TCL Chinese Theatre

Looks like the Chinese is on the block…again.

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The article notes that despite the economy, there is a likelier chance for a buyer to step in since Paramount and Warner Brothers are agreeing to sell theatres individually instead of the “package deal” of previous efforts.

I’m not sure if this has been posted before. The LAPL caption for this 1979 photo states that this was the biggest opening crowd in the history of the Chinese:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028719.jpg

Unless I haven’t scrolled far enough up, has anyone experienced a movie here in the D-Box set up? I’m curious to know if it adds to the entertainment or is it just a gimmick? Also, are the screens at the Chinese 6 all the same size? The pictures Hollywood has seem to indicate Auditoriums 1 and 5 are the largest and have somewhat curved screens.

In the mid 90s, I went to Vegas and experienced Doug Trumbull’s Showscan 3D extravaganza at the Luxor Hotel. The screens were IMAX-huge and you wore these heavy 3D headsets that had speakers as you sat in motion controlled rocking seats. They were quite cool. I don’t remember the exact storyline but it seemed to be a journey through time. There were three parts and three different theaters. There was some prominence of an obelisk and lots of cool visual light shows and ending that reminded me of an expanded version of Back to the Future II’s depiction of a skyway. Anyway, D-Box sounds like a miniature version of what I experienced in Vegas. What made it work for me was of course, the humongous, yet clear screen size and sound inundation.

Okay, so when you’re talking about the organ, you mean the pipes and equipment, not the console. Thanks.

The console of the Wultitzer organ was in the center of the orchestra pit, so could be seen by the audience. The organ chambers were located in the ceiling, above the proscenium. To allow sound from the instrument into the auditorium, there was a tone chute, which allowed the sound to emit through the massive grillework above the main ceiling chandelier, giving an effect of the music seeming to ‘float’ over the audience.

A similar set up was also at two other Grauman theatres, the Metropolitan in Downtown, and the Egyptian along Hollywood Bouelvard.

To answer Jloew’s comment regarding the boxed space that is above what used to be the stage at the Chinese. That boxed space is standard fly space that most older theaters have. The organ was forward of that space. There is space between the ceiling and the roof of the Chinese and the organ was in that space located in rooms that were built to house the organ.

I don’t think we need a seperate page. There’s an escalator and stairs that goes from the Footprint Forecourt up to the entrance of the multiplex. At the boxoffices (in the multiplex lobby and down on Hollywood Blvd) you can buy a ticket to a movie playing in Graumans or the multiplex. In fact, when you buy a ticket to Graumans the ticket says ‘Auditorium 7’ I think doesn’t it?

I don’t follow; why shouldn’t the Mann Chinese 6 have its own page? It is (and was constructed as) a separate theater (though in an adjacent building) with its own entrances and box office, and opened after the Grauman name was restored to the classic Chinese. It isn’t like the two cinemas that were once next to Grauman’s that operated as Grauman’s (Mann’s) Chinese 2 and 3 until they were torn down for the complex next door. The matter isobviously up to the moderators, but I think a separate entry is called for; the headnote could clarify any connection to to Graumann’s Chinese, but I really see very little.

correct. really there should be 2 separate listings: 1 for Grauman’s Chinese and the other for Chinese 6

Nice photos. You should send them to Cinematour

Isn’t it a crime to not have seen a show at the Chinese? It ought to be…

This is a 1928 newspaper ad:
http://tinyurl.com/ltuqrk

Here is a 1947 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/mpnhs6