Paramount Theatre
2025 Broadway,
Oakland,
CA
94612
2025 Broadway,
Oakland,
CA
94612
52 people
favorited this theater
A truly magnificent example of Art Deco style beauty and construction, Oakland’s 3,200 seat Paramount Theatre is a marvelous counterpart to Radio City Music Hall, NYC in gilded glory.
Unlike the San Francisco Fox Theatre, this classic is still very much alive in the Bay area.
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Recent comments (view all 84 comments)
Very interesting information – so you are saying the architects could override the acoustical engineers' designs? I would think the former would know more about that subject, but would explain the poor sound and redesigning. I am interested in acoustics, and it seems like a lost art because everyone depends on high powered amplification these days.
Theaters had to have powerful sounding walls because the power then was less than 25 watts – “The Voice Of The Theater” speaker system was so efficient, a hand-held scnner could drive those horn speakers, and the theater walls amplified the sound for the auditorium, which would echo to allow the sound waves to reach the patrons in the rear. Today, the method is different.
Trainmaster
This is simply a treasure and must be sampled. If you live in the BayArea and haven’t been there…..whaddya waitin fer????
I take it you are referring to the Paramount Theater tours.
For ONLY $3.00, on the first and third Saturdays, you get an cmplete tour of the Paramount. It lasts about two hours and you are shown
the entire theater. What a bargain!!!!!!
For $17.00 (according to the 2011 edition of the AAA New York tour guide book), you get a one-hour tour of the Radio City Music Hall.
That place is easily twice the size of the Paramount, and 1-hour hardly covers the place.
You won’t regret taking a tour of the Paramount. More than likely, you will want to take it again and again.
trainmaster
The tour of the paramount is well worth the $3. It’s nice to go there for a show (movies or live performance), but the in-depth information and time you get to spend with the theater on the tour is a real treat. The groups are small and you get to take your time appreciating all the details without having to navigate a crowd or hustle to your seat. The lounge areas adjacent to some of the rest-rooms are just as much of a treat as the auditorium. Going to the Paramount for any reason is like stepping into a time machine – highly recommended, and if you’re in the area you have no excuse NOT to see it.
A few 2011 photos can be seen here, here and here.
1975 trade article describing the restoration: Boxoffice
Also featured on that section’s cover: Boxoffice
link
I attended one of the showings of Abel Gance’s NAPOLEON in April of 2012 and was just blown away at how gorgeous the theater was and the quality of the projection work. Just a gorgeous theater and I am so glad I had the chance to see it in all its glory.
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Paramount’s rejuvenation: mercurynews