Los Angeles Theatre

Around the corner from the bustle and roar of Broadway's Jewelry District in downtown L.A., a quiet alley serves as a respite for locals and tourists. Shops and restaurants with colorful awnings and peeling brick facades present a kitschy, Old World scene, complete with a potbellied chef statue, and a Marilyn Monroe perched in a pink Cadillac. On most days, a group of Armenian men can be spotted hunched over a backgammon board, shrouded in cigarette smoke. But the fate of St. Vincent's Court - a California historical landmark - has been thrown into question after a complaint prompted a city crackdown on outdoor seating.

The Los Angeles Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats film series , which shines the spotlight on historic movie palaces in downtown Los Angeles, is kicking off June 1 at the Orpheum Theatre with Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 romantic thriller, "To Catch a Thief. " Tickets for the series are on sale now. June 5 will bring a screening of 1987's "La Bamba" at the Palace Theatre. The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center, which was the home of the Academy Awards for several years, will host a screening of the beloved 1964 Oscar-winning film, "My Fair Lady," with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.

Last Remaining Seats--"The Adventures of Robin Hood," this week's entry in the Last Remaining Seats series, will be shown Wednesday at the Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway, L.A., (213) 430-4219. An incorrect theater was given in Sunday's Calendar.

Around the corner from the bustle and roar of Broadway's Jewelry District in downtown L.A., a quiet alley serves as a respite for locals and tourists. Shops and restaurants with colorful awnings and peeling brick facades present a kitschy, Old World scene, complete with a potbellied chef statue, and a Marilyn Monroe perched in a pink Cadillac. On most days, a group of Armenian men can be spotted hunched over a backgammon board, shrouded in cigarette smoke. But the fate of St. Vincent's Court - a California historical landmark - has been thrown into question after a complaint prompted a city crackdown on outdoor seating.

The Last Remaining Seats When : 8 p.m. Wednesdays (2 p.m. matinee on June 30). Doors open one hour before each screening. Cost : $20 ($16 for Los Angeles Conservancy members) Info : (213) 623 2489; http://www.laconservancy.org . Schedule : June 6: "Tootsie" (1982). Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, L.A. June 13: "The Big Sleep" (1946). Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway, L.A. June 20: "Los tres mosqueteros" (The Three Musketeers)

Thank you for the beautiful article on the Los Angeles Theatre ("To Heck With a Movie; Let the Theater Entertain You," Feb. 26). They certainly do not build anything like that anymore. I would like to find out if there are tours offered for the public. Please let me know. Emina Darakjy Pasadena Editor's note: Only tours of the exterior of the Los Angeles Theatre are being offered by the Los Angeles Conservancy. The interior is not accessible to the public. Tears came to my eyes remembering the beautiful old theaters from my youth during the 1930s and '40s.

A week ago, Bruce Corwin, the exhibitor whose family has operated grand movie palaces on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles since their heydays in the 1920s and '30s, was seriously considering the sad thought of closing the 62-year-old Los Angeles Theatre--the most grand and glorious of them all. There has been just no business, he said, even though the current offering is "RoboCop 3," in English.

The Los Angeles Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats film series , which shines the spotlight on historic movie palaces in downtown Los Angeles, is kicking off June 1 at the Orpheum Theatre with Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 romantic thriller, "To Catch a Thief. " Tickets for the series are on sale now. June 5 will bring a screening of 1987's "La Bamba" at the Palace Theatre. The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center, which was the home of the Academy Awards for several years, will host a screening of the beloved 1964 Oscar-winning film, "My Fair Lady," with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.

One OF the best things about spending summer in the city is that you get plenty of offbeat filmgoing choices in interesting venues to go along with your tent poles. On Wednesday evenings between May 28 and July 2, the Los Angeles Conservancy presents the 22nd annual "Last Remaining Seats" series, featuring rare screenings of classic movies at landmark theaters in downtown L.A. Catch "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" at the Los Angeles Theatre, "Mildred Pierce" at the Million Dollar Theatre and "Goldfinger" at the Orpheum Theatre.

David Steen's "Avenue A" and Center Theatre Group have captured the most nominations for the 1991 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards. Steen's bleak urban drama, produced at Hollywood's small Cast Theatre, won seven nominations--the most for a single production. Productions at Center Theatre Group's three venues--the Mark Taper Forum, the Doolittle Theatre and Taper, Too--garnered 16 nominations, more than those for any other production company.

Ten new plays produced by Latino theater companies from around the United States will have their world premieres in downtown Los Angeles in 2014, in the inaugural installment of a National Latino Theater Festival and Conference that's envisioned as a biennial event. The festival, still in its planning stages, came to light Tuesday when the National Endowment for the Arts announced a round of grants that includes $50,000 to the L.A.-based Latino Theater Company, which will host the gathering at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Southern California's biggest theater company was the biggest winner at the 2012 Ovation Awards, which were handed out Monday evening at a ceremony at the Los Angeles Theatre in downtown. Center Theatre Group scooped 13 trophies for its productions of "Waiting for Godot," "The Convert" and "War Horse. " The company also received the evening's biggest honor as having the best season. The Ovations, organized by the L.A. Stage Alliance, honor excellence in stage productions throughout the L.A. area.

The nominations for the 2011-2012 Ovation Awards were announced Tuesday evening. Leading the way were Center Theatre Group with 29 nominations, followed by the Celebration Theatre and Musical Theatre West, with 16 nominations each. Productions that received the most nominations included the Celebration's staging of the musical " The Color Purple " with 13 nominations; Danai Gurira's new play " The Convert ," at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, with 11; David Lindsay-Abaire's " Good People ," at the Geffen Playhouse, with eight; and the revival of Samuel Beckett's " Waiting for Godot ," at the Mark Taper Forum, also with eight.

The Last Remaining Seats When : 8 p.m. Wednesdays (2 p.m. matinee on June 30). Doors open one hour before each screening. Cost : $20 ($16 for Los Angeles Conservancy members) Info : (213) 623 2489; http://www.laconservancy.org . Schedule : June 6: "Tootsie" (1982). Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, L.A. June 13: "The Big Sleep" (1946). Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway, L.A. June 20: "Los tres mosqueteros" (The Three Musketeers)

One OF the best things about spending summer in the city is that you get plenty of offbeat filmgoing choices in interesting venues to go along with your tent poles. On Wednesday evenings between May 28 and July 2, the Los Angeles Conservancy presents the 22nd annual "Last Remaining Seats" series, featuring rare screenings of classic movies at landmark theaters in downtown L.A. Catch "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" at the Los Angeles Theatre, "Mildred Pierce" at the Million Dollar Theatre and "Goldfinger" at the Orpheum Theatre.

The Los Angeles Theatre Center, newly renovated and renamed the New LATC, will reopen on Oct. 25 in downtown L.A.'s historic Old Bank district with an inaugural performance event, "The World Stage Festival." The Latino Theater Company, the center's operating entity, is expected to make that announcement today. The festival, which will run through Dec.

The Los Angeles Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats film festival, which showcases the opulent historical theaters downtown on Broadway, began in 1987 simply as a proposed lecture series. "The Broadway theaters were an important historical resource that we wanted to showcase," says Conservancy Executive Director Linda Dishman. "We had a volunteer committee who were very interested in the historical theaters and were trying to figure out a way to get people into the theaters.

Southern California's biggest theater company was the biggest winner at the 2012 Ovation Awards, which were handed out Monday evening at a ceremony at the Los Angeles Theatre in downtown. Center Theatre Group scooped 13 trophies for its productions of "Waiting for Godot," "The Convert" and "War Horse. " The company also received the evening's biggest honor as having the best season. The Ovations, organized by the L.A. Stage Alliance, honor excellence in stage productions throughout the L.A. area.

"You haven't lived until you have been in the Los Angeles Theater," says film historian Leonard Maltin, rhapsodizing about the 76-year-old movie palace on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. "This was the last one built, and it's the most lavish and ornate. Its debut film was Charlie Chaplin's 'City Lights.' They even have a photo in the lobby of Chaplin and Albert Einstein at the premiere."

It might be comforting to believe the old adage about sticks and stones, but truth is: Names hurt. Stripping such words of their power is the aim of college-age performers Miles Gregley, Rafael Agustin and Allan Axibal. As the title for their socially conscious stage show, they've strung together three slurs hurled at their respective communities: "N*gger Wetb*ck Ch*nk."