Hollywood Pantages Theatre

Hollywood Pantages Theatre, the last theater built in the Pantages Theatre Circuit and also the last movie palace built in Hollywood, was built by Alexander Pantages in 1929 and opened on June 4, 1930. The theater was designed to seat 3,212, but it opened with extra legroom and wider seats, reducing seating capacity to 2,812. (1954) Alexander sold the Pantages to Fox West Coast Theaters in 1932, and in 1949, Howard Hughes acquired the theater for his RKO Theatre Circuit; he also moved his personal offices to the building's second floor. From 1949 to 1959, the theater hosted the Academy Awards, in 1965 it was purchased by Pacific Theatres, and it continued to be a major venue for roadshow movies into the 1970s, In 1974, the Emmy Awards were held at The Pantages. The Pantages closed as a movie theater in January 1977 and re-opened the following month with Bubbling Brown Sugar, followed by Beatlemania, Man of La Mancha, La Cage Aux Folles, Ann Miller and Mickey Rooney in Sugar Babies and Yul Brynner in King and I. Stage productions have been its regular fare ever since. In 1978, the Pantages Theatre was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, In 2000, the theater underwent a $10-million Now operated by a subsidiary of the Nederlander Organization, the Pantages is one of Los Angeles's highest-grossing venues for live stage and Broadway-style productions. and the theater has presented large-scale Broadway musicals such as Wicked, Hamilton, The Book of Mormon, and more. and 2016. In 1997, both Prince and Shakira performed at The Pantages, the latter being her first show in the United States. In 2006, Mexican pop-group RBD recorded their CD/DVD Live in Hollywood at the Pantages. Other musicians who have performed at the Pantages include Dream Theater, Foo Fighters, and Mark Knopfler. ==Past productions==

Designed by B. Marcus Priteca and opened in 1930, The cost of construction for the two-story theater was $1.25 million . The theater's forecourt features a lavish ceiling with gold, silver, and bronze-colored starbursts that radiate in multiple geometric patterns. Inside, the lobby, a 110-feet wide by 60-feet deep poly-chromatic fan vault, is decorated in a zigzag geometric design with gold and henna shades. The entire area is illuminated by three huge Moderne frosted glass chandeliers hanging from three star-shaped domes. At each end of the lobby is a 20-foot wide carpeted stairway, lined with vaguely Egyptian and Assyro-Babylonian styled statues, one of which depicts in an Art Deco style, a camera crew filming. The lobby also features alcoves, ceiling murals, layered plasterwork, frosted glass sconces, and bronze sunbursts above the elevators. The theater's proscenium is 54 feet wide, and above the proscenium are three painted panels, one depicting Apollo leading his snorting steeds, another depicting California oil riches, and the third depicting Native Californians. On each side of the proscenium were originally two small side-stages flanked on the side-walls by large organ chambers. The orchestra pit was on an elevator, and the stage, measuring 180 feet wide and 70 feet deep, is the second largest west of Chicago, after the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles. The crowning beauty of the theater's Art Deco decorations is its double ceiling. Designed by Anthony Heinsbergen, the upper ceiling, colored blue, is visible through the lower ceiling's suspended fretwork sunray effects, the latter of which converge at the ceiling's center, where a large frosted glass and bronze chandelier is hung. ==In popular culture==

Many concert scenes have been shot at the Pantages, including the 1980 film The Jazz Singer, Michael Jackson's 1995 music video "You Are Not Alone", and more. '' The Academy Award scenes in The Bodyguard were shot in The Pantages, and the theater's interior was used for the Ritz Gotham Hotel in Batman Forever. Other films that shot at The Pantages include Ed Wood and Friends with Benefits. In October 1995, George Burns taped a TV special commemorating his 100th birthday at this theater. Rickie Lee Jones's 1979 self-titled debut album includes a reference to The Pantages in her song "Chuck E.'s In Love". Disney California Adventure's Hollywood Pictures Backlot façade is based on The Pantages, but only the part of the theater left of its entrance and marquee, hence why the façade doesn’t look like a theater. ==See also==