Pantages Theatre

The Hollywood Pantages Theatre, at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, opened on June 4, 1930, as the last and most lavish movie palace built by vaudeville impresario Alexander Pantages. Architect B. Marcus Priteca designed it in an Art Deco style, and it opened with a combined program of vaudeville and film. Its facade is modest compared with the interior, which features a gilded lobby with a grand staircase, geometric ceiling patterns, decorative plasterwork and a large auditorium seating about 2,700 people. The theatre was acquired by Howard Hughes in the 1950s and became the home of the Academy Awards ceremonies from 1950 to 1959, when stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn walked its aisles. In the 1960s it hosted the Oscars again briefly, then operated primarily as a movie house before closing in the 1970s and 1980s as the surrounding area declined. The Nederlander Organization took over and began a restoration in the 1990s, reopening the theatre with the musical Miss Saigon in 1995. The theatre has since staged major touring Broadway productions, including The Lion King, Wicked and Hamilton. The restoration repaired the lobby, replaced the carpet and restored murals and gilded details, and the building is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The theatre is not a museum, so the primary way to experience it is by attending a performance, although the exterior and sidewalk are open at any time. Occasional tours and behind-the-scenes events may be offered by the venue or by outside groups, so visitors interested in the history should check ahead. The theatre sits near the Hollywood and Vine Metro B Line station and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the nearby Capitol Records Building and Avalon Hollywood complete a historic corner of the neighborhood.