El Capitan Theater

Disney uncovered the original walls that were covered up with plaster and restored the El Capitan to its original splendor. The exterior is Spanish Colonial and the interior is East Indian. The theater seats 1,550.

The El Capitan was remodeled in the early 40's, and renamed The Paramount it had an Art Moderne / Art Deco look. That remodel would remain till the Disney remodel. As the Paramount theatre it had one of the BEST waterfall curtains in town. From the mid 60's this theatre was run by Loew's then Century Theatres, Statewide theatres, a short time with GCC, then SRO theatres, then Pacific theatres. Before Pacific theatres ran the Paramount, SRO had the theatre, They were thinking to do a restoration at one time. But found it would have cost a lot of money at the time, so they dropped the project.

Building architects were Morgan, Walls, & Clements. Theater opened on May 3, 1926. Theater architect was G. Albert Lansburgh.

The El Cap also now contains the famous 4 manual 36 rank Wurlitzer from the late, great San Francisco Fox Theatre (1929-1963. Cheers to the Disney Corporation for placing this magnificent instrument in the El Cap!

Disney may have renovated the theater, but they need some serious work on how they operate this theater. On visiting one afternoon with my daughter, I was accused of sneaking in even though I produced ticket stubs! The accusation occurred as the show was starting. Will never set foot there again.

If I am not mistaken, this is the theatre were many of Hollywoods greatest TV shows were broadcast. Texaco Star Theatre came from here as well as many others. I know that they came from the El Capitan Theatre in the LA area. It should be the same theatre that was renamed the Hollywood Palace for the TV show of the same name in the 1960s.

The Hollywood Palace was a different building. As far as I can remember, this theater has always shown movies.

Hollywood Palace was on Vine Street a block north of Hollywood & Vine and across the street from the Capitol Records building.

This is true about the Hollywood Palace.

To further confuse things, there was also another "El Capitan Theatre" name applied to another theatre
on H'wood Blvd. "This Is Your Life" was b'cast from there and about 1954
Laurel and Hardy were saluted on this program for their comedic efforts during the preceeding 30 years.

The Hollywood Playhouse (1927 - 1945), located at 1735 North Vine Street, recently The Palace and now The Avalon Theatre (a Clear Channel operation), was formerly the El Capitan, and the Jerry Lewis Theatre

Thanx so much for clearing up the confusion over the other El Capitain theatre. In many large cities there have been many theatres with more than one name, and one name can end up being used over time for many different places.

Thanx,
William

The El Capitan originally opened as a legitimate playhouse , the theatre was built by prominent Los Angeles developer Charles E. Toberman. Toberman was the first to see the potential of a mixed use retail and theatre district on Hollywood Boulevard that was largely residential and agricultural at the time. His obervation of the success of this mix in downtown Los Angeles led him to believe that a theatre district could be key to Hollywood's evolution as highly successful commercial district of Los Angeles. Some of his early projects include the Egyptian Theatre, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, The Roosevelt Hotel and the Mosonic Temple.
Toberman hired renowned theatre architect G. Albert Lansburgh to design the exotic East Indian interior of the theatre. Some of Lansburgh's other buildings include the Orpheum Theatre, Wiltern Theatre, Warner Hollywood Theatre and the Shrine Auditorium. The Los Angeles based firm of Morgan, Walls & Clements created the Spanish Colonial exerior.
The theatre opened to live performances May 3, 1926 with "Charlot's Revue", a song and dance variety show starring Jack Buchanan, Gertrude Lawrence and Beatrice Lillie. Rave reviews called the El Capitan "Hollywood's New Temple of Spoken Drama" and one of the most palatial structures in America. The theatre established a firm reputation by producing a series of shows that attracted widespread support in the entertianment community. Over 120 live productions including "No, No, Nanette", "Abie's Irish Rose" and "Of Mice and Men" starred such famous performers as Joan Fontaine, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Lon Chaney Jr., Joe E. Brown, Buster Keaton, Clark Gable, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards and Will Rogers.
About 80% of the restored ceiling is original. This giled and hand painted ceiling had more than 70 holes punched through the plaster to permit the suspension of a drop ceiling in an earlier remodeling. It was styled after the gilded ceilings of the Venetian Renaissance era that inspired the baroque gilded ceilings of Italy, France and Spain. The El Capitan's original lighting fixtures were taken out in a 1942 renovation. these chandeliers were reproduced from photographs.
"Citizen Kane" had its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre on May 9, 1941. The brother and sister producing team Fanchon Wolff Simon and Marco Wolff convinced Paramount Hollywood Theatre Corporation, who by this time had taken over the lease of the El Capitan, to assign 50% of its lease to them. Fanchon & Marco were noted for their circuit of touring road shows for movie houses and had established themselves at the downtown Paramount. They closed the theatre and did extensive renovations. The theatre reopened as the Paramount Theatre in March 1942 with Cecil B. DeMille's "Reap The Wild Wind" It was obvious that a great deal of work had been done. The exterior face above the entrance contained a brightly lit marquee. The outer ticket lobby and main lobby were updated, resulting in a modern streamlined look that included much neon decoration. Lowered ceilings were put in place throughout. In the outer lobby terrazzo replaced stamped concrete on the floor. The walls were eventually covered with mirrors. one of the exotic features of the remodeled theatre was a coconut milk abr in the location of this current snackbar. It featured bamboo furnishings, fake palm trees and even a two-tone carpet patterned to simulate a shadow pattern under each tree.

Are there any "BAD" seats in this theater? Is upstairs better than below?

I was there in 2003. It's a little pricey for a ticket, seems like it was $16, but it was worth the trip. Really beautiful inside. But the best part was the theatre organ concert before each show. Definitely worth a trip if you are ever in the LA area.

I have an additional comment...A really nice theather...Except for the leg room, these seats have less leg room than seat's on an airplane. If you are more than 5'8 you will be suffering, but it is worth it just for one time.

Yes, I ran film (projectionist) there in 1978 when it was the Pacific's Paramount and again in 1999 after leaving the Chinese across the street after Disney bought it outright from Pacific. By then, it had been renamed, "El Capitan."

Hollywood Palace is North of Hollywood Blvd on Vine, across from Capital Records.

I saw "The Lion King" here back in 1993 and was amazed at how ornate this theater is. The screen, itself, isn't that large but what was different about this theater was the preshow live entertainment presentation. It would be fun to revisit the theater to see what other preshow bits are done for the other films booked at this theater.

The website link took me to Disneystore.com. This one should work better: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/el_capitan/

I also saw "The Lion King" here in '94 and even though I was only 11, I was awed by this theatre. The sound, in particular, was phenomenal! The floor shook with each step the elephants took. A beautiful and well run palace!

One of the few theaters that rarely uses "film" - it is almost exclusively Digital (DLP) Projection.

I saw the last feature shown here under the name "The Paramount Theater"---that was "Peter Pan" in the summer of 1990. It was then closed for a lengthy renovation. I'm pretty sure that the first film shown once it reopened was another of my Disney favorites, "The Rocketeer." It was the perfect setting for that art deco-clad film.

And as much as I love that theater, I no longer buy the pre-release tickets offered by Disney at $25-30 a pop. After seeing "Pocahantas" there and being stuck in an assigned seat with some idiot behind me who couldn't be bothered to parent his daughter to make her stop kicking my seat, I decided it wasn't worth wasting my money.

In the otherwise excellent book, "The Last Remaining Seats: Movie Palaces of Tinseltown" by Berger and Conser (1997), there is on page 85 a color photo of the proscenium of the EL CAPITAN showing a giant 'beam' or 'track' directly in front of the grand drapery. There is no mention of it in the caption, as though no one would notice such an ugly thing was there! It does not appear in the two (sadly, not enlargeable) photos on the theatre's web site (http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/el_capitan/about.html), so does anyone know what that ugly thing is and why it was there during prime professional photography for the book?

I was at the grand re-opening of the El Capitan with the presentation of "The Rocketeer". The best seats to view a movie at the El Cap is the mezzanine portion of the balcony.Disney's original plan was to twin the theatre and call it the Boulevard. The LA Hisorical Society convinced Disney to restore it as a single screen and Disney is glad they did. Disney hold most of its premieres here and can do what they want and use the theatre to promote there films. I have never had a bad experience attending movies here over the years. I find the screen to be quite large in realtion to the theatre and it has fantastic sound.I always thought that each of the major studios should have each restored a theatre along the boulevard to showcase there films the way Disney does. I always thought Warner Bros with its huge release schedule should have taken the Pacific Theartre(Warner)and restored it and used it to showcase films and there premieres. Graumans Chinese accross the street is jointly owned by Paramount and Warner Bros so they have to rotate whos picture gets to play the main house.brucec

Brucec - That's a good idea, but one problem with that plan was during the 80's and 90's. When every major theatre was showing First Run movies. The best business was always at the Chinese Theatre and the ones that were near. During that time Hollywood Boulevard and the movie business was changing. Because if you booked the same type of film (Drama, Comedy etc...) into the Chinese and the Hollywood
Pacific Theatres. The Chinese Theatre would have better grosses. During the 60's-70's, you could play anything on the Boulevard and do well. When I was in Los Angeles, I projected at many of those theatres along the Boulevard. The Chinese could play anything and make money. But during that time the Hollywood Pacific and the near by theatres, did well with action, horror features. When during the 80's when SRO Theatres were still in the Los Angeles market. They did well with the Paramount and the Crest Theatres. But when Pacific Theatres took over the Paramount, they booked lesser type features on to that screen ("Superman IV", "Caddyshack 2", etc..) One of the Best things I remember about the Paramount Theatre. Was they had the Best Theatre Hot Dogs on Hollywood Boulevard.
Over the years each chain showcased different studios on their screens. And that sometimes would change very fast from year to year.
Like during the 50's-70's the Pantages Theatre, Pix Theatre Warner Theatre were booked with alot of Warner Bros. product. During the 50's -60's the Egyptian Theatre played many MGM features. During the early days the Chinese Theatre play Fox and UA feature, since both companies owned the theatre.

Have heard Linda Evans once worked at the candy counter in this theatre.

I have only been in the theater once, and it was to see the 101 Dalmatians - the one with actors, not the animated version.
It was a beautiful place indeed, although I preferred the Chinese Theater across the street.

The theatre is a beautiful place, but most of it is Disney-Deco.

I have very many fond memories of this theatre. I worked here as an assistant manager in 1982 or 1983. It was known as the Paramount Theatre then, operated by SRO.

I can recall many sellouts. Even before the recent 1990s renovation, it was an abolute beautiful house, and was considered one of SRO's flagship theatres.

A couple of films that I vividly remember showing are Death Wish III (parts of this movie were filmed directly across the street!) and Prince of the City.

Movie stars attending the theatre was a common occurance. For it was here that I met Chuck Norris and got his autograph.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Paramount was a live play theatre. As an assistant manager, I had access to all of the wonderful rooms behind the movie screen. These rooms, 50 years ago, were the dressing rooms, bathrooms, etc. from those early vaudeville days. We used some of them for storage but most weren't used at all. I remember there were several floors and all were dirty, filthy, broken down and downright scary to be in at night. (I suppose 30+ years of neglect can do that.) But at the same time, it was wonderful to go back there, get lost, and explore that section of the theatre. Even all of the neglect and disrepair could not erase the history and nostalgia that I knew existed within the walls.

The following paragraphs were taken from an old SRO company newsletter, dated in the fall of 1979. Mark G. Lindermann wrote the article:

"Patrons of SRO's Paramount Theatre in Holywood recently witnessed a massive facelift taking place in the classic house. District Manager Mike Scheff worked long hours with architects in order to come up with renovations which would compliment the Paramount's classic lines while at the same time modernizing the theatre's appearance and improving its efficiency.

When SRO first took over the Paramount in the fall of 1976, their first actions were to renovate the sound system of the house, installing the most up-to-date facilites. Once the sound system and projection booth had been overhauled, SRO went to work on the cosmetic appearances in the lobby.

A new candy stand was constructed last summer, in earth toned tile which reflects the color of the architecture of the theatre's late 1920's consctruction. The entire lobby and stairwell of the Paramount's first floor are carpet weave which closely approximates the weave of the theatre's original carpeting. The ceramic tile of the candy stand blends nicely with the new decorative tile on the lower ceilings: gold shot through with deeper toned gold veining.

While the lobby of the Paramount is already quite spacious, an illusion of ever greater depth is gained while at the same time tying together the themes of the concession stand, carpet, and ceiling by mirroring the lobby and outer auditorium walls. Floor-to-ceiling mirrors marbled with gold are used here, cut and installed at angles to catch and toss about the light, creating a most unique and fascinating effect.

Along with the lobby, all of the Paramount's lower auditorium seating, almost 1,000 seats in all, have been recushioned and recovered in a rich and plush deep red mohair, once again adding to the flavor of the house's heritage."

One more comment, if I may:

When I worked at the Paramount Theatre, I never understood why we didn't open the balcony. It was a beautiful balcony, which few theatres could boast of, and the only time we EVER opened it was on Friday and Saturday evenings when we expected the lower section to fill up.

Payroll, or course, was the reason. If we OPEN the balcony each day then we have to CLEAN the balcony... which costs money. By keeping the balcony closed we save money.

Hogwash. We should have allowed patrons to view the movie from the balcony if the wished for each and every performance. So WHAT if we spend a few dollars more cleaning it each night! Big deal. Instead, what do we do? We keep it closed and thus rob countless people of a wonderful movie experience by not allowing them to watch the movie from there. Were we not in the ENTERTAINMENT business?

If we HAD opened it, we probably would have sold a few more tickets each night, which right there would have paid for the additional time our janitor needed to clean it. How many Hollywood theatres at that time had such balconys? Very few, I know that.

SRO was a WONDERFUL company to work for and throughout its organization were MANY bright and hard-working individuals. But like many other companies, we often went overboard trying to save pennies.

My hat is off to Disney for their glorius restoration.

Here Here Ed, I Agree!

Ed, another reason many theatres didn't open their balconies was that their insurnace carriers forced them to pay a higher premium for the time the balcony was open, and often also added terms such as a specified minimum of ushers up there, guaranteed working aisle lights, repaired seats, etc. Also, many fire codes specified a certain minimum number of working lights --usually set by the building inspector during an inspection --and many theatres did NOT maintain any more lights than they were forced to! Yes, they were cheap about it, but then the owner was only interested in profits, not beauty of theatre!

When Pacific Theatres took over the Paramount Theatre. They ran it into the ground, by booking B type studio film into it. When SRO ran the theatre they cared about it. Most of the time the balconies in many of the theatres would go unused because the films that were booked into the theatre, produced lesser numbers in box office. With that your theatre had a budget for tickets sold to how many floor staff that you could have working on a shift. If the film was a dog you could not open the balcony, because you would have to staff that extra usher and bring in an extra cleaning person to clean the balcony. It does not sound like much to have that extra person or persons. But the janitors position at these theatres were a part of
the union.

I recalled a story a friend told me about this organ that used to be in the San Francisco Fox when I saw a piece done on it in a PBS series called "California Gold". A couple of her brother-in-laws were into electronics and had a repair shop in Dixon, CA and when they heard the San Francisco Fox was being closed, they got permission to go in and record the musicians who came to play the Wurlitzer "one last time". She had so enjoyed hearing these performers and this marvelous instrument. I hope the nephews and nieces have preserved these recordings and that they are played so others can enjoy the experience as much as she did. I was please to learn that the instrument had not only been "saved" but was played in a setting much like its original home.

I seem to recall that the the 'Farwell' concert was recorded and published some years back, and likely someone knows where you can obtain a copy. Contact your local theatre organ society (a list of them is at www.atos.org or www.theatreorgans.com) and most any member will have a list of the various outfits that distribute and sell such recordings.

Waiting for the show to start at the Chinese I passed by this theater (see above why I will never attend again) and saw posted out front a "code of conduct". I have never seen such a thing posted in front of a box office which talks to every patron like they are 5 years old. Add to this a $15 ticket price with no special live show for The Incredibles. Incredible!

Wow they get $15 for the movie alone?

No, I think what Manwithnoname means is that the live show that precedes the movie is a generic "Disney" one, that is not related to The Incredibles. The ticket for a movie alone is $11 (i think) which is the same as the regular price ticket at the Chinese.

At Loews we had a 'Code of Conduct' poster that was posted near the entrance and ticket taker, but we only put it up when we had a picture that attracted a particularly raucus crowd.

Yes, I worded my previous post poorly. There was a "generic" show but not specifically tied to the movie being shown. However, that $15 price is to sit on the sides both on the floor and in the balcony only. To sit in the center section on either level is a whopping $24.00!! On holidays, such as Christmas, the $24.00 price is expanded to include the entire front of the balcony. Child and Senior prices apply to the sides only, all ages pay full price in the center. When "Pirates of the Caribbean-Curse of the Black Pearl" returns in January expect to pay $19.00 for the center sections. I do not know if a show comes with that one.

I still don't know why Disney does not try this policy in New York.

What did the building located to the right of the El Capitan house, prior to serving currently as the studio from which 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' is broadcast and, previous to that, display space for interactive exhibits tied into films being shown next door?

The building to the right of the El Capitan that now is the studio fo Jimmy Kimmel Live, appears to have been a bank at one time, but I am not sure.

Does anyone remember what theatre it was Fox bought and converted into the studio for 'The Chevy Chase Show' (which was on the air for about as long as it's taking me to type these words in the fall of '93)?

The building next door to the El Captian Theatre is the former Masonic Temple in Hollywood.

And the theatre that Fox converted was the former Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunset Blvd., which Viacom uses for one of their children shows as a stage.

Some of us old hippies remember the Earl Carroll Theater as The Aquarius where "Hair" opened. It is now the home of some Nickelodeon Channel productions.

I don't know how I am getting replies for a comment I never made, but maybe you Californians can help me anyway. Maybe if some of you could go to the Cinema Treasures page on the Loew's Kings. We are trying to restore this Brooklyn, NY, landmark. If some of you could give some suggestions so that the theater could be restored like the El Capitan.

Okay, I noticed a few names that are in the Loew's Kings Message Board. I just figured that the people who don't know about it, and helped with the restoration of the Cl Capitan, which I think I may have heard the name of, could help us. Furthermore, 3,000 miles is too far for competition between the theaters (file that under obvious to all).

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.

Thanks Bway

I just spoke with a friend who told me about this theatre so I then looked here and found it! Great find!

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

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?

The other El Capitian Theatre is located at 1735 North Vine Street, almost across the street Capitol Records building.

Does the El Capitan have many stage shows?

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.

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 http://cinematreasures.org/theater/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.

Sorry, one correction... the Montalban Theater was a movie house in the early 1930s, not 20s.

recent photo:
http://www.wielbut.net/family/album/2000/LA/movie_theater.html

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.

The Theatre Historical Society of America will be visiting this theatre on June 22, 2005.

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.

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.

Glad you were Bway

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.

I was talking about the LCD Screen Technology. It looked great under those lights from the earlier times, and added a nice modern touch.

I visited this treasure only once in the summer of '96 to see the Disney's yearly animated musical "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame". Got there early but was still all the way around the block. By the time I got it seat it was the nosebleed balcony but it was still a fine sightline. With the film they had a stage show featuring Disney characters. I'll assume there was no backstage at the time because there were large tents in the back of the place for the performers. I worked for the company that did all the menu signs and mylars for theatres and it was very cool to see the beautiful candy stands with my work hanging there. The marquee, even before the new animated panels was the most beautiful I have ever seen. In fact I was hoping for something as spectacular when Disney restored The New Amsterdam in New York. Alas, as amazing as that restoration was, the marquee was the only letdown. The El Capitan is everything this website is about.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

This is the El Capitan marquee at night.

Ah yes, just like I remember it. It is a sight to be seen. I love what they did with the marquee.

This is a daytime photo. What a difference.

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.

With all due appreciation for the El Capitan's fine restoration by Disney, does anyone else besides me remember how elegant the Hollywood Paramount interior was back in the 50s, before the series of increasingly gaudy renovations? It was my favorite movie theatre growing up in LA at that time (even more than the Chinese across the street, which was also much nicer inside then than it is now - with the original salmon-colored seats and gold-embroidered screen curtain). I still have fond memories of seeing such classics at the Paramount as Hitchcock's Vertigo, Gigi (reserved seat engagement), The Nun's Story, Sayonara, and a host of others. In its way, it was every bit as beautiful as the El Capitan is now and made every film seem a little better and more memorable.

Does anyone know of interior photos of the Paramount Hollywood from this time? I don't believe it was part of a chain then. The marquee and exterior were also simpler and less glitzy than they became through various unfortunate transformations in the 60s, each seemingly uglier and more tasteless than the one before.

The auditorium was so run down by the 1980s. It really needed a major overhaul. I always wondered how it looked beneath that dreadful looking so-called modernized plaster job. Look what was uncovered and restored! What a big difference...

BillH;
That's why we need more theater restoration.

Happy to see a picture of the Wurlitzer which was originally in the San Francisco Fox Theater. Looks like it has been totally restored!
Plan to visit and hopefully hear the organ next time I am in the area.
Robert Simpson

Is there a photo of this theatre's restored organ? I just learned of its prior theatre location in SF through the book, Cinema Treasures and while visiting the CT Fox Theatre link.

Tom: Nice to read that the Disney Corp. was responsible for placing the former Fox Theatre/SF organ in the El Capitan.

The organ is superb. It bears little tonal resemblence to its Fox days. The obvious reason for this is the size difference/accoustic environment of the two theatres--FOX 4700 seats vs. the El Cap at around 1500.

The crew taking care of the organ at the El Cap. did a wonderful job of bringing the organ's voices together for a fine Wurlitzer ensemble.

If in the area, the El Cap and the organ are a MUST SEE-MUST HEAR. The organ will be presented in a short concert for people attending the Los Angeles Theatre Organ Society (LATOS) "Wurlitzer Weekend" early Saturday morning January 14, 2006 with organist Jelani Eddington at the console.

I visited the El Capitan in October 2005. It was a real thrill to be in the theater which hosted the Hollywood premiere of "Citizen Kane". Before the movie ("The Nightmare Before Christmas"), I took these photos of the organ recital:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/billhuelbig/DSCF0109.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/billhuelbig/DSCF0116.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/billhuelbig/DSCF0119.jpg

Between Earl Carrol and the Aquarius, that building was Frank Sennes' Moulin Rouge. They used to tape Queen For A Day there.

The Paramount was a gorgeous theater in the 50s and 60s. The first thing I consciously remember seeing there was Pardners with Martin and Lewis - afterwards, my parents took me to C.C. Brown's for a sundae. I saw Vertigo there, and The Music Man and Dr. Dolittle and tons of others.

Here is a 2006 photo of the El Capitan Theater.

So nice to see a wonderful movie palace reach its 80th anniversary on this date and
still going strong since its opening day. Three cheers for the El Capitan!!

And thanks to Disney to doing the phenominal refurbishment job. I was so impressed when I went inside to see a movie at the El Capitan some years ago. Disney also did a great job on the New Amsterdam Theater in New York.

anyone know how many subwoofers it has?

I'm a little confused by this photo. I understand that Loew's ran the theater for a while, but did they sell furniture out of the building as well? By the way, the El Capitan was where Richard Nixon broadcast his Checkers speech in 1952:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics03/00011400.jpg

Ken: It was the other El Capitan, the one on Vine Street north of Hollywood Boulevard, which was the venue for Nixon's "Checkers" speech. At that time, the Hollywood Boulevard El Capitan was called the Paramount and was exclusively a movie house.

Was it the Paramount until Disney took it over, and Disney renamed it the EL Capitan?

Yes, it was the Paramount all through the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, right up until Disney did its thing.

It opened as a playhouse with the name El Capitan, was later renamed the Paramount, and then the original name was restored by the Disney Company with their 1990's renovation.

Very cool the way they are placing marketing materials above the marquee and box office as in the old days.

So what about the furniture? The public wants to know...

Barker Brothers had a store in what is now the Disney store on the ground level of the building.

Ken: The Hollywood branch of Barker Bros. furniture store may have been an original tenant of the El Capitan building. Barker Bros. was L.A.'s major furniture emporium, founded about 1880 and closed in 1992. Their huge main store on 7th Street downtown was built in the 1920's, but the company was always one of the city's most progressive and may have planted a branch in Hollywood in that same period. I know that by the 1940's, they had branches in many suburban shopping districts considerably less affluent than Hollywood.

When Loew's ran the house in the late 60's it was known as the "Loews" on Hollywood Blvd.. And when GCC bought the Loews chain's West Coast operations the theatre was known as the "Cinema" on Hollywood Blvd. and would stay like that till SRO returned the Paramount name back to the theatre.

Thanks for the info, gentleman.

I haven't been inside the El Capitan since the late 90's. It had, and probably still does (?) one of the most dramatic and glorious curtain-openings I've seen in any theater along Hollywood Boulevard. Sadly when the cineplex's took over many of the one screen theaters closed and still stand shuttered collecting dust and graffiti. When these theaters were one screeners, they played to packed house's every night. But then again, Hollywood was not cranking out as many movies back then and it was not unusual for a movie to play at the same theater for many months.

Here is another recent 2006 photo of the El Capitan Theater.

I don't know about anyone else here, but the photos I'D like to see would be of the Paramount. The El Capitan exists and we've all seen plenty of recent photos. The Paramount, on the other hand, doesn't exist and those photos would be of interest.

Postcard scan of the Paramount Theater in 1956:
http://i85/photobucket.com/albums/k79/hollywood90038/HollywoodParamountTheater1956.jpg

It would be even more interesting if that site was working...

I tried to fix the link that hollywood90038 posted of the Paramount Theater. See if this link works any better.

That's what I'M talkin' about. :-)

I apologize for the bad link. It's not the first photobucket link to not work. Thanks for fixing.

Thanks for the photo of the Paramount exterior. Does anyone know of a photo of the auditorium from the 1950s. It was extremely beautiful, and that magnificent screen curtain raising and lowering was in its way even more dramatic than the El Capitan's now. The end of "Vertigo" could never be as devastating at any other theatre as it was at the Hollywood Paramount in 1958.

Photos of virtually every major theatre in America are at the Theatre Historical Society of America, and they can be reached via their web site: www.historictheatres.org where on their front page is the link ARCHIVE; the fee to search for and copy their photos is given there.

I have a magazine that has an article that shows pictures of the complete remodel job that they did to the Paramount during that time. That was the best waterfall curtain in the city.

Could you give me details of the magazine article so I can try to find it?

The magazine is in my files at home, but it dates from around 1942 from that major remodel.

From the Los Angeles Times, December 1961: a rare, non-Hitchcock instance of a director starring in the ad for his own movie:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/billhuelbig/wilder.jpg

Bill, where are you finding these LA newspaper movie sections? Online? I have quite a few LA newspaper movie sections from the 50s and 60s (the actual newspapers) but I'm always looking for more.

Good question, haineshisway. I've been looking for exactly these LA newspaper pages myself, and I suspect many others are too. I haven't come across any online.

The LA Times is in the microfilm collection at the New York Public Library - Main Branch. I assumed only New York papers would be there, and they have all of them, but it was a pleasant surprise to see they carried LA as well. And it's a self-service system, which is a big timesaver if you want to look at a lot of different dates. I'll be going back for more very soon.

I recently posted more LA ads on the following pages:

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1/

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/4/

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/33/

Forgot this one:

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/18/

Just posted a new one here:

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1986/

Pictures from this December 1965 premiere are on display in the upper floor gallery of the El Capitan:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/billhuelbig/zhivago.jpg

Can someone please talk about this theatre's lobby and the changes it went through? One previous post refers to it as "spacious" though it is now very small, and it has obviously been enlarged in the renovation - the back wall of the theatre is clearly not original. I've often wondered if the store space in front was always as big as it is now. I remember seeing a televised premiere for DOCTOR FAUSTUS with Elizabeth Taylor at this theatre and from what I recall seeing I imagine that the current lobby was outside another set of doors right where the Concession stand ends. That would mean that the theatre interior went to the back wall and there was a cross aisle where the back wall is now. The seats may have gone back a couple more rows with a partial wall divider behind them... Anyone have specific info on this?

The El Capitan Theater on Christmas day.

The store front is the same as it has always been in the many different bussiness's that were there trough the years. The back part of the theatre was turned into bathrooms for the handicapped as well as seats for the handicapped which removed some rows of seating in the back of the auditorium. I saw many movies here through the years of being the Paramount,Loew's,Cinema and El Capitan. Disney has done a great job of making the El Capitan there flagship theatre for Disney product through the years. Its to bad the other major studios didn't due the same with the other theatres on the Boulevard. The El Capitan is run like the deluxe houses of yesteryear.brucec

Bruce, you are so correct. I had the pleasure of seeing a movie in the El Capitan some years back, just after Disney renovated it, and it is truly a sight to behold.
As you said, there are so many abandoned, or unused theaters on Hollywood Blvd. A shame some of the other studios didn't think like Disney did.
Thank goodness we still have the Chinese Tehater (which I also had the pleasure of seeing a movie in), and the Pantages (which I was never in, but I think it's in pretty good shape too). I don't know if they still show movies at the Pantages, or if it's just for live shows now.

As a new "cast member" of the El Capitan, I'm truly proud to work in a real movie palace and enjoy the hubub of guests excitedly listening to a magnificent pipe organ and oohing and ahhing as the grand curtain rises for a live stage show and movie.
My Santa Ana next door neighbor and dear friend is JOSEPH MUSIL, who was one of the instrumental key figures behind the El Capitan's horrific restoration (also the CREST and FINE ARTS) of which is on display at his American Museum of Theatrical Design, downtown.
One of the best seats is DD107 in the balcony which has a brass plaque which aptly reads: "Joe, your dream came true."
What a tallented man... What an awesome theater... Long may they reign as giants in the world of showbusiness!

Simon, why do you call the El Cap's restoration "horrific?"

Based on the context of Simon's post, I figure he meant to type "terrific" instead of "horrific".

Now that's more like it...

Here's an aerial view of the Theater, "Stich" is on the marquee....

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=pph6mk544h0w&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=3596896

I don't ever remember the El Capitan giving up their marquee to promote this years Oscar's but I guess since Disney owns the El Capitan and ABC it makes sense:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k79/hollywood90038/hwdOscarsfeb232007005.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k79/hollywood90038/hwdOscarsfeb232007010.jpg

From 2006:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k79/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan2006.jpg

We just returned from a trip to Los Angeles. Caught the opening of the latest Disney 3-D feature, Meet the Robinsons, at the El Capitan theatre. We had not been inside before and we were totally awed with what we experienced. The El Capitan is not a huge movie palace but impressive nonetheless. The movie wasn't that great but the pre-film organ concert was a wonderful treat.

El Capitan is one of the few large, single-screen venues showing "Meet The Robinsons" in digital 3-D. Has anyone seen it there? Has anyone been able to determine if they are showing it using **two** projectors to improve the light output on the screen? (There were some reports that Disney screened "Chicken Little" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas" there and in some other large-screen, major-market theatres using the dual-projection technique.)

Oh, and if any readers missed it in the news report posted last week, here is a link to the theatres throughout the U.S. and Canada showing "Meet The Robinsons" in 3-D:

http://www.fromscripttodvd.com/meet_the_robinsons_3_d_engagement_list.htm

First of all let me say that I take offense to the statements that the 60's renovations to the theater were gaudy & in bad taste,that was the style for those times.My father Sully Altieri was the managing director at that time for Statewide theaters.and let me tell you they dumped a ton of money into that place.It was a wreck when they took it over.From what I remember and I have the pictures and letters to prove it,all the studios wanted their premiers at the Paramount.While the latest restoration is beautiful,that is a sign of our times "Retro".

I saw MEET THE ROBINSONS here. They have replaced the gold satin countour curtain with one that's a bit redder and looks like it's made of parachute fabric. The pre-show organ music was fun as always.

Though the silver screen is now behind the silver curtain, there wasn't the usual nifty opening curtain/light show. Contour curtain rises on a blank screen, two trailers, contour comes down, and... this had to be the lamest pre-show I've ever seen here - two rubber head "characters" from the movie walk up the aisle, stand on the stage and gesture a song, then came the inevitable confetti blast, and they just walked offstage.

The picture was quite nice, but no, not bright enough to be run on two projectors. They should try doing that at the Dome, which needs all the light it can get.

The Paramount's old auditorium still looked good in the 80's before the Disney make-over. Pacific/SRO put little money into the house before Disney transformed it. The only problem I did not like about the Paramount's look was those large mirror balls under the marquee.

Pacific is not known for stellar maintenance. Has anyone got photos of the Paramount's interior from the sixties (after the wide screen was installed)? I'd love to see what the lobby and auditorium looked like in the DOCTOR DOLITTLE era. MAybe post them on CinemaTour.com where there are already plenty of nice photos of the El Cap today, but only one from the Paramount days.

Does anyone know of photos of the Hollywood Paramount auditorium in the 50s and early 60s (I've asked this before), the era of Sayonara, Vertigo and Gigi, before the unfortunate gold-glitz job that was finally (fortunately) obliterated in the theatre's El Capitanization? For those of us who spent many happy hours during those years in that elegantly draped venue, which complimented and enhanced any film (only the Chinese during the same period, before its "refurbishment" and the late, lamented Carthay Circle were comparable), the memories are indelible.

Does anyone know of photos of the Hollywood Paramount auditorium in the 50s and early 60s (I've asked this before), the era of Sayonara, Vertigo and Gigi, before the unfortunate gold-glitz job that was finally (fortunately) obliterated in the theatre's El Capitanization? For those of us who spent many happy hours during those years in that elegantly draped venue, which complimented and enhanced any film (only the Chinese during the same period, before its "refurbishment" and the late, lamented Carthay Circle were comparable), the memories are indelible.

Found this brief video that shows the interior of the theatre.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=H7g2iyA-SYU

Here is a recent night view.

I have some from the earlier eras of the Paramount before the Disney remodel. I just have to find time to scan them. There from before the 40's and the 60's timeline.

William, if you find those pictures, I know where they can find a proper showcase... Act-Two@sbcglobal.net

Lost Memory, Nice picture... has anyone posted yet about where the Marquee is programmed? I'm told It's run from the studio in Burbank. The theatre itself has no control over the sign except maybe turning it on and off.

The stereo surrounds are never up. They are on so low you won't hear them. Turn down the stage speakers and turn up the surrounds. As you know surround sound speakers are never to up to hi, they are just a effect channel. But on many Disney movies the whole surround experience is lost, is the theatre to wide for you to hear the surrounds if your in the middle? Please Pacific/Disney bring in some Dolby THX guys and do a sound balance. Don't let the surrounds not be heard. I can't believe at a a big opening some of the Disney sound guys must be in the house, they worked hard on the stereo soundtrack, don't they notice things are off at this Disney showcase. Probably some old lady complained the surrounds were to loud and some projection guy turned them way down. This is a class showmanship Theatre. Look across the street and the poor Chinese can't compare. No stage show at the Chinese, sometimes they don't even close the Chinese main curtain, Mann theatres is to busy running boring adds up to feature time. Long live the El Capitain, turn up the surrounds!, and don't forget the balcony surrounds!

This ad for Citizen Kane, playing at the El Capitan, was dated June 1, 1941. If you're familiar with the film, you will recall that RKO was under a lot of pressure from the other studios to destroy the negative and in fact was offered a sizable amount of money to do so:
http://tinyurl.com/36blnm

Disney/Pacific knowns how to run a good show and the sound is good in that house. Disney has Dolby in for a sound call on all openings of films and their studio tech staff is outstanding, having worked with them on many film openings. The theatre projectionist does not change the levels of the surrounds as Terry thinks. Having worked the theatre in the booth, the only control the projectionist has is the main fader in the booth. The SPL on the main channels should be 85dB and like 82dB for the surrounds. Some people like to run their surrounds above the normal level and think its the right way.

Well the Chinese can't have a stage show because they have no stage left there, it's the THX speaker wall and storage.

The sound at the El Capitan is indeed good even if it's a little low (probably not to scare the kids). I'm curious how big the screen speakers are as they have to be hung behind the screen to accomadate the various stage shows.

I think the stage at the Chinese was taken out or reduced decades ago sometime in the 50s. Anyone been back there?

I've been back there, when I worked for Mann Theatres and also down under the stage areas.

William can you tell me why when I saw the Pirate movie at the El Capitan the surrounds didn't have any volume to them. I sat downstairs in the mid section? But up in the Bay Area I saw the same movie in two mega multiplex theatres and the surround was up and clear with great split surround effects. I don't think the projection people turned up the surrounds at these theatres but the balance was better then at the Hollywood El Capitan; they seem to have all the sound from the stage speakers and not from the effect surrounds. The balcony surrounds are even lower. The Chinese still can have some pre show entertainment even if it doesn't have a stage. They can put something up on the right and left sides or put something in front of the screen that goes up and down. Iam sure Warner Bros or Paramount (The Mann People) can go to Las Vegas and see what they do with moving stages. I don't think they want to spend any money to make money. They are only interested in the candy counter $ that's why they wrecked the whole back of the downstairs to make the refreshment stand and lobby bigger. You can see the great lights that used to be in the back of the Chinese now above the popcorn machine. At least they have some color lights in them as the same lights in the main theatre when the movie is dark. Are they trying to save money by not having any color lights on low during the film showing? A few little blue/green or red lights on the ceiling or sides would look great. Does anyone have any photos of the Cinemiracle curved screen at the Chinese from 1958? I saw many 70mm prints shown at the El Capitan but the screen seemed flat or may have had a slight curve to it. The old projection booth at the El Capitan was way up above the balcony at that time of roadshow 70mm films with a long way down to the Cinemascope screen. They still run video at times from the original booth; but most films or video are projected downstairs with no keystone.

Terry, I've been looking for decades for photos of the Chinese during the CineMiracle period, especially since whatever they had there was easy enough to remove in two days' time after "Windjammer" to make way for "Auntie Mame." FWIW, one film technician reported on rec.arts.movies.tech some years ago that the downstairs booth at that time still had the floor plates in which the CineMiracle mirrors were fastened.

I think Terry's recent comment refers to the El Capitan in its pre-restoration years, as the Paramount. A photo of its exterior is depicted here:

http://www.cinematour.com/picview.php?db=us&id=22267

I'm not in Los Angeles, but there used to be a display of photos from when El Capitan was the Paramount (including the above photo) outside the theater. Those photos include the auditorium. Are those photos online anywhere?

I saw Windjammer at the Chinese - I'm sure my memory is playing tricks on me, but I could swear there was only ONE join line instead of two like Cinerama. I'm sure that's must mis-memory, though. I don't remember caring for Windjammer very much or thinking it that impressive. For me, impressive was Seven Wonders Of The World, which I saw down the street at the Warner Cinerama around the same time.

Three projectors...had to have 2 join lines. One join line means two projectors, and you could have seen that theatrically the same year in San Diego in "Thrillarama Adventure," which, believe me, was singularly unimpressive.

Memory playing tricks then - thanks for the info. It still didn't seem to come close to the excitement I felt at Cinerama, though.

Veyoung. I heard the Cinerama people when they bought out the CineMiracle system destroyed most of the photos of the 3 or 4 USA installations. You never see any photos of the CineMiracle curtains or screen anywhere around. You can see some photos of the CM booth setup in old Boxoffice mags. Can you imagine the El Capitan/ Paramount Hollywood from it's 70mm Roadshow days with a big wrap around curved screen. The El Cap doesn't seem as wide or deep as the guys across the street at the Graumens Chinese Hollywood. The only way they can do it is start the big curve more on the stage then bring out a little to the sides. I hear from a friend Ted from THS he saw the CineMiracle set up at the Chinese in 1958 and it was so big and curved he said that it took along time just for the curtains to open. Must have looked nice. Someone has photos; one of these days they will turn up. Cinerama Stanley Warner was so upset that someone came along 'National General' and made a better Cinerama type system. To bad they ran out of money and had to sell out fast with only one film.'Windjammer'ended up at most Cinerama Theatres after the CineMiracle limited run. In off Disney times the El Capitan needs to run a 70mm week of films and curve the screen a little. Bring back the Roadshow days for a new generation to see. Gone are the days of 6 Track Mag Sound, Intermissions, Programs, and Pre show music on the film track with Exit music. I can't believe the people at Sony just released a DVD of Columbia's 'Funny Girl' taken from the Roadshow print I guess; and they go and put 3 or 4 minutes of BLACK screen over the new Dolby Digital 5.1 mix open Overture. Why didn't they put in some curtains at the start of the video and open them like they did when the movie played at the theatres. I know a lot of people bought the new DVD and didn't know about the pre show music open and tried to return the DVD saying it was bad. No picture but had sound at the top. Wake up Sony! Go out and film some Theatre curtains (If you can still find some) and re do the opening on some of your roadshow Columbia prints to video. At least the new younger crowd that buys a DVD can see what went on in the 50's and 60's In the Roadshow Theatres like the El Capitan. I will never forget the time I saw 'Funny Girl' on the new big curved D-150 screen down the street at the Egyptian. I think It was a 70mm scope blowup and looked and sounded great.

to the
manager during the overture that the sound was on but there was no picture.

sorry about that last snip of this posting...

Terry: "Cinerama Stanley Warner was so upset that someone came along 'National General' and made a better Cinerama type system."

That began way back in history. In brief: originally, the patents for the CineMiracle camera optical system were offered to Cinerama, Inc. which didn't have the $ to pay (this was before the C'rama Inc, C'rama Prod., & SW-Cinerama trio was formed). On the projection side, R. McCullough of Nat'Gen'l who held the patent for a CineMiracle mirror-type projection had borrowed Act 2 of "This Is Cinerama" to run his projector tests. All was happy and Cinerama wasn't too concerned about a future rival when, at the LA preem of "Cinerama Holiday," Louis deRochemont, who had produced "C..Holiday," got into a shouting match between the C'rama folks and the Nat'l Gen'l people and decided to take his next project over to the CineMiracle camp, claiming that the latter process was superior to what Cinerama could offer. This project is what eventually became "Windjammer." When Cinerama's 4th outing "Search for Paradise" tanked at the boxoffice, and "South Seas Adventure" was not yet ready for release, everybody concerned kissed and made up, and petitioned the Dept. of Justice to allow leased Cinerama houses to run non-Cinerama films, namly the CineMiracle "Windjammer" now "presented in Cinerama;" and over the next few years Cinerama incorporated a lot of CineMiracle's innovations, particuarly on the projection side.
As for your next item, "...people brought the new DVD and didnt know about the preshow music," in the Ziegfeld Theatre pages there's a post about one customer at the "Lawrence" showing last year who complained to the
manager during the overture that the sound was on but there was no picture.

Thanks for some history on the CineMiracle system. I am so glad I got to see all the 3 proj Cinerama films in San Francisco at the Orpheum Theatre and some at the Warner Hollywood. At least like the El Captian these theatres are still around. Now lets get someone with a lot of $$$ and buy the Warner Hollywood from the Formans at Pacific Theatres and put back in Cinerama/ Todd AO and show all the 70mm roadshows with new prints for the out of town tourists that go by the chained up Warner. What a place for Cinema history. The tourists have money to spend in Hollywood and are tired of what is out on the streets of Hollywood in 2007. Bring back the 50's experience for a new generation that is getting bored staying at home watching DVD'S. Bring on the Cinerama Pink curtains and put in the largest curved screen in the world in Hollywood. The out of town tourist crowd walks past the Warner Hollywood most don't even go down to the Cinerama Dome complex or even know about the Dome Theatre on Sunset Blvd.

Tho I'm not a big fan of current Disney movies, I will go see ENCHANTED at the El Capitan just for the grand treatment of seeing a movie the way a movie should be seen... an event with all the showmanship. This theater has never let me down, even during its days as the Paramount.

Here is a recent photo of the El Capitan.

When Chronicles of Narnia was playing, during the pre-show presentation, I remember the El Capitan had "snow" fall from the ceiling over the main floor. And with the theatrical lighting it looked very impressive.

Anyone know did they did the effect? The "snow" never reached the floor (at least nothing fell on me in my seat's location), so I don't think it was real man-made snow.
Maybe tiny particles of dry ice that completely evaporate while falling? (I'm assuming some standard theatrical showcraft technique)

It's a kind of soap bubbles. Very very light, they burst on contact and they're gone. Disney uses it in the Holiday Fireworks at Disneyland. Just like a rain effect, the stuff shoots upward, then breaks up and scatters as it falls. If you look carefully you can see where it shoots from. This is an easy way to create a goosebump inducing effect, like blasting confetti, sparklers, or streamers. Pretty much every stage show at the El Capitan uses some form of this, except the sparklers and snow don't require any cleanup.

This is a recent night view of the El Capitan.

Here is a June 1934 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2x7y5q

Here is a March 1975 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/yu5t22

Earthquake with Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner was released in November of 1974.

Lorne Greene played Ava Gardner's father. I think they were about five years apart. A classic.

From Nov. 19:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitanNov192007001.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitanNov192007006.jpg

What was going on?

Here is a view of a 1956 premiere at the Paramount:
http://tinyurl.com/2oyuft

The Man Who Knew Too Much was released in June of 1956.

There is a 1961 photo on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/28y78r

That is one slow website. It might be a little faster if you link directly to the photo.

http://www.netropolisusa.biz/mptv/cgi-bin/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Image_Vault_Classic/updates_2006/May/Fanny&image=3425_0105.jpg&img=0&search=movie%20theater&cat=all&tt=&bool=and

I tried that. After a few minutes, it switches to another page with no photos. This is the only way to do it.

The link to the Paramount photo still works for me. Okay, have fun.

El Capitan interior from todays EXCELLENT screening of ENCHANTED:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan1Dec22007006.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan2Dec2200700012.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan3Dec2200700015.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan4Dec2200700027.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan5Dec220070005.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan6Dec2200700011.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan7Dec220070007.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan8Dec2200700018.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan9Dec2200700031.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan10Dec2200700010.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan11Dec2200700032.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdElCapitan12Dec220070009.jpg

Earthquake with Heston did open in Nov 1974 but at the Chinese across the street.

additional pictures:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanJan22200801.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanJan22200841.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanJan22200819.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanJan22200821.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanJan22200806.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanJan22200832.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanJan22200824.jpg

Ironic you should post these photos....I saw 101 Dalmations on the marquee....and that's the movie I saw in the El Captian, the only time I was ever inside....only difference was it was the "live" version of 101 Dalmations. This has to be almost 10 years ago or so.

Kirk, the move-over for "Earthquake" from the Chinese was to the Paramount Cinema as what the ad that Ken MC posted on Nov. 21, 2007 for March 1975.

Hollywood90038...great pictures, thanks for posting them.

At night:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanJan292008ct.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanJan292008ct2.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanJan292008ct4.jpg

i remember when they were remodeling it.my mom worked in the office building next door to it and we would go to hamburger habit for lunch.the last movie i saw in the paramount was "the new pippi long stalkings"(i think,i was only 9),after resto i saw a screening of dumbo,we sat in the balcony.now lets hope someone does something like this with the warners/pacific 123!

This is a long string. So forgive me if this has been posted.

I went looking for a photo taken after the 40's conversion, and found this:

http://www.atos.org/Pages/Journal/Capitan/elcapitan.html

Photo is about halfway down on right.

I just picked up a copy of the 4th Edition of Lucille Ball: A to Z by Michael Karol and in it on page 114 there is mention of this theatre...."This is the Hollywood Boulevard theater in which Desi Arnaz and his band played for Bob Hope's radio show in 1947."

Patsy, I think they have it wrong about the info on your last post. The theatre they must mean is the old Hollywood Playhouse which was a legitmate theatre on North Vine Street. That theatre opened as the Hollywood Playhouse, but around 1942 it was renamed El Capitan Theatre when the original El Capitan Theatre was renamed the Paramount Theatre. The Hollywood Playhouse (new El Capitan) was used as a radio studio for many years for many major stars radio shows. Later that theatre was used as a TV studio and was knew as the Hollywood Palace. But in 1947 the theatre located on Hollywood Blvd. was known as the Paramount Theatre. I posted alittle history on this thread back on Nov. 12th. 2003 @12:37pm.

William: Thank you and I shall advise the author of this.

Patsy and William: I don't think the reference in Karol's book could be to the El Capitan on Vine. From the early 1940s until 1949, the El Capitan on Vine Street was the venue of Ken Murray's Blackouts, an extraordinarily popular stage review which ran for 3,844 performances, so I doubt the theatre would have been available for any other purpose.

Desi Arnaz was the bandleader on Bob Hope's weekly (Tuesday night) radio show in 1946 and 1947, but I'm pretty sure the show originated from the NBC studios at Sunset and Vine, and the band would probably have been in the studio, as a rule.

It's possible that the book is correct about the venue, though. Maybe Arnaz and the band did play at the Paramount Theatre at least once during 1947. Paramount's production and exhibition arms were still united in 1947, and Bob Hope's movies were released through Paramount. Any or all of his 1947 films (he made three that year) are likely to have had runs at the Hollywood Paramount. If so, then a remote broadcast of the radio show from the theatre (with Arnaz leading the orchestra as usual), to promote a Bob Hope movie, would not have been out of the question.

I'm just speculating about this, of course, but such an event at the Paramount seems more likely than an appearance by the Arnaz orchestra at the El Capitan on Vine in that year.

Here's a 1956 view of the premiere night of a Hitchcock remake:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/hollypara2.jpg

Wasn't this called the Hollywood Paramount to differentiate from the Paramount in downtown Los Angeles?

Warren: Fabulous 1956 photo!! Must rent that Hitchcock thriller.

The photo shows the name PARAMOUNT though the marquees are different if you compare the photo you posted to the one on this link.

It would have been impractical to put such a long name as Hollywood Paramount on the marquee, but I think it was called that in advertising and publicity. Or if not, Paramount, Hollywood.

I think it is time to remodel it back to the Paramount with the Art Deco decor. The El Capitan is tacky with its Disneyland look.

The El Capitan is a spectacular, historically accurate, restored building and, any renovation the converts it back to it's art deco days, would be tasteless and idiotic.

Some people do think that Art Deco is artistically stunning also.

The El Capitan is one of the best theatres in the world. Just leave it alone. To redo it in the Art Deco decor would be a crime against World Heritage. We should all be thankful that Disney has spent the time and money on making El Capitan the showplace of Los Angeles!
Nobody does it better than Disney!

Marquee from Friday:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanMay30200810.jpg

Great photo showing not only the marquee, but the ornate building above the marquee.

The 1942 renovation was by well-known architect William Pereira.

I don't think anything remains from the 1942 renovation.

Here is WALL·E at the El Capitan.

is the upcoming engagement of 'Sleeping Beauty' digital projection or 35mm?

Actually one would hope that it screens in it's original 70MM.

yes that would be the more ideal way to experience this film.

The El Capitan has a top notch DLP setup so I don't think you'll miss much.

I'd like to know how Placido Domingo's agent pitched his role as the voice of a dog in this film. Maybe La Scala was booked.
http://tinyurl.com/5x5ffh

This undated ad was on the restroom wall at the Hollywood & Highland complex:
http://tinyurl.com/4bdqmd

Here are some October 2008 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/47j9ms
http://tinyurl.com/4w4ata
http://tinyurl.com/3tum7u
http://tinyurl.com/4unr9s
http://tinyurl.com/4q2l5v
http://tinyurl.com/4x3hje
http://tinyurl.com/43qnlc
http://tinyurl.com/3mpgup
http://tinyurl.com/3jvync

did anyone see the Sleeping Beauty presentation? I would assume it was in the new wider 2.55:1 aspect ratio that the dvd/bluray has

Too bad Disney won't buy the Mark Hellinger back from the church and turn it into the El Capitan of New York.
One of the most beautiful theaters in NY.
It's sale was criminal.

Well the Nederlander Organization were fools to sell the theatre to the church for $17 million. Well next year marks the 20th. anniversary of the sale. There is a new complex going up on 8th Ave. which will include a new Broadway theatre.

But it won't be a great movie palace like the Hellinger with stage facilities!
Just look at the Marquee, Minskoff and Gershwin.
Ugh! And architects were paid money for these things.
Can you imagine?

I lived next the Hellinger for 6 years, on the dressing room side of the building. It looks like the church is going to hold on to that gem for a long time.

William; When in NYC about 15 years ago, I took a couple of shots of an off-Broadway theater which was functioning as a black church. A service was underway in the auditorium but invited to only peek inside. Bottle green curtains, in bad shape, dressed the stage.
The lobby had off-white Gothic columns accented with pink or mauve along with gold waterfall drapes and a tall 5/tier slender chandelier.
I'd like to put a name to this place. Can you assist me, please?

Boys, this isn't a chat board - e-mail is a wonderful thing. And so is the Paramount/El Capitan, which is what this is supposed to be about.

That's right Bruce.

OFF TOPIC!

Now you L.A guys are here could one of you tell me how I would get from Long Beach to Hollywood with public transport -train,bus etc, the El Capitain etc! I'm in L.A this weekend and want to see as many of the palaces as possible while taking in '9To 5-The Musical' at the Ahmanson Theatre.
Thanks!
xIanx
drop me an email if you could-journey time would be most helpful!
theatreland@yahoo.com

i know it said email,but the blue line(mta train) to the 6th street terminal,then get on the red line(subway) to hollywood.

Here's something that's pertinent and maybe fun: What are your most favorite memories of attending movies at the Paramount in Hollywood? What are your favorite films you saw there? I'll start -

Pardners - not so good as a film, but as a kid I loved it, plus I really loved the Paramount - that was my first visit there and I could not believe they had two sets of curtains - the first set went UP while the second set parted. That's showmanship. And after the film I had my first C.C. Brown's experience, one repeated hundreds of times right up until the day they closed (I was at their final private party).

The Music Man - saw it opening day, went back with my parents opening night - Pert Kelton was there. Thrilling film, and incredible stereo sound

Bye Bye Birdie - saw it about five times at the Paramount

I would say Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 70MM. During the SRO days that incredible waterfall curtain and the streamed Hot Dogs and a Dr. Pepper.
Midnight Express, China Syndrome played well in this large theatre.

Ok this is from it's El Capitan days, running Snow White for a week.

I mean steamed Hot Dogs.

I also saw two Doctors there - Dr. Zhivago and Doctor Dolittle.

The El Capitan in its original incarnation can be seen in this 1928 USC photo:
http://tinyurl.com/44thlq

I walked past yesterday and took a few pics of the rear of 'El Capitain', I will post on my return to the UK.

An article from UK newspaper 'The Independent' printed on Oct 11th 2008.

'HOLLYWEIRD- EL CAPITAN THEATRE'
Jamie Merrill.
For Sale: The El Capitan Theatre, a unique piece of Hollywood history and a bargain at just $31M. The sale of this splendiferous gilded theatre is a rare chance for one wealthy individual to own a slice of Hollywood history.
Located on Hollywood Boulevard, alongside the historic Hollywood Walk Of Fame, the El Capitan was built in 1926 by Charles Toberman, the real estate developer many called the ''Father Of Hollywood'' (he put up 36 stylish buildings in the heart of Hollywood). On its debut on 3rd May 1926, when it launched as ''Hollywood's First Home Of Spoken Drama'', stars of stage and screen attended its first show, 'Charlots Revue', starring Jack Buchanan, Gertrude Lawrence and Beatrice Lillie.
The value of the cinema and playhouse (opposite the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars are presented) can only be boosted by the fact t hat it was where 'Citizen Kane' had its world premiere. From 1926 to 1936, more than 120 live shows were produced there, including 'No,No, Nanette', 'Anything Goes' and 'Ah Wilderness'. Its stage was graced by such stars as Will Rogers, Clark Gable and Joan Fontaine.
Tom Bower, the realtor selling the six-storey theatre, office building and retail store, unimaginatively described the opportunity to buy the El Capitan as chance to take advantage of ''a stable occupancy history and an opportunity for an investor to capitalise on long-term rent and absorption of Hollywood''. But he has a point. Entrepreneurs take note: as well as being a piece of Hollywood history, the El Capitan is a profitable business and is reportedly the highest-grossing single screen theatre in America, with more than 100 seats, state-of-the-art digital projection and sound, a refurbished 1928 Wurlitzer pipe organ and a screen that rises to reveal a 50ft stage for live shows.
Not too shabby for $31M

Wow, so Disney is selling the theater? Why?
Do they own any of the other theaters on Hollywood Blvd? I know they have done some things at the Pantages.

http://cinematreasures.org/news/19690_0_1_0_C/

Thanks BW!

Disney is not selling the theatre, because it never owned it. Disney has only been operating it under a long-term lease.

And Disney helped to pay some of the price tag to do alittle restoration work on the Pantages for the opening of "Lion King" Broadway show. But it was a budget restoration of the house. There was more planned when they did back then, but they had to cut back on the project.

Will that continue in the future or not. It looked to be in pretty good condition in general when I walked past last Saturday

I was in it about 5 years ago, and it is absolutely stunning inside.

This is a 1991 marquee shot from Life Magazine. Thanks to CT member "misterboo" for the link.

The other El Capitan on Vine Street can be seen at the top of the page in this undated photo from Life Magazine:
http://tinyurl.com/65q7rw

Here are some photos taken last night:
http://tinyurl.com/5smsnd
http://tinyurl.com/5pjokq
http://tinyurl.com/6agjv5

The LA Times reported today that Martin Weil has passed away. He was a past president of the LA Conservancy and a renovation expert. He was involved in the renovation of the El Capitan in the 1990s.

Here and here are photos I took last week of the El Capitan.

December 2008 photo

Here is the pre-Disney Paramount in the early 1980s:
http://tinyurl.com/ctvdlf
http://tinyurl.com/cfycb6
http://tinyurl.com/dfmvv9

April 2009 photo

Interior photos from 1939, from the USC archive. I thought maybe this was the Paramount in downtown, but I will go by the caption.
http://tinyurl.com/d8xjv4
http://tinyurl.com/dj453v
http://tinyurl.com/c7tbyf

This is definitely the El Capitan, circa late 1930s:
http://tinyurl.com/d5tq2x

Ken, you are right and USC is wrong. Those three pictures do depict the Downtown Paramount.

This is the El Capitan's auditorium.

Joe: Quite the interior photo! Thanks. BTW......in a book entitled Lucy A to Z by Michael Karol there is mention of this theatre on page 114.

"This is the Hollywood Boulevard theater in which Desi Arnaz and his band played for Bob Hope's radio show in 1947."

First time to LA and I was able to catch the Nightmare before Christmas here in 3d totally awesome and the condition of the theatre is amazing, a virtual palace of Hollywoods yesteryear.

My first experience with this theater was this month seeing Pixar's "UP". And it was easily the most amazing theater experience I ever had. I was taken on a tour of the theater, got to go in the projection room. I loved their Wall of Fame showcasing all the premieres the theater had hosted. The organ performance, the curtain show, the live stage performance...almost brought me to tears it was such an experience. Greatest theater I've ever stepped foot in. And they turn the house around in less than 20 minutes. Insanity. Here's a picture of the marquee from June 2nd, 2009 for "Up"

http://i43.tinypic.com/b719ag.jpg

the booth would have been amazing to have seen for sure sooooo jealous ;-)

I was at on the top floor at Hollywood & Highland today and I'm curious as to who the people are in the reliefs at the top of the building. Sorry if I overlooked this information if it has been previously mentioned.

Here are some photos taken yesterday:
http://tinyurl.com/letka7
http://tinyurl.com/kup9hx
http://tinyurl.com/mvohlz

Sharp 1991 color night shot from LIFE,
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=42c4eb9b9747b450&q=marquee%20source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmarquee%2Bsource:life%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18

does this theater have a new owner now, or is it still up for sale?

This is a nice recent night photo.

I like my hamster photo better.

I don't think so.

Nice theatre, but WAY WAY WAY too expensive to get decent seating. Also, the screen is not big enough for 2:35 aspect ratio (I distinctly remember seeing major cropping for "Narnia - Prince Caspian" the last time I was here).

But the showy stuff (the decor, the pre-show) is unbeatable and that's how the place consistentliy packs them in.

from Saturday:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan3.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan4.jpg

They didn't give any credit to theater architect G. Albert Lansburgh!

They are guinea pigs, Ken.

I stand corrected.

Back in 2003, Harry Lime wrote about another El Capitan theater in Hollywood: "The Hollywood Playhouse (1927 - 1945), located at 1735 North Vine Street, recently The Palace and now The Avalon Theatre (a Clear Channel operation), was formerly the El Capitan, and the Jerry Lewis Theatre."

Does this not have a page here? I've been searching on the various names (and checking "previous names") and can't seem to find it.

The 1st 3D movie I've ever seen and this venue with its "curtain magic" made it a real event:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200964.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov2120095.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov2120098.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200912.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200916.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200921.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200922.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200923.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200924.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200955.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200956.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200957.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200958.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitanNov21200960.jpg

Now if only more theaters were this ornate! I did take a peak at their admission prices..WHOA!

To Don S.'s Oct 24th question above concerning the Hollywood Playhouse: This facility now known as Avalon nightclub , was never a cinema. It opened in 1927 as a legitimate theatre and then had various incarnations as a live performance space and radio/television studio before being converted into a nightclub. Therefore, probably the reason its not listed on CT although it does appear on other sites like CinemaTour as Hollywood Playhouse.

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG opens December 11th @ Arclight Hollywood.

This is the first time,that i can recall,that a Disney produced animated film has NOT opened at the El Capitan since it opened.

Very surprising. They will be holding Christmas Carol for quite a while.

Well, it is playing at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank so I guess that counts a little.

Even more surprising was that Old Dogs was not played at the El Captian (being that it was Disney's big Thanksgiving movie). But also I was surprised that Ponyo didn't run either (due to a long run of G-Force).

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG opens December 11th @ Arclight Hollywood. This is the first time,that i can recall,that a Disney produced animated film has NOT opened at the El Capitan since it opened.

"Mulan" (1998) opened at the Chinese.

March 11, 2010:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan1.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan2.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan4-1.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan5.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan12.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan14.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan18.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan21.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan16.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/ElCapitan26.jpg