RKO Pantages Theatre
The Art Deco façade of the Pantages Theatre
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| Location | 6233 Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood, California |
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| Coordinates | 34°06′07″N 118°19′32″W / 34.10194°N 118.32556°WCoordinates: 34°06′07″N 118°19′32″W / 34.10194°N 118.32556°W |
| Public transit |
 Hollywood/Vine
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| Owner | Nederlander Organization |
| Type | Indoor theatre |
| Seating type | Reserved |
| Capacity | 2,703 |
| Opened | June 4, 1930 |
| Website | |
| hollywoodpantages |
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| Designated | July 5, 1978 |
| Reference no. | 193 |
| Architect | B. Marcus Priteca |
| Architectural style | Art Deco |
The Hollywood Pantages Theatre, formerly known as RKO Pantages Theatre, is located at Hollywood and Vine (6233 Hollywood Boulevard), in Hollywood. Designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca, it was the last theater built by the vaudeville impresario Alexander Pantages. The palatial Art Deco theater opened on June 4, 1930, as part of the Pantages Theatre Circuit.
The Pantages Theatre Circuit had been built on vaudeville, and the new Hollywood theater programmed first-run movies alternating through the day with vaudeville acts for its first two years. But like other theaters during the Great Depression, it was forced to economize and thereafter operated primarily as a movie theater, though live entertainment was presented occasionally.
Alexander Pantages sold the Hollywood landmark in 1932 to Fox West Coast Theaters. In 1949, Howard Hughes acquired the Hollywood Pantages for his RKO Theatre Circuit and moved his personal offices to the building's second floor. From 1949 through 1959, the theatre hosted the American motion picture industry's annual Academy Award Ceremonies. It continued to be a major venue for roadshow movies into the 1970s. From 1965, it was operated by Pacific Theatres. The Hollywood Pantages closed as a movie theater in January, 1977, and re-opened the following month with Bubbling Brown Sugar, the first of the many stage productions that have since become its regular fare.
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