Grauman's Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
121 people
favorited this theater
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre is arguably the most famous movie theater in the world. Opened on May 18, 1927 with Cecil B. DeMille’s “The King of Kings” starring H.B. Warner. The 2,000 seat capacity, Chinese Theatre has been the site of thousands of movie premieres and the destination of millions of tourists. Scores of celebrities have left their footprints, hand prints and hoof prints on the walkways near and on the theater’s courtyard.
In 1973, Mann Theatres bought the Chinese Theatre. Two auditoriums, each seating 750, were added next to the Chinese Theatre, turning the theatre into a triplex operation from April 12, 1979. In 2000, the two added auditoriums were razed to make way for the construction of the Kodak Theater — the new site of the Oscars.
In 2001, the original 1927 built Chinese Theatre underwent a renovation to return its exterior to its original design and Mann Theatres, in late-2001, also added an adjoining 6-screen multiplex theater, designed by the architectural firm Behr Browers Architects of Westlake, CA.
Still opulent in red tonality and Asiatic influences, Grauman’s Chinese remains the ultimate movie palace experience. The main original auditorium now seats 1,492.
In August 2009, Mann Theatres announced they were planning to put the Chinese Theatre up ‘For Sale’, and it was sold to an independent operator in April 2011.
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Recent comments (view all 1,114 comments)
To bigjoe59 about your April 20th post: Even if it is officially true that the SF Castro Theater was built as a 2nd run neighborhood theater, it is pretty darn grand with awesome organ pipes in the walls, beautiful and detailed decor, balcony, etc. There were many neighborhood theaters (some still standing) from that era that did not get that kind of floor plan and design embellishment. I would call it a palace.
I’ve uploaded a photo I took in 1992 when on holiday from Wales UK. It’s of the side & back of the building where there used to be a car park,(sorry lot) Please click on photos.
So nice to see that this theater is still around to celebrate its 85th anniversary this evening!!
The Chinese is showing “Some Like It Hot” on Friday, 6/1 @ 8PM. Tickets are $10.
http://www.chinesetheatres.com/tickets-showtimes.html
Tickets still available for Saturday’s insider’s tour and presentation. Tours start between 8:30-9:00AM, and participants are offered a discounted $10 movie admission that day.
http://www.lahtf.org/
Graumans is showing Marilyn Monroe movies at 8PM on seven consecutive nights. $10 opening night, then $5 per screening or $30 pass for all seven. 6/1 – Some Like It hot 6/2- No Business Like Show Business, 6/3-How to Marry a Millionaire, 6/4- The Seven Year Itch, 6/5-bus Stop, 6/6-The Misfits, 6/7-Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Are this all going to be 2K digital? That screen is so big the 2K digital looks very grainy.
It’s being put on by Playboy/Hugh Hefner, who has an affinity for film, and the website says nothing of digital (it normally reads “Digital Presentation”), so I’d say there’s a semi-good chance these are archival prints. Will need to get confirmation, though.
Some Like It Hot, June 1, is at the Grauman’s Chinese. HOWEVER, the other six nights of the “Marilyn Monroe Film Festival” are in the Chinese 6 theatres, NOT in the big Grauman theater I believe .
The nomenclature is always tricky with this theater. “Grauman’s Chinese” to me refers to the awesome 1927 theater, and not to the generic multiplex “Chinese 6” built next to it in the late 90’s.
dtrigubetz, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your alert 3 days ago to the special Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation’s (lahtf.org) tour this weekend of Grauman’s Chinese. On a whim I went, and that was by far the best $20 I’ve spent in ages. (By comparison, the regular “tour” offered daily to tourists by the theater is a waste). They took us into many non-public areas such as: all backstage and behind the screen, and then down into the massive green room in the basement, and up into Sid Grauman’s private viewing box, and a peek into his office (occupied by the current manager). And even the open areas have many “hidden” features until pointed out by the expert guides. I overheard that about 150 people were there Saturday,(we were broken up into 11 more manageable smaller groups). Finally at the end, we all seated in a Chinese 6 auditorium and got an excellent slide show talk about the history of the theater and of Sid Grauman.
If LAHTF ever offers this tour again, I would recommend making the trip to Hollywood for it. I would definitely repeat the tour in the future. They have a Facebook page and posted several photos.
Also, a blogger went on the tour with his video camera and put together a 3 minute video (which actually covers only some of the tour) and put it on his post: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/05/lao_behind_the_scenes_gra.php
Silver’s description of that special tour sounds great! That sounds like the kind of tour the new theater owners ought to offer such as one day a week.