Towering majestly above the 6900 block of Hollywood Boulevard is the wondrously impressive Chinese Theater, the most famous motion picture theater in the world.

This is located on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. I visited this place during 2013 and took this picture using a wide angle lens ( Hand Held).

One of the unique features of the Chinese Theater was the creation of hand and footprint ceremonies that occurred in the theater’s forecourt. The origin of this unique marketing idea may never be known – as there are many variations of the story. What is known is that Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were the first two celebrities to place their hand prints, foot prints, and signature in the forecourt’s wet cement. Since then, hundreds of Hollywood’s most popular stars have followed the tradition started by Pickford and Fairbanks.

Completed in 1927, it was the last theater constructed under the auspices of Sid Grauman, probably the best known exhibitor in film history, who was alternatively called “Hollywood’s Master Showman,” “The PT Barnum of The Movies,” “The Ziegfield of Hollywood,” and “The Little Giant of Show Biz.”

Both the interior décor and exterior of the theater were more impressive than any theater that had ever been built. Two large marble Kung-Fu dogs were located on either side of the entrance. The interior’s décor included a gigantic chandelier of bronze in the form of a colossal lantern. The ceiling consisted of beautiful carvings that complimented the Chinese motif. Still opulent in red tonality and Asiatic influences, the main original auditorium of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre remains the ultimate movie palace experience, and now seats 1,162.

 

For high resolution: http://www.sridar.photography/p999105684/hf942cf3#hf942cf3