Pantages Theater
The Pantages Theater , formerly RKO Pantages Theater , is a theater building in Hollywood , California . From 1950 to 1960 it was the venue for the annual Academy Awards. It served as a cinema until 1977 and has been used as a music theater ever since.
history
The Pantages Theater was built by architect B. Marcus Priteca on 6233 Hollywood Boulevard for the promoter Alexander Pantages . At the time it was built, it was the largest movie theater in Hollywood and the first Art Deco cinema in the United States. The stage mechanics, including a lift, were considered the most modern of their time. Originally a 12-story building with ten office floors and two cinema floors was planned, but due to the global economic crisis, construction was completed after the second floor. The Pantages opened as part of the Pantages Theater Circuit on June 4, 1930. The first film to be shown was Floradora Girl with Marion Davies .
At first, film screenings alternated with vaudeville performances in the game operation , but from 1932 there was a move to show only films. In the same year, the financially troubled Alexander Pantages sold the movie theater to the Fox West Coast Theaters. Howard Hughes bought the building in 1949 and incorporated it into his RKO Theater Circuit. He himself moved into the business premises on the second floor. From 1950 to 1960 the RKO Pantages Theater hosted the Oscars.
In January 1977 the Pantages Theater closed as a cinema and reopened the following month as a theater under the direction of the Nederlander Group. To this day it is considered one of the leading (music) theater stages in Los Angeles . In addition, television programs, films and music videos are regularly shot in the Pantages, for example the concert scenes from the 1980 film The Jazz Singer in the Pantages. Rock concerts take place less often, so Shakira gave her first concert in the USA in 1997 at Pantages.
In 2000 the Pantages was completely renovated for ten million US dollars. In 2007 there were plans to build the Pantages, following the original construction plans, to add the missing ten floors.
literature
- The Hughes Haunting . In: Tom Ogden: Haunted Hollywood . Globe Pequot, 2009, pp. 136-141.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Gregory Paul Williams: The Story of Hollywood: An Illustrated History . storyofhollywood, 2006, p. 177.
- ^ Roger Vincent: Decades later, 12-story plan for Pantages revived . LA Times, December 6, 2007.
Coordinates: 34 ° 6 ′ 6.4 " N , 118 ° 19 ′ 32.4" W.