Hollywood's Historic Buildings
Theaters and other architectural gems lined Hollywood's famous boulevards during its Golden Age and now hold restored star appeal
- By Laura Kiniry
- Smithsonian.com, March 01, 2010
El Capitan Movie Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California (© Wendy Connett / Alamy)
6838 Hollywood Boulevard
For more than a decade after its 1926 opening, theatre-goers packed “Hollywood’s first home of spoken drama” to catch live productions of plays featuring such film actors like Will Rogers, Henry Fonda and Rita Hayworth. Viewers sat high in the upper balcony or in lavishly ornamented opera boxes alongside the grand theatre’s velvet-draped proscenium. In 1941 El Capitan hosted the West Coast premiere of Orson Welles’ controversial film Citizen Kane, which led to the theater’s transformation to a movie house called the Hollywood Paramount. The theatre underwent a $14-million restoration after the Walt Disney Company took over in 1989. Today it’s an exclusive showcase for first-run Disney films, often accompanied by a live musical revue or melodies played on a 1928 Wurlitzer pipe organ, added in 1999.
Comments (11)
Hollywood sucks
Posted by Simon on November 12,2012 | 10:24 AM
I remember those days well, especially the Palladiam - it wwas alwys such a thrill to walk into that ballroom. Also shopping on Hollywood Blvd. I had a suit made for !00.00 dollars and hated to geg rid of that one. There was a great tailor on the the Blvd.
Posted by Iona Holderness on March 4,2010 | 06:46 PM
It wouldn't BE Hollywood if it weren't in California
Posted by Clifton Grantham on March 4,2010 | 06:32 PM
For the record, the corner pictured in the Capitol records entry is Vine and Argyle. There is no Hollywood Avenue. Hollywood Boulevard is a block South, where you can see the neon lights of the Broadway Hollywood.
Posted by Joyce Hagen on March 4,2010 | 06:05 PM
Thank you for helping to preserve Classic Hollywood. I worked in the Capitol Record Tower in the sixties. Alan Livingston was President of Capitol, and Ed Nash was President of the Capitol Record Club. They made me Vice President of Marketing and Creative Services of the Capitol Record Club. We had to move the Club to Thousand Oaks because our 420 employees simply wouldn't fit in the tower, but I always kept an office there, and attended many policy meetings in the conference room on the thirteenth floor.
Posted by Harry A LeMay on March 4,2010 | 04:04 PM
ALWAY SAVE THE PAST. GREAT TO SEE HISTORICAL BUILLDINGS. I HAVE A HOME OVER 200 YEARS. BUILT IN 1740
Posted by A. GREGORY on March 4,2010 | 12:48 PM
Thank you so much for a wonderful tour,something I always wanted to do in person, but................
Posted by Betsy Cossuth on March 4,2010 | 11:55 AM
I'm linking to this article for our blog WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC. Our blog is about rockabilly, the early rock and roll era, which Wes Bryan was part of as a singer, then a singer-songwriter, then a songwriter for American Music, and as a music producer. By linking to your article and the pictures, our readers can get a better sense of Hollywood as it was when Wes and so many that he worked with were walking their new songs into small record labels.
We're at http://www.wesbryan.blogspot.com
Christine Trzyna
Posted by Christine Trzyna on March 1,2010 | 04:40 PM
The problem with Hollywood is that it's located in California.
Posted by Doc Miller on February 27,2010 | 11:25 AM
Used exstensivly in Capital Record Club Advertising in the 60's a monument in LA...May it live forever!!!
Posted by Rich Parks on February 24,2010 | 02:27 PM
Fascinating article. Loved reading about the historical places. So well researched. Want to see them in person next time we visit Hollywood.
Posted by Bonnie Yorkowitz on February 23,2010 | 02:11 PM