TCL Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
160 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1,201 - 1,225 of 1,676 comments
Im surprised that Paramount and Warner Bros allowed the circuit to decline so severely. If they had built up the circuit the way Pacific did it would have more value today. They have been lazy landlords. The Chinese has been booked so poorly in recent years. The Chinese should be treated like a flagship venue and positioned like the El Capitan and Cinerama Dome theatres. The Chinese is an industry venue and hosts many premieres. I hope Paramount and Warner Bros sells the Chinese to someone who will treat it with more dignity and class.brucec
Looks like the Chinese is on the block…again.
View link
The article notes that despite the economy, there is a likelier chance for a buyer to step in since Paramount and Warner Brothers are agreeing to sell theatres individually instead of the “package deal” of previous efforts.
It looks like 9 will be booked into both the Chinese and Chinese 6 on September 9th since that will be the latest D-Box feature.
I’m not sure if this has been posted before. The LAPL caption for this 1979 photo states that this was the biggest opening crowd in the history of the Chinese:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028719.jpg
Here are some photos taken yesterday:
http://tinyurl.com/l2v8cr
http://tinyurl.com/nclkvq
http://tinyurl.com/m3ecf3
Unless I haven’t scrolled far enough up, has anyone experienced a movie here in the D-Box set up? I’m curious to know if it adds to the entertainment or is it just a gimmick? Also, are the screens at the Chinese 6 all the same size? The pictures Hollywood has seem to indicate Auditoriums 1 and 5 are the largest and have somewhat curved screens.
In the mid 90s, I went to Vegas and experienced Doug Trumbull’s Showscan 3D extravaganza at the Luxor Hotel. The screens were IMAX-huge and you wore these heavy 3D headsets that had speakers as you sat in motion controlled rocking seats. They were quite cool. I don’t remember the exact storyline but it seemed to be a journey through time. There were three parts and three different theaters. There was some prominence of an obelisk and lots of cool visual light shows and ending that reminded me of an expanded version of Back to the Future II’s depiction of a skyway. Anyway, D-Box sounds like a miniature version of what I experienced in Vegas. What made it work for me was of course, the humongous, yet clear screen size and sound inundation.
It was a real zoo here last night. The new wax museum was open next to the theater, and a lot of people were congregating around Michael Jackson’s star. Plus the Harry Potter movie was playing. It does seem like the costumed characters are stating to overrun the tourists, there must have been thirty of them out there yesterday.
Okay, so when you’re talking about the organ, you mean the pipes and equipment, not the console. Thanks.
The downtown Metropolitan referred to above by Ken, is listed herein as the Paramount, /theaters/495/
and perhaps after the Carthay Circle, might be considered the worst demolition loss of historic Los Angeles cinemas.
The console of the Wultitzer organ was in the center of the orchestra pit, so could be seen by the audience. The organ chambers were located in the ceiling, above the proscenium. To allow sound from the instrument into the auditorium, there was a tone chute, which allowed the sound to emit through the massive grillework above the main ceiling chandelier, giving an effect of the music seeming to ‘float’ over the audience.
A similar set up was also at two other Grauman theatres, the Metropolitan in Downtown, and the Egyptian along Hollywood Bouelvard.
So, Roger, the audience couldn’t see the organist performing?
To answer Jloew’s comment regarding the boxed space that is above what used to be the stage at the Chinese. That boxed space is standard fly space that most older theaters have. The organ was forward of that space. There is space between the ceiling and the roof of the Chinese and the organ was in that space located in rooms that were built to house the organ.
The ticket stubs I have don’t say Aud 7 on them, they just say Graumans.
I don’t think we need a seperate page. There’s an escalator and stairs that goes from the Footprint Forecourt up to the entrance of the multiplex. At the boxoffices (in the multiplex lobby and down on Hollywood Blvd) you can buy a ticket to a movie playing in Graumans or the multiplex. In fact, when you buy a ticket to Graumans the ticket says ‘Auditorium 7’ I think doesn’t it?
I’m not opposed to a separate page, but I can see where someone new to the site is going to see Mann Chinese and start posting items about the older theater. There’s going to be a lot of mixed up comments.
I don’t follow; why shouldn’t the Mann Chinese 6 have its own page? It is (and was constructed as) a separate theater (though in an adjacent building) with its own entrances and box office, and opened after the Grauman name was restored to the classic Chinese. It isn’t like the two cinemas that were once next to Grauman’s that operated as Grauman’s (Mann’s) Chinese 2 and 3 until they were torn down for the complex next door. The matter isobviously up to the moderators, but I think a separate entry is called for; the headnote could clarify any connection to to Graumann’s Chinese, but I really see very little.
I disagree, Mark. I think if you split up the listings the comments are going to be intermixed anyway. I am having some problems with the theaters that have megapages, which may be my computer. I wonder if there’s a way to add a second page to a theater which may make it easier to load.
correct. really there should be 2 separate listings: 1 for Grauman’s Chinese and the other for Chinese 6
The pictures above appear to be not of Grauman’s Chinese, but of Mann’s Chinese 6 which opened as a part of the Hollywood-Highland complex which includes the Kodak Theater.
Nice photos. You should send them to Cinematour
At least the Chinese has booked something to see. Subpar bookings lately as most film go to the Arclight
Isn’t it a crime to not have seen a show at the Chinese? It ought to be…
Took my film club to see Harry Potter on 7/18 (Saturday night 7:00 PM show). House was 80% or so full. A couple of guys had never been here before – needless to say, the sound/screen/picture/decor blew them away.
This is a 1928 newspaper ad:
http://tinyurl.com/ltuqrk
Strange not to see the name of the current feature in that photo. The Chinese usually had big elaborate displays of whatever movie they were playing.