Beginnings Originally known as Warner Bros. Theatre or Warner Hollywood, the latter used to avoid confusion with
another Warner Theatre in
downtown Los Angeles, this building was designed by
G. Albert Lansburgh, an architect renowned for his theater designs, having previously designed the
Palace,
Orpheum,
El Capitan, and more. The total cost of this building was $2 million , $750,000 more than budgeted. It was built on the former site of
Paul de Longpré's residence. The building's centerpiece, its movie theater, was Hollywood's first movie theater designed specifically for sound.
Change in ownership and renovations In 1949, the
United States Supreme Court issued the
Paramount Decision, prohibiting major film studios from owning movie theaters. To comply, Warner Brothers spun off
Stanley Warner Theatres in 1953, at which point this building transferred ownership to that company. Stanley Warner Theatres later merged with
RKO Theatres Corp to become
RKO Stanley Warner. After renovations, the theater reopened as Warner Cinerama on April 29, 1953. The new screen was with a 146 degree arc and seating was reduced to approximately 1,500 to accommodate the larger screen. The first film shown at the Warner Cinerama was
This is Cinerama, which grossed $3,845,200 in its first 115 weeks, a Los Angeles record. The film closed 133 weeks after opening and on November 15, 1955,
Cinerama Holiday opened, playing for 81 weeks and grossing $2,212,600 . That film was followed by
Seven Wonders of the World, which played for 69 weeks and grossed $1,659,361 . Other cinerama films that played in this theater include
South Seas Adventure (71 weeks),
Search for Paradise (38 weeks),
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (28 weeks), and the
premiere run of
How the West Was Won (93 weeks).
This is Cinerama,
Cinerama Holiday, and
Seven Wonders of the World also had multi-week return engagements during this time period. In 1961, the theater was equipped to show
70 mm film and in 1968, it was sold to
Pacific Theatres, who renamed it Hollywood Pacific Theatre. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, two
Stanley Kubrick films had long runs at the theater:
2001: A Space Odyssey, which had its west coast premiere here and played for 80 weeks, and
A Clockwork Orange. Her star was placed at 6439 Hollywood Blvd., outside the entrance to the theater.
Designation as a Historical Landmark In 1985, the
Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District was added to the
National Register of Historic Places, with Warner Theater listed as a
contributing property in the district.
End of film exhibition The theater closed as a full-time cinema on August 15, 1994, mostly due to structural damage caused by the
1994 Northridge earthquake and water damage that occurred during construction of the
B Line. To date, the theater's balcony sections remain closed due to safety issues. From 2000 to 2006, the building was used by the
University of Southern California Entertainment Technology Center to experiment in digital projection. Dubbed the ETC Digital Cinema Lab in Hollywood, the building hosted meetings, discussions, tests, and demos, the results of which are often credited with providing the catalyst that made digital cinema a reality. The building was occupied by
Ecclesia Hollywood Church from early 2008 to 2013 ==Architecture and design==