Hollywood Theatre
4122 NE Sandy Boulevard,
Portland,
OR
97212
4122 NE Sandy Boulevard,
Portland,
OR
97212
10 people
favorited this theater
Located along Portland’s Northeast Sandy Boulevard, in the heart of the business district bearing its name, the Hollywood Theatre has provided family entertainment since it opened as a vaudeville theater on July 17, 1926.
With 1,500 seats, the Hollywood Theatre is one of the most ornate neighborhood theaters in the Pacific Northwest. Its exterior, with a beautiful Byzantine, rococo tower, resembles something to be found on William Randolph Hearst’s San Simeon estate.
Although still standing, the Hollywood Theatre spent the last 30 years quietly slipping into a state of disrepair, operating as a nearly forgotten discount movie house.
In April of 1997, the Oregon Film & Video Foundation purchased the theater from ACT III Theatres for the purpose of preservation and gradual renovation. The Hollywood re-opened in November of 1997 and has once again become a vital part of the Hollywood District in which it’s located.
Contributed by
Tony Daniel
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Recent comments (view all 46 comments)
Here is a 2007 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/9tf6xl
Here is a May 2009 photo.
You’ll have to tilt your head to the left for this photo.
This one can be viewed normally.
Here is a September 2009 photo.
Don’t know how far they’ve gotten with the renovation, but the outside has been nicely redone – all painted white with trim, kind of a stucco design. / mission revival. Strange feature about this theatre, the auditorium extends straigh back from the street, but the main facade/marquee is on the corner of the building, despite all the street frontagethe building has. The foyer/mezzanine simply backs up against the sidewalk. Looks like they pushed that right up to the sidewalk to extend the auditorium and the only place to put the entrance was on the corner under the curved marquee (which is flat against the building). Interesting effect and I’m glad they’ve been making progress on restoration.
I worked as an “usherette” along with my girlfriends who went to high school at both Marycrest High School (now the Western States Orthopedic College) and US Grant High School, in 1966-1967. Quite the memories. Wearing a replica race car driver helmet while seating patrons to watch Steve McQueen in ‘Grand Prix’ for example. Balcony duty for more than 2 months while the Sound of Music ran for record crowds. Cleaning the popcorn machine, etc. etc. It was quite the instituation back in the 1960’s and should be preserved as what the theatres were at that time as well, not just when it was first built. Part of a true Americana, much like the Alberta Theater where we watched Ma & Pa Kettle on Saturdays for 25cents!
One of my coleagues and I drove non stop from Toledo Ohio in the mid 70’s to deliver the new projection equipment for the triplexing of the theatre. Two sets of “EPRAD” SWORD Systems were installed to accomodate the twinning of the balcony level. The new projectors were designed to provide fully automated operation of the film presention.
Does the main theatre still have its CINERAMA Screen?
A few photos can be seen here, here and here.