Egyptian Theatre

Charles E. Toberman developed the Egyptian in 1922 with impresario Sid Grauman. The renovation by the American Cinematheque will be completed in December 1998.

The theatre originally cost $800,000 to build and took 18 months. The renovation cost $12.9 million.

Architects Meyer & Holler designed the Egyptian Theatre. The Milwaukee Building Company built it. Architects Hodgetts + Fung were the project architects for the renovation. Turner Construction is the contractor.

The address 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, now the site of the Egyptian Theatre, was once the address of Gilbert F. Stevenson and his wife. In 1903, Stevenson, the Secretary and General Manager of the Western Masons Mutual Life Insurance Association, moved from downtown Los Angeles to a five acre lemon ranch on the corner of Prospect (now Hollywood Boulevard) and Dakota (now McCadden Place) Avenues.

Between 1910 and 1920 the population of Hollywood increased from 5,000 to 36,000, while agriculture was practically abandoned, being replaced by business and high-class residences, bungalow courts and apartments. Today’s population is 281,000 (according to a 1993 census).

Charles E. Toberman, arguably the most important real estate developer in Hollywood in 1920, was looking for someone to bring a grand, first class motion picture theatre – like those prevalent in the downtown area -- to Hollywood. No one was more noted for this kind of extravagance than Sid Grauman, who, within just a few short years in Los Angeles (he migrated from San Francisco), had built the deluxe, downtown Los Angeles movie palaces, the Million Dollar, the Rialto and the Metropolitan (completed around the time Toberman approached him about building in Hollywood). Grauman agreed to come to Hollywood and Toberman acquired the 6712 Hollywood Boulevard site from his old lodge buddy, Stevenson, who had left his lemon ranch for the Miramar Hotel (which he owned) in Santa Monica. The many Hollywood structures Toberman is responsible for include the El Capitan; Grauman’s Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, all built in 1926, and all still standing today.

The four massive columns that mark the theatre’s main entrance are 4 feet wide and rise twenty feet. On the roof, an actor attired as an Egyptian guard, marched back and forth across the roof parapet with a rifle in hand – calling out the start of each performance.

The original seating capacity of the theatre was close to 2,071 in a 115 by 125 foot auditorium. The renovated Egyptian will have a seating capacity of 650 in the Lloyd E. Rigler theatre and there will be an 83-seat capacity in the Steven Spielberg theatre.