new wing in a $1,000,000 expansion program. The institution is a voluntary, nonprofit organization and is the only emergency service for a large portion of West Los Angeles and the beach area. The film costars Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn and was contributed for showing by Paramount studios at the theater by Charles P. Skouras, head of National Theaters. Voluntary contributions for the epansion already have netted $325,000 and $600,000 has been donated by the Lutheran Hospital Society of Southern California, according to actress Esther Williams, general chairman.



Audrey’s arrival, surrounded by music legends Cole Porter and Irving Berlin:



Shirley and Charles arrive:



The theater seen in the background of both photos is The Bruin, which I photographed in 1986:



The premiere was held at the nearby Fox Westwood Village:



How it looked, Summer 1989:



It is wonderful to see the love in Charles’ eyes as he proudly looks at his gorgeous wife:



In their seats for the screening:





On the back of the three photos in my collection of Shirley and Charles at the back is stamped the name and address of Darlene Hammond:



This is what I was able to dig up about who she was when I found a Bonham's auction of her photos:

From the 1950s through the early 1980s, there was rarely a Hollywood event at which photographer Darlene Hammond was not present, capturing the glamorous yet candid moments of the Golden Age of Hollywood and witnessing with her lens the changes that took over Hollywood in the late 1960s and beyond. A woman ahead of her time, Darlene was one of the few female photographers during these formative years in the film industry. Darlene's work appeared in national magazines such as Life, People, The National Enquirer, and in hundreds of movie magazines from the 1950s through the '70s. Her ability to catch just the right moments in both the private and public lives of her celebrity subjects, which included Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, and every other major star of the Golden Age, makes Darlene Hammond's photographs some of the most unique and vibrant in Hollywood history.

In 2017, Christie's auction house sold a number of shots from the premiere that were from Audrey Hepburn’s personal collection:







Another shot of Audrey with Porter and Berlin. In the background is a poster for James Stewart’s film, “Thunder Bay,” which had been released a few months before on May 20.



How did the event go? According to the Evening Vanguard:

Hundreds upon hundreds had a real “Roman Holiday” Monday night when they attended a gala benefit premiere of the picture in Westwood…Among the first nighters were cute Audrey Hepburn, who plays the lead in the film with Gregory Peck…She made a personal appearance…Leo Carrillo and Duncan Renaldo were there in their Pancho and Cisco costumes…Had just come in from working on the Cisco films…MGM’s Esther Williams was chairman of the show and presented silver spoons to five proud papas who became fathers of wee ones (they were all girls) at S. M. Hospital that day…Then an added celebration…Every man in the theater (thousands of them) got a cigar with the familiar band “it’s a girl”…It was a big night…Searchlights, red carpets, grandstands and a welcoming committee of dinner-jacketed men were on hand to greet the first nighters…The theater was jammed…

Also in attendance were Jan Sterling, Paul Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Debbie Reynolds, Gene Barry, Macdonald Carey, Wendell Corey, Ann Miller, Ann Robinson, Mercedes McCambridge, Rex Allen, Anne Francis, Terry Moore and Keenan Wynn.

 See more Shirley Temple Black photos at my main website.