Hollywood Pacific Theatre

Hollywood Pacific Theatre
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 572
Hollywood Pacific Theatre in 2010
Location of building in Los Angeles County
Location	6433 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California
Coordinates	34°06′07″N 118°19′50″W / 34.1020°N 118.3306°W / 34.1020; -118.3306
Built	1927
Architect	G. Albert Lansburgh
Architectural style	Spanish renaissance, Beaux-Arts
Part of	Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District (ID85000704)
LAHCM No.	572
Significant dates
Designated CP	April 4, 1985
Designated LAHCM	February 9, 1993

Hollywood Pacific Theatre, also known as Warner Theatre, Warner Bros. Theatre, Warner Hollywood Theatre, Warner Cinerama, Warner Pacific, and Pacific 1-2-3, is a historic office, retail, and entertainment space located at 6433 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.^[1] It is best known for its movie theater, which was owned by Warner Bros. from 1928 to 1953, Stanley Warner Theatres (later RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres) from 1953 to 1968, and Pacific Theatres from 1968 to 1994.^[2][3]

Warner Theatre, 1928

Originally known as the Warner Bros. Theatre or Warner Hollywood Theatre, the latter used to avoid confusion with another Warner Theatre in downtown Los Angeles,^[4] 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, which features Spanish Renaissance architecture,^[1] was $2 million, $750,000 more than initially budgeted.^[5]

The building's centerpiece, its movie theater, was Hollywood's first movie theater designed specifically for sound.^[5] It opened on April 26, 1928, seating more than 2700^[6] and showing Glorious Betsy, starring Conrad Nagel and Dolores Costello.^[3] This opening marked Warner Brothers's entry into the theater operation business in California, with this theater built to complete directly with the nearby Chinese and Egyptian Theatres.^[5] The theater entrance and lobby featured Churrigueresque detailing.^[1]

In addition to the theater, the building featured a nursery, emergency hospital, lounge, retail and office space, and a 3000 sq. ft. radio studio. Radio station KFWB occupied the studio, and two radio masts were added to the building soon after it opened, with the station's letters displayed on the masts.^[3][7]

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.^[2]

In an era when theaters tried to compete with television by introducing widescreen, this venue was one of the few in Hollywood large enough to convert to Cinerama.^[8] After renovations, the theater reopened as Warner Cinerama on April 29, 1953. The new screen was 28 feet by 76 feet 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 it opened 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 cinerama 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.^[9][10]

In 1961, the theater was equipped to show 70 mm film, and in 1968, Stanley Warner sold the theater 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.^[3]

In January 1978, the theater closed so that its balcony section could be converted into two additional 550-seat screens. The theater reopened in April 1978, having changed its name to Pacific 1-2-3.^[2]

In the 1950s, a young Carol Burnett was working as an usherette when the theater was showing Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. Having already seen the film, she advised two patrons arriving during the last 10 minutes of a showing to wait until the beginning of the next showing to avoid spoiling the ending. The manager observed Burnett, let the couple in, and then fired her, stripping the epaulettes from her uniform. Decades later, after achieving TV stardom, when she was offered a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she said she wanted it "Right in front of where the old Warner Brothers Theater was, at Hollywood and Wilcox."^[11] Her star was placed at 6439 Hollywood Blvd., outside the entrance to the theater.^[12]

In 1984, 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.^[1] In 1993, the building was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.^[13]

On August 15, 1994, the theater closed as a full-time cinema. This was mostly due to structural damage caused by the 1994 Northridge earthquake and water damage that occurred during construction of the B Line.^[2][3][6] 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 was host to numerous meetings, discussions, tests, and demos, the sum of which are often credited with providing the catalyst that made digital cinema a reality.^[14]

The building was occupied by Ecclesia Hollywood Church from early 2008 to July 2013,^[2] and has been vacant ever since, with owner Robertson Properties Group stating that restoring the building is not financially viable due to the amount of work that needs to be done.^[15]

• List of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood
• List of contributing properties in the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District

• Cinema Tour Photos of the Theatre