| What makes it historical? |
Sidney Grauman was born in Indianapolis and got his start in showbiz after his father, David, took the family to Yukon Territory with the Klondike Gold Rush. There he learned that people were willing to pay good money for entertainment, and he helped his dad organize boxing tournaments for the miners!
Returning south in 1900, Sid went into the theatre business with his father, opening their first theatre, the Unique, on Market Street in San Francisco, then buying the Lyceum. He introduced another Unique in San Jose to display movies, but after the 1906 earthquake destroyed the Unique, Mr. Grauman was bound for Los Angeles!
By 1918, he opened the Million Dollar Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, then the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, which housed the very first Hollywood film premiere on October 18, 1922. That particular film was Robin Hood, starring Douglas Fairbanks!
Mr. Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and Howard Schenck joined together with Mr. Grauman to create his final theatre, the Chinese, further west on Hollywood Boulevard. After obtaining special permission from the US government, Mr. Grauman imported bells, pagodas, and fu dogs directly from China. He had Chinese artisans work on the statues and stonework that would come to surround the famous forecourt. When the first film premiered here, King of Kings by Cecil B. DeMille, fans rioted for a glimpse of their favorite stars in the foreground of this opulent theatre!
Today, the Chinese Theatre is more Chinese than ever, having been sold to Chinese electronics company TCL back in 2013! |
