TCL Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
160 people
favorited this theater
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From the CA state library:
http://tinyurl.com/yszuf2
http://tinyurl.com/2aclmr
http://tinyurl.com/yveoqu
From the LAPL:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014572.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014608.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014609.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014571.jpg
I have been trying to locate interior photos of the Grauman’s lobby from the 40’s and 50’s but have not been sucessful..Perhaps there are none around..I have an antique dragon motif cast iron. bronze and brass floor standing ashtray/smoking stand I purchased many years ago that I understand was once in the lobby of the Grauman. The adm. of the estate I purchased it from told me it was removed during a renovation and came accompanied with a picture of Cary Grant standing there putting out a cigarette in the very same smoking stand. I have treasured it over the years but always meant to try and find out more about the piece. I called Mann’s a few years ago and spoke to someone there and described the ash tray and was told after some deliberation that it was indeed one of a pair that once stood in their lobby. I am an antique collector and bought the piece for it’s value as a unique art deco piece of the era but it’s connection to the theatre was a real plus and has always had me fascinated. Does anyone know how I could go about getting more info on this fabulous piece.I have visions of not only Cary Grant but the likes of Bette Davis putting her cigs in the ashtray and it gives me goosebumps.
In a card game. :)
Does anyone know how the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Center of New York and Barlow Respiratory Hospital of Los Angeles came to own the land ?
That’s cute. As operator of the Chinese, I vote for the Frank Theater chain of South Jersey. Given the Franks' stellar reputation, I would like to see how they would handle a venue such as this.
A recent visit to ‘Madame Dara’ the gypsy fortune teller in San Francisco CA has told me today the future of the Mann’s Grauman’s Theatre in Hollywood CA. Looking just 2 years from now; and with city help. The new owners CIM will put a new big fancy hotel above the air space on top of the Chinese Theatre. (Just like in NYC) It will be called the Grauman’s CIM Hotel Hollywood. It will have a oriental/tiki look with 600 rooms. The big draw she told me will be all the Movie Star beggers outside dressed for the tourist crowd will move inside the new hotel and offer nite tuck down service to the guests that pay a little extra for a Hollywood touch! Imagine Marilyn or the Pirate can come to your room. The big money thing that the CIM people will do $$$ is put in the Big Tong Gates in front of the forcourt and charge $5 per person to enter and see the movie star prints and take photos (No Video) that’s extra. If your on a tour bus the bus people will pay CIM $3 per head for entrance 24/7 The big news that blew me away ‘Madame Dara’ told me this afternoon when Mann goes out of business two brothers from the San Francisco area will take over the Mann Theatres (what is left after the big LA earthquake and fire in 2008) I asked her the name of the brothers she said it started with a S. I thought it will be the Forman brothers with Pacific she said no. I mentioned Syufy Brothers. Yes she said that will be the new owners of the former Mann Chinese in the future. They are breaking away from the tired Century/Cinemark multiplex folks and go single screen at the Chinese. They will only run the Graumans Chinese Theatre part for the CIM folks. She thinks the 6 plex behind the main Chinese will be a big Chinese food court for the out of town people? Also the Syufys will have to pay 50% of the theatre candy/popcorn sales direct to the CIM owners so they can buy more land in Hollywood. I was thinking when I left ‘Ms Dara’ today the CIM guys are very smart business people buying the Chinese Theatre and the air space above. Watch for booking reservations in 2010! Superman or Batman can come visit you in you room! Will the old Mann Paramount/Warner Bros Theatre people get a cut of this new room entertainment venture? Big flat wide screen Tv’s will be in every room. You will be able to watch the exact movie that is playing in the big curved screen Chinese below you in your room without showmanship; or will they put a little curtain on each TV? A extra charge for Dolby Digital Stereo per movie in your room will be added to your room bill. The CIM people know how to bring in the tourist $$$$. Hollywood needs more nice big hotels bring on this new venture. And thanks to ‘Madame Dara’ she knows all!
Does anyone know what happened to a bronze plaque commemorating the first CinemaScope picture The Robe premiered at the Chinese Sept. of 53? It used to be imbedded on the cement right next to Jean Simmons foot prints and it is obvious someone removed it or worse yet stole it. Raf.
In reference to a previous comment about the movie The Majestic…I recall seeing a behind the scene feature that showed how they built the theatre and other buildings in the movie….I can’t seem to find that feature anymore on the DVD. Does anyone remember this and know where to find it?
I agree but what kind of showmanship?
Warner Bros and Paramount need to postion the Chinese better and treat the theatre like Disney does with the El Capitan and Pacific’s Cinerama Dome/Arc Light complex. A little showmanship wouldn’t hurt.brucec
He forgot to say the the foot prints are on sale at the corner of Hollywood and Vine at the Vine Theatre.
Bite your tongue. Well done, though.
very clever article, homeboy.
Newspaper story Sept. 4, 2024:
Chinese Now Rubble, Developer Claims Error
Hollywood—Residents of Tinseltown are reeling from the destruction of the famed Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in the early morning hours of of Sept. 3, 2024. Demolition experts blew up the structure and left it to bulldozers to load the debris onto waiting trucks.
A spokesman for CIM, the owner of the site since 2007 and of the building itself for the past year, said the demolition was a mistake. Richard Ressler Jr. said the company said sought a permit to demolish the theater’s box office not the theater itself. He said the box office had been stored in a warehouse since it was removed from the theater courtyard in 2004. Since it was not original to the building, CIM planned to destory it and use the warehouse space to store the old film projectors that it planned to removed from the Chinese’s projection room.
Preversationists, however aren’t so sure. They point to the fact that CIM sought and received a permit to building a parking structure at the same Hollywood Blvd. location, and that Welton Beckett & Sons had been retained to design such a structure.
Well the theatre has 16 more years before the ground lease expires in 2023.
It reminds of what the new owners said when they bought the Metropolitan/Paramount in Los Angeles in the late fifties. I’m sure most people didn’t see that theater being obliterated in a matter of four years or so.
From “los Angeles Times,” September 3, 2007
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, a Hollywood landmark that attracts millions of tourists each year to its outdoor courtyard where generations of movie stars left their hand and footprints, has been purchased by Hollywood’s largest commercial landlord.
CIM Group of Los Angeles says it has no plans to change the 80-year-old theater, and the purchase continues its string of acquisitions in the heart of Hollywood.
The developer already owns nearly all the property on the north side of a two-block stretch of Hollywood Boulevard between Highland and Sycamore avenues. That includes the Hollywood & Highland Center, Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, Mann Chinese 6 Theatre multiplex and the Galaxy building.
“It’s important to us that key properties like Grauman’s don’t fall into the wrong hands,” said Shaul Kuba, a principal at CIM Group. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Mann Theatres has a long-term lease on the legendary venue for movie premieres and will continue to operate it as a film house. It was sold to CIM by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Center of New York and Barlow Respiratory Hospital of Los Angeles.
“We have been very interested in purchasing the property since we acquired Hollywood & Highland” in 2004, said John Given, another principal at CIM. “Our ownership cements the relationship between the theater and Hollywood & Highland Center.”
Built in 1927 by impresario Sid Grauman, the 1,162-seat theater is perhaps the epicenter of Hollywood and one of Southern California’s top tourist attractions. Millions of visitors every year step into the footprints of famous movie stars preserved in concrete in its forecourt. Tour buses start and end their journeys out front.
The theater itself is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. Its signature pagoda-inspired entrance features two immense coral red columns topped by wrought iron masks that hold aloft the bronze roof.
Between the columns is a 30-foot dragon carved from stone. Guarding the theater entrance are two giant stone Heaven Dogs, original artifacts brought from China by Grauman.
Previously, Grauman built the Million Dollar Theatre in downtown Los Angeles and the lavish Egyptian Theatre a few blocks from the Chinese Theatre.
Actress Norma Talmadge turned the first shovel of dirt at the groundbreaking, and opening night was a riot of glamour as mobs of fans turned out to see celebrities attend the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The King of Kings.”
CIM does not own the parking lot west of Grauman’s, where Madame Tussauds plans to build a branch of its popular London wax museum. It also does not own an underground city parking lot or subway station below Hollywood and Highland. CIM and the city share ownership of Kodak Theater, home to the annual Academy Awards.
Landlord CIM, with all its properties, “assumes a huge responsibility in Hollywood,” said preservationist Robert Nudelman of Hollywood Heritage Inc. “They need to go several steps further because their impact on the district is tremendous. They need to maintain things at a higher level than most do.”
CIM was “the absolute logical buyer,” said Hollywood real estate broker Christopher Bonbright of Ramsey-Shilling Co., who was not involved in the sale. “It doesn’t surprise me they were the successful bidder.”
CIM had an incentive to outbid its competitors for the theater because of its importance to the Hollywood & Highland complex and its other nearby properties, Bonbright said. “It’s a strategic imperative for them.”
The company controls more than a dozen office, retail and residential properties in Hollywood, including the TV Guide building and the former Seven Seas nightclub building across from Grauman’s.
It is bringing sought-after clothing stores H&M and Zara to Hollywood Boulevard. CIM also has signed British retailer Tesco to occupy part of the former Hollywood Galaxy shopping center as part of its strategy to bring in businesses that serve local residents.
CIM, founded by Israeli immigrants Kuba and Avi Shemesh with Richard Ressler, specializes in developing and investing in urban centers. It is largely financed by pools of money raised by institutional investors including the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
Why do people put links to photo bucket? You can’t see the photos!
This May 1942 ad was in the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/26bcym
Premiere, 1928:
http://tinyurl.com/3c3hf4
From “Los Angeles Business Journal” August 6, 2007:
Final bids were submitted for the purchase of the property beneath Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The theater itself isn’t part of the package until 2023, after the theater’s 99-year ground lease expires. Then the historic landmark will pass to the owner of the land. In the meantime, the winner of the bid will be able to collect rent from the Mann Theatres chain, which now owns the theater. Local experts say the rent is below market value because of a historical legacy that links the lease to the price of gold, providing an opportunity for profit; because of the waiting period, however, there is also considerable risk.
The Screenvision preshow is a recent distraction at Grauman’s. The Mann Village has it too now. Gone are the days of walking into the theater and just enjoying the aura of the space.
The last time I was there (for Grindhouse) the curtains closed after the preshow, opened for the trailers, closed after the trailers, opened for the main feature and then closed at the end of the credits. I’ll assume they just forgot to program the curtains for Potter, or the curtains aren’t working, or some other excuse. The thought of it being a decision is too horrifying to think of, especially when you consider that they installed new curtains not too long ago.
Re: the screen masking. I have no idea. The screen was slightly masked down during Episode II’s run years ago. At the time it was thought this was to compensate for the lack of light output of the DLP projector. It’s years later and they should no longer have this problem, for film or digital.
Here are pics from May 2002 showing the masking pulled in slightly.
View link
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On a trip to Hollywood a few weeks ago to see Harry Pot at the Chinese I was shocked to go into the this great theatre and see bright orange lights on the screen with a digiatl add pre show thing going on the huge curved cinemascope screen. If adds have to be run so, so but to have all the orange lights on the screen Iam glad I did'nt pay to play my adds on the screen, the lights cut out the image. The biggest shock they didn’t close the great Chinese curtains after the spots or between the previews. Gone Is this last bit of showmanship at the Chinese. I asked for a Coke at the candy counter they gave me a Pepsi full of Ice! When you go Mann Theatres needs to help pay for the remodel job so they fill your cup all with ice and don’t even tell you they have have Pepsi. The Coke people need to check this problem out at the Chinese. The Mann people (Paramount/Warner Bros) Owners of the what is left of the great Fox West Coast Circuit need to get on track with what is going on across the street at Disney’s El Capitain Theatre, with long lines to get in across the street a stage show sometimes with live organ, many sets of curtains the poor Chinese sits almost empty after the second week of a movie? With all the Warner Cartoon people why can’t they do someting like the guys across the street, Charge a little more, with certain engagements have some pre show entertainment. The kids outside just looking at the footprints and tourists will line up like at the El Capitian.I saw a preview at the Chinese of a new Xmass movie, this is a great time to pull something together to bring people back into the Chinese. And please if you go to the Chinese complain to the manager about bringing the curtains back and put in some blue or red lights in the inside of the theatre during the movie. To see just white lights in the place just doesn’t work. Bring back some showmanship. Does anyone know why they don’t use the full curve screen for scope prints or digital? Seems like they can go up and out more in the masking.
Actually, the style of this theater is Chinese Chippendale with an Oriental flavor.
I’ve only had one opportunity to see a movie at this legendary theater. I was visiting family in L.A. at Thanksgiving 1997 and went to see ALIEN RESURECTION back when it was still called Mann’s. I expected it to suck and it did, but I didn’t care. I would have seen anything that was playing there if it meant I could experience the magic of this theater. It was worth it.