Silent Era : Theaters

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Hollywood Theatre	Hollywood Theatre (1926). Photograph: courtesy The Oregon Film & Video Foundation.
Address	4122 NE Sandy Boulevard (modern address)
Opening Night Seating Capacity	1500
Original Theatre Owner	Walter E. Tebbetts
Original Theatre Architect	unknown
Years of Operation	17 July 1926 through unknown unknown to the present day
Type of Musical Accompaniment	Eight-piece orchestra and a Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ
Current Status	Operating, awaiting restoration
The Hollywood Theatre opened on 17 July 1926 as a vaudeville theatre. The first silent film shown at the Hollywood was More Pay - Less Work (1926). Organists Leon Drews and Robert Clark played at the Hollywood Theatre. Portland’s street numbering changed in 1933. In later years, the theatre was owned by Hamrick-Evergreen Theatres. The theatre was later converted into a (three-projector?) Cinerama-capable theatre in the early 1960s. The theatre was a popular venue for 70mm film presentations in the 1970s. In 1975, the theatre’s balcony was enclosed to turn the venue into a triplex. The Hollywood Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The Oregon Film & Video Foundation purchased the Hollywood Theatre from Act III Theatres in April 1997. You may make a tax-deductible donation to assist in the Oregon Film & Video Foundation’s Hollywood Theatre restoration efforts. References: Hollywood Theatre website; Oregon Historical Society website; Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society website.