| |
 El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard | |
  El Capitan Theatre Location withinLos Angeles County | |
| Address | 6838Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles,California 90028 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34°06′04″N118°20′23″W / 34.101111°N 118.339722°W /34.101111; -118.339722 |
| Public transit |   Hollywood/Highland |
| Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
| Operator | Buena Vista Theatres, Inc. |
| Type | Movie palace |
| Capacity | 1,100[1] |
| Screens | 1 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | May 3, 1926 (1926-05-03)[1] |
| Closed |
|
| Reopened |
|
| Architect | G. Albert Lansburgh Stiles O. Clements |
| Builder | Charles E. Toberman |
| Tenants | |
| Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | |
| Website | |
| elcapitantheatre | |
| Designated | 1990[2] |
| Reference no. | 495 |
| Designated | April 4, 1985[3] |
| Part of | Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment National Historic District |
| Reference no. | 85000704 |
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restoredmovie palace at 6838Hollywood Boulevard in theHollywood neighborhood inLos Angeles, California, United States. The theater and adjacentHollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre) are owned byThe Walt Disney Company and serve as the venue for a majority of theWalt Disney Studios'film premieres.[4]
In the early 1920s, real estate developerCharles E. Toberman (the "Father of Hollywood") envisioned a thrivingHollywood theater district.[5] Toberman was involved in 36 projects while building the Max Factor Building (now theHollywood Museum), Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and theHollywood Masonic Temple. WithSid Grauman, he opened the three themed theaters:Egyptian (1922), El Capitan (1926), andChinese (1927).[6]
Barker Bros. Furniture Emporium took up the rest of the building in the 1920s.[6]
El Capitan, dubbed "Hollywood's First Home of Spoken Drama," began presenting live performances on May 3, 1926, withCharlot's Revue starringGertrude Lawrence andJack Buchanan.[5] El Capitan continued presenting live theater for a decade, with over 120 productions including such legends asClark Gable andJoan Fontaine.[5]
By the late 1930s, El Capitan felt the economic effects of theDepression, showcasing fewer and fewer productions.[1] This period saw a cycle of experimentation with entertainment. In an effort to boost attendance at the theater, its management attempted to lure revues, road shows and benefits.
Despite these efforts, business was faltering, and the theater then began showing movies.[1] WhenOrson Welles was unable to locate a theater owner willing to risk screeningCitizen Kane, he turned to the El Capitan, and in 1941,Citizen Kane had its worldpremiere there. The theater then closed for one year[1] asParamount Pictures purchased the theater.[7]
The building was remodeled in the modern style,[8] with the decor covered with curtains and removing the box-seat balconies.[1] The theater reopened in 1942 as the Hollywood Paramount Theater. Its inaugural film presentation wasCecil B. DeMille's featureReap the Wild Wind.[1]
The theater remained the West Coast flagship forParamount Pictures until the studio was forced by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in theantitrust caseU.S. vs. Paramount Pictures, et al. to divest itself of its theater holdings. After this, the Hollywood Paramount was operated byUnited Paramount Theatres for some years, then by a series of other companies, culminating with ownership by the Pacific Theatres Circuit in the 1980s.
After a 50-year stay, Barker Bros. Furniture closed its location in the building in the 1970s.[6] In 1985,Pacific Theatres purchased the theater from SRO Theaters.[7] The building's owners, Nick Olaerts and Thomas L. Harnsberger, had assigned authority for the theater's facade to theLos Angeles Conservancy in exchange for historical building tax credits.[9]
Late in the 1980s, Disney purchased a controlling stake in one ofPacific Theatres' chains,[10] leading to Disney'sBuena Vista Theaters and Pacific renovating the El Capitan Theatre and theCrest by 1989.[11] These theaters became Disney's flagship houses. They spent $14 million ($35.5 million in2024) on a complete renovation of the Paramount, restoring much of the building's original decor as well as the theater's original name. El Capitan reopened in 1991 with the premiere ofThe Rocketeer.[1] The 1992 National Preservation Honor Award from theNational Trust for Historic Preservation was bestowed on the restorers of the theater.[12]
In 1984, theHollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District was added to theNational Register of Historic Places, with El Capitan/Paramount listed as acontributing property in the district,[3] and in 1990, the city designated El Capitan aLos Angeles Cultural-Historic Monument.[6]
AMichael Jackson mural was approved by theNational Park Service to be placed on the side of the building in December 1992.[13]
After the1994 Northridge earthquake, the building's frame was compromised and the theater had been flooded by its sprinklers and was considered uninhabitable by building inspectors. The owner walked away from the theater leaving the building to its mortgage company,CUNA Mutual Group.[6] CUNA Mutual, having Disney as a continuing tenant, not only refurbished the theater but the office floors above for $10 million ($21.2 million in2024).[4] In July 1995, Buena Vista purchased the Lanterman organ from Glendale City Redevelopment Agency.[14]
From the November 18, 1995,Toy Story premiere to January 1, 1996, Disney rented theMasonic Convention Hall, the next-door building, forTotally Toy Story, an instant theme park and a promotional event for the movie.[15][16] In July 1998,Buena Vista Pictures Distribution purchased the convention hall to continue using it as a promotional venue.[17] ADisney Store location opened next to the theater in the El Capitan Building in 1998.[18]
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The $3 million ($6.01 million in2024) seismic retrofitting was finished in time for the June 21, 1996, premiere ofThe Hunchback of Notre Dame.[19] The building's full restoration was completed in December 1997, which included the sign tower. The Hollywood Entertainment District, a self-taxingbusiness improvement district, was formed for the properties from La Brea Avenue to McCadden Place on Hollywood Boulevard. The office space's first tenants were TrizecHahn Centers, builders of the 425,000-square-foot development on the other side of the boulevard.[6] In conjunction with theHerbie: Fully Loaded premiere on June 22, 2005, theDisney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store opened up in the El Capitan Building on the ground floor replacing a Disney Store.[18][20]
CUNA Mutual, having leased the building to full capacity, placed the building up for sale in 2008 at a price of $31 million,[4] and eventually sold it for $28 million ($40.9 million in2024).[21]
In November 2013,Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop co-located with theDisney Studio Store next to the theater in the El Capitan building.[22]
On March 17, 2020, the theatre temporarily closed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in California.[23] The theatre eventually reopened a year later with a reduced capacity of just 100 seats. The first film shown after its reopening wasRaya and the Last Dragon.[24]
Disney Parks opened a theme ride calledMickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway atDisneyland on January 27, 2023. The facade is meant to resemble a movie theater in Toontown called "El CapiTOON Theater" based on the El Capitan.
The theater is built into a six-story office building built in the 1920s.[4] The design featured an exterior done inCalifornia Churrigueresque style ofSpanish Colonial Revival architecture exterior designed byStiles O. Clements of the architectural firm ofMorgan, Walls & Clements,[citation needed] and mixed interior byG. Albert Lansburgh.[1] The interior is a lavishEast Indian in the main auditorium, English Tudor in the wood-paneled lower lobby and Italian Baroque on the facade.[1]
The refurbished theater features a largeWurlitzertheatre organ originally installed inSan Francisco'sFox Theatre in 1929.[25] Below the theater is a small exhibit space, often used to display props from the films, such as costumes or set pieces.[citation needed] Next door is the adjacent Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store, where patrons can purchaseice cream themed to the film currently playing in the cinema next door. A wide variety of Disney and movie merchandise is available there.[22]
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