El Capitan Theatre facts for kids
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El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard
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 El Capitan Theatre
Location in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
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| Address | 6838 Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood, California 90028 |
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| Coordinates | 34°06′04″N 118°20′23″W / 34.101111°N 118.339722°W |
| Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
| Operator | Buena Vista Theatres, Inc. |
| Type | Movie palace |
| Capacity | 1,100 |
| Screens | 1 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | May 3, 1926 |
| Closed |
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| Reopened |
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| Architect | G. Albert Lansburgh Stiles O. Clements |
| Builder | Charles E. Toberman |
| Tenants | |
| Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | |
| Designated: | 1990 |
| Reference #: | 495 |
The El Capitan Theatre is a famous movie theater in Hollywood, California. It's located on Hollywood Boulevard and is known for being a beautiful, old-fashioned "movie palace." The Walt Disney Company owns the theater. It's often used for the exciting first showings, called premieres, of many Disney movies.
Contents
History of El Capitan Theatre
How El Capitan Began
In the early 1920s, a man named Charles E. Toberman had a big dream. He wanted to create a busy theater area in Hollywood. He helped build many famous places, like the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. With his friend Sid Grauman, he opened three special theaters. These were the Egyptian (in 1922), El Capitan (in 1926), and Chinese (in 1927).
El Capitan first opened on May 3, 1926. It was known as "Hollywood's First Home of Spoken Drama." For ten years, it showed live plays and performances. Famous actors like Clark Gable and Joan Fontaine even performed there.
By the late 1930s, times were tough because of the Great Depression. The theater started having fewer live shows. To try and get more people to visit, they began showing movies. In 1941, a famous movie called Citizen Kane had its world premiere at El Capitan. After this, Paramount Pictures bought the theater, and it closed for a year.
Becoming the Hollywood Paramount
In 1942, the theater was changed to look more modern. It reopened as the Hollywood Paramount Theater. The first movie shown there was Reap the Wild Wind.
This theater was the main one for Paramount Pictures on the West Coast for many years. Later, due to a court decision, Paramount had to sell its theaters. The Hollywood Paramount was then run by different companies.
Disney's Restoration of El Capitan
In the late 1980s, Disney bought a part of one of the theater chains. This led to Disney and Pacific Theatres working together. They spent $14 million to fix up the El Capitan Theatre. They brought back much of its original beautiful design. The theater reopened in 1991 with the premiere of The Rocketeer.
In 1990, the city of Los Angeles named El Capitan a Cultural Heritage Monument. This means it's an important historical building. In 1992, the people who restored the theater won a special award.
After a big earthquake in 1994, the building was damaged. Disney helped fix it up again. In 1998, a Disney Store opened right next to the theater. This made it even more fun for visitors.
In 2005, a new store opened next door called Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store. It sells ice cream and Disney items. In 2013, the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop also opened there.
The theater closed for a while in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic in California. It reopened a year later with fewer seats. The first movie shown after reopening was Raya and the Last Dragon.
In 2023, Disneyland Park opened a new ride called Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway. The ride's entrance looks like a movie theater called "El CapiTOON Theater," which is based on the El Capitan.
Special Features of El Capitan
The El Capitan Theatre is part of a six-story office building. Its outside looks like a Spanish-style building. The inside is very fancy and mixes different styles. The main room has an East Indian design. The lobby has an English Tudor style, and the front of the building has an Italian Baroque look.
The theater has a huge Wurlitzer theatre organ. This organ was first put in a different theater in San Francisco in 1929. Below the theater, there's a small area where they often show props from movies. These might be costumes or parts of the movie sets.
Next door is Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store. Here, you can buy ice cream that matches the movie playing. You can also find many different Disney and movie-related items.
See also
- Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood
- Hollywood Masonic Temple
- Grauman's Egyptian Theatre
- Grauman's Chinese Theatre
