The Paramount Theatre was built as a
movie palace, during the rise of the motion picture industry in the late 1920s. In 1925,
Adolph Zukor's Paramount Publix Corporation, the theater division of
Paramount Pictures, one of the great studio-theater chains, began a construction program resulting in some of the finest theaters built. Publix assigned the design of the Oakland Paramount to 38-year-old San Francisco architect
Timothy L. Pflueger (1892–1946) of
Miller and Pflueger. The Paramount opened at a cost of $3 million on December 16, 1931. Pflueger was also the designer of the
Castro Theatre in San Francisco. The
Art Deco design referred to the
1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris. The term Art Deco has been used only since the late 1960s, when there was a revival of interest in the art and fashion of the early 20th century. The Paramount organ was built by Wurlitzer for the Paramount Publix theaters: a four-manual, twenty-rank model called the Publix I (Opus 2164), which cost $20,000 in 1931. The gala premiere on December 16, 1931, was attended by
Kay Francis, star of the opening film,
The False Madonna, and cast members
Conway Tearle, Charles D. Brown,
Marjorie Gateson, and
William Boyd (not yet known as Hopalong Cassidy). Notable guests included California's governor
James Rolph and Oakland mayor Fred N. Morcom. Tickets were first-come, first-served: sixty cents for the balcony seat and eighty-five cents for a seat in the orchestra. The program also included a
Fox Movietone News newsreel, a
Silly Symphony animated cartoon
The Spider and the Fly, and the music of the Paramount's own 16-piece house orchestra, under the direction of Lew Kosloff. Last on the program was the stage show Fanchon & Marco's "Slavique Idea", a forty-minute revue featuring Sam Hearn, comedians Brock and Thompson, dancer LaVonne Sweet, the acrobatic Seven Arconis, Patsy Marr, and the Sunkist Beauties in a chorus-line finale. In June 1932 the Paramount closed, unable to meet operating expenses of more than $27,000 per week. Competing with Paramount was the
Fox Oakland Theater, which had opened in 1928. The Paramount stayed closed for nearly a year. The days when movie theaters could support not just the showing of movies, but entire orchestras, stage shows, and uniformed attendants, were over, just as the Paramount was being completed. When it reopened in May 1933, it was under the management of Frank Burhans, the manager of the
Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. He was commissioned to get the Paramount out of debt, and his method for achieving this was to operate without either a stage show or an orchestra, and to unscrew light bulbs in an effort to reduce energy expenses. The Paramount showed the best of the new motion pictures, including such features as
Dancing Lady (1933) with
Joan Crawford and
Clark Gable,
Dames (1934) with
Dick Powell, and
The Gay Divorcee (1934) with
Fred Astaire and
Ginger Rogers. The
Great Depression gave way to World War II, and the
Port of Oakland became a major departure and arrival point for servicemen. The Paramount's comfortable chairs and spacious lounges were a favorite gathering place. In the 1950s, popcorn machines and candy counters were installed, and on the lobby walls the incandescent lights were taken out and replaced by neon tubing in red and blue. In 1953, it played the first CinemaScope movie
The Robe with
Richard Burton and
Jean Simmons. The 1957
Elvis Presley's
Jailhouse Rock attracted a thousand young people. At the end of the 1950s theaters were losing patrons to television, but the Paramount management responded with talent shows, prize nights, and advertising campaigns. For a second time the Paramount closed on September 15, 1970, because it no longer was able to compete with smaller movie theaters in the suburbs. The Paramount's last film was
Let It Be (1970) with
The Beatles. In 1971, a
Warner Bros. movie,
The Candidate, starring
Robert Redford, was filmed using the interior of the Paramount as one of the principal locations. Hope surfaced in October 1972 when the
Oakland Symphony Orchestra Association (OSO), in need of a new home, purchased the Paramount for $1 million, half of which was donated by the seller, National General Theaters—formerly the
Fox Theaters-West Coast—with the other half coming from generous private donors. The popcorn machines and candy counters were removed. With the help of restoration project manager Peter Botto, new, wider seats were installed, the distance between rows was increased to provide more leg room, and a replica of the original carpet was laid throughout the theater. Two bars, one on the mezzanine and one on the lower level, and a new box office were added. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill were consultants for the restoration, with Milton Pflueger & Associates assisting. The Paramount reopened on September 22, 1973, in its original 1931 splendor. Following the Opening the Oakland Symphony had sold out nearly all seats on subscription sales and sold out a majority of individual concerts. But even with the house full the Paramount Theatre proved a financial burden to the Oakland Symphony. In addition the Oakland Symphony financed renovation costs with a $1 million loan. Rather than continue absorbing the Paramount's operating losses, the Oakland Symphony transferred the Paramount to the City of Oakland in 1975 for $1 in exchange for 40 years of free rent. They continued with that agreement until the Oakland Symphony Orchestra filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in September 1986. Seeing an opportunity, a group of seven private citizens banded together and approached city officials with the idea of managing and operating the Paramount on behalf of the city as a nonprofit organization. They agreed, and the management structure has remained to this day. Walking into the main lobby, with its gold ornamentation along the walls, curving staircase, and glowing light fixtures, is like taking a trip back through Old Hollywood. Public tours of the Paramount Theatre are given on the first and third Saturdays of each month, excluding holidays and holiday weekends. Documented in 1972 by the
Historic American Buildings Survey, the theater was entered into the
National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1973, and became a
California Registered Historical Landmark in 1976 and a
U.S. National Historical Landmark in 1977.
Photo gallery Image:Paramount.jpg|2005 view of marquee listing
Elvis Costello Image:Paramount Lobby 1975.jpg|1975 photograph by
Jack E. Boucher showing the four-story Grand Lobby Image:Paramount Fountain of Light in Lobby.jpg|Fountain of Light over seven double doors at entrance Image:Paramount Dancing Figures.jpg|Grand Lobby north wall showing dancing figures Image:Paramount ceiling.jpg|1932 image of auditorium ceiling and balcony soffit. Round holes in balcony edge are for stage lighting instruments. Dark windows in far wall are for film projectors and spotlights. Image:Paramount Proscenium.jpg|1932 view looking down from the balcony at the ceiling, proscenium, curtain, seating and hydraulic orchestra pit Image:Paramount basement lounge.jpg|Basement lounge showing stylized couches and benches. Note the bold wall and ceiling designs Image:Paramount mezzanine foyer.jpg|Mezzanine-level foyer Image:Paramount Mens Lounge.jpg|Men's lounge, mezzanine level Image:Paramount Ladies Lounge foyer.jpg|Women's lounge, basement level Image:Paramount Ladies Lounge.jpg|Women's Smoking Room, basement level Image:Paramount basement plan.jpg|Architect's basement plan Image:Paramount 1st floor plan.jpg|Architect's first floor plan Image:Paramount mezzanine plan.jpg|Architect's mezzanine plan Image:Paramount longitudinal section.jpg|Architect's longitudinal section (cutaway side view) Image:Grid-ceiling-detail-Paramount.jpg|A small section of
Timothy L. Pflueger's patented ceiling grid which extends over the entire auditorium File:Oakland Paramount facade mosaic detail 1.jpg|Detail of mosaic on facade File:Oakland Paramount facade mosaic detail 2.jpg|Detail of mosaic on facade File:Paramount Theatre Oakland Women's Lounge.jpg|Detail of Women's Lounge, basement level • Alvin Tenpo's smugmug photos of the Paramount Theater, Oakland, California • Flickr photos of the Paramount Theatre, Oakland, California ==Main events==