Hollywood Theatre
1449 Potomac Avenue,
Dormont,
PA
15216
1449 Potomac Avenue,
Dormont,
PA
15216
10 people
favorited this theater
The Hollywood Theatre, one of two theatres in the Pittsburgh suburb of Dormont, stood closed and shuttered in 1998 after screening Paul Newman and Susan Sarandon in “Twilight”. After nine years it re-opened on 30th March 2007 with “Night at the Museum” and “Dreamgirls”.
For many years in the 1950’s and 1960’s the Hollywood Theatre, with its seating capacity of 980, was one of Stanley Warner’s main second-run neighborhood houses in Pittsburgh, and even enjoyed a spell as a first-run house in the late 1960’s. Later on, Associated Theatres bought S-W’s holdings in the area, which were then sold to Cinema World.
The last owner was Rick Stern, whose Cinemagic chain still operates the Denis, Manor, and Squirrel Hill theatres, all of which have been multi-screened and show mostly art and independent films currently.
The Hollywood Theatre was closed on May 25, 2008. On June 27, 2009, the Hollywood Theatre reopened for monthly classic movies. Motion Picture Heritage are the new operators.
Contributed by
Ron Miller
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Recent comments (view all 129 comments)
Had the look of a small town Theatre too me,which is not bad.
The Hollywood Theater will reopen. Has been closed for the past year plus.
The Marquee (as of today March, 19. 2010) states,,,
Opening Soon.
I will provide details soon.
My mistake. I ment (as of today March, 19. 2011)
I moved to this area last summer and have thought about how great it would be to have this theater open to walk to. It’s such a cute street to stroll down, the theater would be such an asset. I have also seen the “Opening Soon” sign posted recetly. I can’t wait to find out when that will be!
The Hollywood will be used in a movie that will start shooting around Pittsburgh in a couple
of months.
The theater has reopened as a non-profit: View link
They’ll be showing “The Big Lebowski” this weekend (02/25/2012). Whoo-hooo! One of my three favorite slacker films from my teens and twenties—the other two being “Wayne’s World” and of course “Clerks”.
Dormont, by the Dormont Historical Society (Google Books preview), says that the Hollywood Theatre opened as Murray’s Theatre in 1922. A few years later, it was bought by RKO-Stanley, remodeled, and renamed the Hollywood.
This comment from 2007 by thespian110, on the Cinema 4 page, says that the original architect of the Hollywood Theatre was Charles R. Geisler, but doesn’t specify if he designed the Murray Theatre of 1922 or if he was the architect of its remodeling a few years later as the Hollywood, or both. The architect of the 1948 remodeling was Victor A. Rigaumont, in any case.
A photo of the Hollywood Theatre illustrates an ad for Cutler-Hammer dimmers on this page of Motion Picture News from December 29, 1928.
The Hollywood has a new director who is working to bring digital projection to the theater: View article