Lankershim Theater and The Ritz Motel

When you live somewhere, it's very easy to neglect the things around you on your day to day life. I lived in Scottsdale, AZ until I was 19 but it wasn't until I came back to visit that I ever went to Taliesin West (let alone knew it existed) and to this day I have never been to the Grand Canyon, and I got around too. So now in my life I do a lot of exploring in the areas in which I live. That being said, North Hollywood (and not the new trendy NoHo Arts District) is an area that lacks, what I would say, appeal. It is next door to the suburb I live in, Valley Village (which is basically a 6 square block radius separating Studio City from scary North Hollywood(f.y.i. it is also where Sarah Silverman lives on her new TV show, Oooo)), but it is an area saturated with crime, car theft, and gang violence. Vanowen Street Loco's anyone?

I want to digress to share an embarrassing fact about myself; sometimes, at night, before I go to sleep and am flipping through channels, I watch the crime watch channel, showing all the scary dealings in the area. I sometimes get chills under my warm Ralph Lauren comforter at some of the police sketches, it's not a healthy activity but I frequently do this.

So when I heard there was an old theater down on Lankershim I became very curious. On my travel I ran into the Ritz Motel, which if maintained would have great character and it actually looks fairly neat at night. As for The Lankershim, which is now a church (a fate common in most old theaters), I wonder if the area was always run down as it is now, but in my readings it seems as though that is the case. It was hard to get a picture of it but the naked lady fighting a shrimp adds a nice touch I think.

You can can get some information and another picture at Cinema Tresures. Which is an amazing site that literally has information on every single movie theater ever built in the country. They also have a book out, aptly titled Cinema Treasures which you can get here.