One of the comments on yesterday’s photo of the Chaplin Studios was from Andrew John Smith, who posted this photo taken the same year, circa September 1925. It’s the El Capitan Theatre under construction at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. These days, we know it as a movie palace, but when it opened on May 3, 1926 it was a legitimate house whose first stage show was “Charlotte’s Revue of 1926” starring Gertrude Lawrence. It didn’t convert to movies until 1937. But in this photo we can see the Masonic Temple, which had opened in 1921. And in the background we can see the Hotel Christie, which had opened in 1922. All three of these buildings are still around so, in a way, what we’re seeing is the Hollywood Blvd we know today starting to take shape.
Jeff H. says: “There is a series of construction photos with inscribed dates that indicate the metal work for the El Capitan Theatre went up in Sept-Oct 1925, and that it was fully covered by end of December 1925.”
The El Capitan is now owned by Disney who undertook a $6 million restoration in the early 90s. This is how it looked in February 2021.
There is a series of construction photos with inscribed dates that indicate the metal work for the El Capitan Theatre went up in Sept-Oct 1925, and that it was fully covered by December 1925.
I would date the image as Oct 1925.
https://www.hollywoodphotographs.com/gallery-image/Theaters/G0000WdkmKcdYvww/I0000S0dqt.1h8Oo
Thanks Jeff, that does seem about right, doesn’t it?
Also seeing the Bonnie Brier Hotel still in place on the corner, and there’s a large billboard on the rooftop by now…not spotted in other images. That would be a precursor to the one that was found on the new drugstore which replaced this building in the ‘30’s. So we’re also seeing the Hollywood Blvd. of old disappearing before our eyes.