Hollywood Theatre
6764 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6764 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
27 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 98 comments
Addendum: There was no air-conditioning at the theater in those days. At night we went up on the roof to open it up so the cool California air could be drawn into the theater by the fans. Sagedy was an usher. He worked there the two years I had. I heard he later became a teacher.Bob was the assistant manager. I have forgotten his last name? He was in his fifties and a real nice, but secretive, guy. Rocky changed the marquee until the studios made up special marquees for the films. Kelly was the projectionist. It was half Fox West Coast and half co-owned. Gangster Mickey Cohen came in one time. I was approched by two suits who asked “Where did he go?” I didn’t know whom they were looking for. Mickey had walked down the aisle and out the rear exit.
I worked at the Hollywood theater in 1957 and 1960. Mr. Bill Quann was the manager. He had worked at the studios until he retired to manage the theater. He always was dressed in a suit and parked his car in the parking space at the curb. Kathy McRae was the theater cashier. She was a theater cashier in Hollywod until she passed away. Victor Bugliosi was the night manager. He is the brother of Vincent Bugliosi who prosecuted Charles Manson. I worked nights. We had double features. A first run with a B feature. Many clebrities came to the theater after the Sunset clubs closed. Coffee Dan’s was located next door. It had an all gay clientel after the gay bars closed. It was exciting to work there. It was a Fox West Coast theater at that time and later Mann’s took it over.
Here is a photo taken last night:
http://tinyurl.com/6paevy
Here are some October 2008 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/4pcvmr
http://tinyurl.com/4pk8dj
http://tinyurl.com/3whgf6
http://tinyurl.com/4pgkyn
You can see the Vog of the Vogue’s vertical sign in that picture.
Here is another photo from the LAPL, circa late 30s:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics45/00072159.jpg
Across the street you can see the signs for Pickwick Books and the Vogue.
All that beautiful neon. Sigh.
Here is a night shot from yesterdayla.com:
http://tinyurl.com/bb9lz
Hollywood, welcome back. Please post more of your unique and fascinating collection, on this and other pages.
Here is a photo taken today:
http://tinyurl.com/yqvw9s
No, the status is closed if it’s no longer being used as a theater.
I don’t think they use the word “closed” unless the building sits empty. The building is very much open and in use, just not as a theater….
Here is another 1938 photo from the LAPL:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics28/00063858.jpg
Status should be closed.
Thanks. I went to the Guiness Museum some years back, before I even realized it was a theater….but don’t remember ANY theater ornamentation inside, but that could be because I really wasn’t looking either. But if it was blantant, I would have noticed it.
The Hollywood Theatre was just standard size theatre when it opened in 1919. The first big house was the Egyptian Theatre in 1922 on Hollywood Blvd.. Over the years the theatre lost much of its past decor through remodels. The final remodel was done in June of 1977, for the move-over of Star Wars from the Chinese Theatre.
Thanks! That’s what I thought, but got confused when I looked at the aerial photo. So the Hollywood wasn’t all that big of a theater it appears.
Bwy, The Hollywood Theatre was just like the picture shows, a low building. The building on Highland in question is not a theatre and was never a theatre. It’s the Max Factor make-up building.
I have a question, here’s an aerial view of the Hollywood. When looking at the aerial image, the building with the Hollywood marquee appears to be a low building, and attached, actually on Highland Ave, appears to be a large theater building with windows knocked into it. I have never been in the Hollywood when it was still a theater, is this the case. Is that large building the actual auditorium, perpendicular to the old lobby area?
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Pine:— It’s been along time since I worked at the theater. Do you remember my best friend Bruce who worked at the theater as well? Dave James was the manager and one of my closest friends as well. Dave passed away a couple of years ago. I’m sure I would remember alot of the people I worked with at the theater over the years back in the day; Maybe not their names ,but the faces are forever imprinted upon my brain. Everyone around the Boulevard knew me.
Ed
The marquee in the film was an old style one, not like the Hollywood’s current one. The theatre exterior in the film was one of the studio’s backlot theatre fronts and the interior shots where shot at the Los Angeles Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles.
Minor point here, but I was mistaken about the theater in “1941”. While it might have been based on the Hollywood, the fictitious theater is called the Hollywood State in the film.
Robert, thanks for posting those historic photos. It’s amazing how well intact the outside remains of the Hollywood. Unfortunately, inside is lost.
Isn’t this the theater depicted in Speilberg’s “1941” where General Stilwell watches “Dumbo” while the USO/Zoot Suit riot goes on outside on Hollywood Blvd? Columbia and Universal spent millions reconstructing a stretch of Hollywood Blvd (both in full scale and minature) for this movie and I seem to recall the marquee from the film looking very much like the one depicted in images on this page – although I believe artistic license was taken in creating the full scale exterior sets.
I was going to write that the Aykroyd character and his tank crew in the movie blow the hell out of the marquee, but I think its the USO marquee across the street that gets shot up not the Hollywood marquee.