Home of the first movie premiere
Although famously known for the Chinese Theatre, Sid Grauman worked his movie palace entrepreneurial magic on the Egyptian Theatre prior to cement-casting the hands and feet of celebrities a block and a half west.
Grauman was recruited by Charles Toberman, a real-estate developer who became known as Mr. Hollywood for his reenvisioning of a wide swath of land he subdivided into what is now Hollywood. Toberman pictured pulling the East Coast entertainment hub – along with the more local downtown Broadway Boulevard, with its spectacular movie palaces – west to Hollywood.
Info
Address 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028, +1 323.461.2020, www.americancinematheque.com/egyptian/egypt.htm | Getting there Paid lots and metered street parking | Hours Tours: 10:30am on select Saturdays. See website for tour dates, admission prices, and a schedule of film screenings.| Tip The former Knickerbocker Hotel (1714 Ivar Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90028) bears the dubious distinction of having been the place where filmmaker D. W. Griffith died of a cerebral hemorrhage while standing under the lobby chandelier. Peering in from the sidewalk, you can glimpse the chandelier; however, the Knickerbocker is now a retirement home and closed to the public.
Built in just a year and a half, the Egyptian Theatre capitalized on the public fascination with archaeologist Howard Carter’s search for King Tut’s tomb. The exterior was painted in Egyptian-style hieroglyphics and the interior was outfitted with a sunburst ceiling featuring a plaster relief of reeds from the Nile River.
The Egyptian opened in October 1922 with the screening of Robin Hood. The courtyard served as an open-air lobby and grand entrance to the theater. Fans lined up on one side, with flashbulbs of media cameras going off on the other – and celebrities, including era heartthrob and Robin Hood star Douglas Fairbanks, paraded larger than life down the middle, launching the tradition of the Hollywood premiere. Two weeks later, almost as if it were written into the script, Howard Carter opened the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamen after an eight-year quest.
Such a glorious beginning was followed by steady decline and well-intended but harsh remodels to modernize the grand palace. Thankfully, the cinephile cultural institution American Cinematheque acquired the theater in 1996 and reinvigorated the faded Hollywood legend. Movies are screened almost daily, and on select Saturdays, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Egyptian is open to the public.
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