Set us as preferredArmed with flashlights, dozens of community members stepped into the darkened Westlake Theatre, sidestepping puddles and broken glass as they imagined what the century-old movie palace could become. The organization wants to purchase the historic Westlake Theatre and transform it into a community arts and nonprofit hub. AdvertisementThe Westlake Theatre opened in 1926 as a 1,949-seat vaudeville and movie palace overlooking MacArthur Park, according to the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation. It operated as a movie theater until 1991, when it closed and was converted into an indoor swap meet. AdvertisementSara Zapata Mijares arrived in the Westlake neighborhood from Yucatán in 1969, when she was 17 years old.