A 1951 Kodachrome reel of the Rose Parade. A home movie shot at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, the stands half-empty. Footage from a Prohibition-era road trip to Tijuana, where a resort hotel that would not survive the repeal waited for thirsty Californians.
These are among the rare archival films that documentary filmmaker Nick Spark will screen Thursday evening inside the Raymond Theatre, a 105-year-old movie palace on North Raymond Avenue in Old Pasadena. Pasadena Heritage is presenting the program, titled “Pieces of America with Periscope Film,” as part of its 50th-anniversary programming year.
The screening draws from the Periscope Film Archive, which Spark co-founded with business partner Doug Weiner. The collection includes travelogues, home movies, industrial and training films, educational shorts and other nonfiction footage, including scenes from Pasadena and the surrounding region, according to Pasadena Heritage’s event listing.
“They’re really exciting because they’re unique,” Spark said of the home movies in an interview. “They don’t exist in any other form. The people that shot them had their own unique perspective and experience that they recorded.”
Spark, a Los Angeles-based documentarian and MFA graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, produced the Emmy Award-winning “The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club.” He said he and Weiner recognized in the early 2000s that while considerable resources went to preserving Hollywood’s commercial output, little was being done to save amateur films and home movies.
“We just decided to step into that gap,” he said. Periscope Film scans its holdings in 4K and HD resolution and presents all footage unaltered. “We’re going through a moment in time where authenticity really matters,” Spark said. “These films are as authentic as you can get.”
Nick Giovanazzi, the programs director for Pasadena Heritage, said the venue is part of the appeal. Designed by Pasadena architect Cyril Bennett, the Raymond Theatre opened on April 5, 1921, according to architectural records held by the Pacific Coast Architecture Database. Pasadena Heritage maintains an exterior easement on the theater’s facade.
“The Raymond Theater is itself a piece of American history,” Giovanazzi said. “Really being able to talk about people of the past in a space that they occupied really makes the messaging so much more poignant.”
The event is part of a broader push by the organization to use archival media to connect people with local history, Giovanazzi said. The nonprofit, founded in 1977, is entering its 50th-anniversary year. “Archival media is such a wonderful tool in teaching people about the past because it’s so visual and it’s so easy to connect with,” he said.
“Pieces of America with Periscope Film” takes place Thursday, August 13, 2026, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $16 for Pasadena Heritage members through the Zeffy ticketing platform; Spark said the event is sold out but that special guest seats may still be available through Pasadena Heritage. The Raymond Theatre is at 129 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91103, approximately half a block from the Memorial Park station on the Metro A Line. For more information, call (626) 441-6333 or visit pasadenaheritage.org.
