El Capitan Theatre
6838 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6838 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
95 people
favorited this theater
Showing 251 - 275 of 318 comments
Yeah, unfortunately,I don’t remember if I took a photo the day I went by last year. If I remember correctly, “Pirates of the Caribbean” was the movie on the marquee, in the animated sign. I have to look through my photos.
Ah yes, just like I remember it. It is a sight to be seen. I love what they did with the marquee.
The building to the right of the El Capitan was a Masonic Temple, and the building to the LEFT was a multi-storied office building that housed American Cinema Releasing. They distributed a lot of chop-socky in the late 70’s and early 80s.
And Fox rented out the Aquarius Theater on Sunset Blvd. (near the “world famous” Hollywood Palladium) for the short-lived Chevy Chase Show.
I live in New York, but managed to see what’s on Hollywood Boulevard on a recent California trip. Trust me, to an outsider it’s spectacular.
The New Amsterdam is a landkmark due to the interior of the theatre. Disney did incoporate the 1940’s-1950’s marquee as part of the history of the theatre. The New Amsterdam is more historic than the El Capitan. I had a small part in helping get Disney to restore the El Capitan. The El Capitan is both a restoration and a renovation. The marquee is a new marquee which I love but it is not historic. It is quite beautiful at night and is a tribute to the marquee’s of the past using the technology of today. I wish the Nederlander’s would have restored all the flashing neon on the Pantagees when they restored the theatre a few years ago. I wish Paramount and Warner Bros would restore the Chinese Dragon neon marquee they had removed when they restored the Chinese Theatre across the street. I have attended all the theatres along Hollywood Blvd for the past 40 years.brucec
bobt and RobertR;
The New Amsterdam Theater was not a landmark due to its atchitecture. The landmark is more theater history because that’s where Ziegfeld held his follies.
bobt
You bring up a good point, with all the money Disney put into the New Amsterdamn they pretty much left the old marquee. It’s not that it’s so nice that it’s considered a landmark.
I was talking about the LCD Screen Technology. It looked great under those lights from the earlier times, and added a nice modern touch.
Animated marquees are indeed wonderful things, and I fervently wish more theatres/cinemas had them! But it is a sad commentary about our society when we are marveling at an invention of 1900, now 105 years later, only because such artistry has all but vanished from our lives, lo these many years now.
Glad you were Bway
It is. It’s been a few years since I have been inside. I was last in there for the live version of “101 Dalmations”, whenever that was out a few years ago. The inside was beautifully restored. As you were, I was also quite impressed with the animated marquee.
Last month I was in California and stood in the area around Grauman’s Chinese and the Le Capitan. I saw the marquis of the El Capitan and found it delightful. I never saw an animated theater sign before. I did not go inside, but I’m sure that old theater is as spectacular as that marquis.
The Theatre Historical Society of America will be visiting this theatre on June 22, 2005.
the old el capitan is known as the palace if that helps.i worked for pacific theatres “the grove” from 01 to 03,and they own the el capitan consession stand which i think is odd.after every two hours the whole staff gathers around and they read the “numbers” and they always take the count for the el capitans numbers.this may have been changed since the arclight is closer and is also owned by pacific.
recent photo:
View link
Sorry, one correction… the Montalban Theater was a movie house in the early 1930s, not 20s.
The “other” El Capitan no longer goes by that name. The original El Capitan above was built in 1927 as a live theater. A few years before, the “Hollywood Playhouse” opened on Vine Street also as a live theater (it has always remained a live theater to this day). When the original El Capitan above became a movie palace instead of a live theater, (the late 1930s, if memory serves me) it was renamed the PARAMOUNT. It was around that time the Hollywood Playhouse on Vine Street became the new El Capitan.
Sometime in the 1940s, the Vine Street El Capitan’s name was taken back to be the “Hollywood Playhouse” and has remained that name ever since (except in the 1960s, when it was known as the “Hollywood Palace” because of the TV show which was broadcast from there).
The original El Capitan was renamed it’s original name by Disney when they bought it a few years back. This grand theater was mainly purchased as a venue for DISNEY premiers, which are a regular event these days. The theater is restored and glorious. There are some live events there, some are in conjunction with the films shown there, I am told. Check to see with the theater to be sure.
So when you visit, there will only be ONE El Capitan…. the original. The Hollywood Playhouse on Vine street is mainly for live popular music acts, from what I understand. Fortunately, it has remained largely intact over the decades, although showing it’s age. Neither of these theaters is to be mistaken for the Ricardo Montalban Theater (which they often are) on Vine Steet one block to the south. That was a movie theater in the 1920s, and so it has a link here on cinema treasures at /theaters/9863/
Here is a photo of the El Capitan theater (above) when it was brand new in 1927… notice the Roosevelt Hotel, where the first oscar ceremony took place, under construction a block further……
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028679.jpg
Here is a photo of the Hollywood Playhouse, which for a while was called the El Capitan (I believe the 1930s)… but today is a live music venue….
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014702.jpg
This is as much as I know. Hope it solves the confusion. Perhaps someone can go into greater detail on these 2 great theaters? Both have a great history.
Maybe I should explain. I heard the El Capitan has stage shows much like they once did at Radio City Music Hall in New York, near where I live. This would be a great return to the past. I plan to visit the LA Area in late March, and want to see a movie at one of these picture palaces.
Does the El Capitan have many stage shows?
The other El Capitian Theatre is located at 1735 North Vine Street, almost across the street Capitol Records building.
In an earlier posting here, Oct. 19, 2003, there is mention of another El Capitan theater. It was also used as a television studio. Where was it? In one of those El Capitans, Richard Nixon delivered his famous “Checkers Speech.” Which one, and where?
I was raised in Hollywood in the 1950s and the El Capitan was called “The Paramount” in those days. There was a huge marquee over the entrance, and I found a photo of it as it looked then…..
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014773.jpg
I just spoke with a friend who told me about this theatre so I then looked here and found it! Great find!
Thanks Bway
It’s a paradox. Although I did have comments in this theater thread before this, if you repied to any of the “poll” threads, you will get “just responded emails” to the corresponding theater with the same number. For example, if you participated in one of the polls that havd “17” at the end of it’s URL, you will get the responses from the theater with “17” on it’s URL, which happens to be the El Capitan theater.
I first noticed this happening with the Zeigfeld in Manhattan. Rigth after I responded to one of the poll threads that had “12” in it’s URL, I got “someone just responded to” emails for the Zeigfeld which has “12” in it’s URL.
It’s a glitch in the website code I guess.