Million Dollar Theatre

Sid Grauman launched his career as a film showman in Los Angeles with the Million Dollar, said to have cost as much as its flamboyant name. On opening night, February 1, 1918, Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand and others stars drove past kleig lights and crowds two blocks long waiting to see William S. Hart in “The Silent Man”. The Million Dollar remained a movie theatre with stage show well past other theatres in the area. During the late 50’s – 70’s the Million Dollar had Spanish stage shows, featuring some of the Best Spanish entertainers in the world. The Million Dollar today is a church. Movies did return for a short time in 1999. The building was constructed for the Metropolitan Water District in the Churrigueresque style, popularized by the San Diego Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915. Derived from Spanish Baroque, the lavish terra cotta ornamentation displays whimsical Americana: a bison head, Texas longhorn and cavorting figures. The building’s architect Albert C. Martin has produced major Los Angeles landmarks which include City Hall and the Department of Water and Power. The sculptor for the theatre was Joseph Mora. The Million Dollars’s architect William L. Woolett went on to build important movie houses in Long Beach and Santa Monica; his crowning achievement, The mighty Paramount (aka: Grauman’s Metropolitan) Theatre at 6th and Hill Street. It was downtown’s largest movie palace until its demolition in 1963.