The Ruins of the Hollywood Theater
by Kevin Buchanan
Welcome to the first installment of Pantherphile! Kevin here, West and Clear’s resident architectural geek and Fort Worth history aficionado. With Pantherphile, I intend to bring you glimpses into Fort Worth’s past, via old photos or looks at still-standing artifacts. There’s a ton of fascinating history in this little hamlet tucked between the West and Clear Forks, and it’s high time somebody told you about it. Hopefully, you’ll get a kick out of these little trips back in time, and maybe you’ll wind up learning something, too.
Enough of my prattle - on with the show!
First, a little backstory.
That’s the Electric Building, at 7th & Lamar across from Burnett Park. It started life as the home of the Texas Electric Service Company, and after decades of office use now finds itself being used as apartments. From 1930 to about 1976, it also housed the Hollywood Theater, one of the grand Art Deco movie houses on 7th Street’s “Show Row” in downtown Fort Worth.
As you may or may not know, Fort Worth lost her grand movie palaces downtown in the ’70s. The (original) Palace, the Worth, the Hollywood…all gone.
Right?
Well, it’s not that simple.
Those of us who are Fort Worth architecture/history geeks know that the Hollywood Theater isn’t technically *gone* gone - rather, it was gutted for use as a bank, then as a parking garage. You may have read about how bits and pieces of the theater are still there in the garage. As it turns out, though, there’s far, far more of the Hollywood left than we know.
In fact, a huge part of the Hollywood is *still intact.*
It’s sealed away in the innards of the Electric Building, locked off from human contact. Somehow, between the remodelings, the bank, the apartments, and the garage, a big chunk of the grand old movie house escaped virtually untouched. Now, it rests. The projector no longer hums and clatters, the screen is no longer filled with images of Golden Era movie stars. Nobody comes around anymore. It’s in disrepair, covered in dust thick enough to swim in, slumbering in an endless night as black as pitch.
It is, however, still there.
Thanks to my contacts from running Fort Worthology, I can now bring you photos from inside the Hollywood. Get ready for a time warp.
Let us begin in one of the restrooms. Here, you see one of the vanity areas. For those of us who have only ever seen black & white photos of the place, enjoy the sight of color. Again, it’s pitch black and the air is clouded with thick dust. We only see this because of the flash of the camera.
Here, another angle of the vanity. Note the graffiti on the wall, sealed away for so many years. Imagine how long those names have been there, and what those people might be doing now.
Next, an aside. I cropped out the graffiti, and ran it through a wonderful Photoshop filter known as “Mr. Contrast,” capable of abilities far beyond the scope of Photoshop’s normal Contrast tool. The names popped out at me.
Next, the toilets in this same restroom.
While we’re up in this area, check out this former water fountain. The detailing and trim is all still intact.
A closeup of the water fountain. This sort of ornate trim used to be the standard, not the exception. Even in its state of disrepair, the beauty of this place puts modern movie houses to absolute shame. Imagine what the Hollywood was like in person in her golden era.
Moving right along, this old wall safe is still in place. I think somebody made off with the money a long time ago, though.
The outer door of the wall safe.
Here, we have a storage area.
This little room is a janitor’s closet.
As you might have guessed, I’ve been saving the bombshells for the end. Let’s start small. Here is the area underneath the balcony.
Another angle.
Here, a small spiral staircase.
Now, we’re heading up the staircase into the balcony lobby.
Make sure you have a cushion on the floor, because your jaw will start dropping here. This is the balcony lobby, amazingly still intact after all these years.
Let’s head to the balcony, shall we? Yes, it’s still there. Here, we’re looking at the ceiling detail in the balcony. The great black dust-filled void beyond?
The theater.
Wanting to bring out some of the details in the blackness beyond, I ran a section of that photo through the Mr. Contrast filter, fiddled with the settings, and got this. You can see the wall & ceiling better in this. Yes, that’s the theater. It’s still there. This image reminds me of something you’d see in a documentary about filming the wreckage of the Titanic.
Looking back up the balcony, we see that, yes, the projection room is still there. The seats have all been removed, but you can still very easily figure out where everything was.
Here, a staircase that we saw in the balcony lobby pic that leads to the projection room.
Finally, another amazing detail. Fans of the book “Cowtown Moderne” by Judith Singer Cohen will recognize these light fixtures in the photo looking towards the seating and balcony in the book.
Another shot of the theater light. Even in this condition, it’s still a stunningly beautiful thing.
Finally, a closeup of the light.
So, there you have it. Fort Worth’s very own lost ruins. The Hollywood hasn’t left us - it’s just been hiding. This Art Deco gem is just sleeping, deep inside the Electric Building. Perhaps one day it will get to hear the whirr of the projector once more.
18 Comments, Comments or Pings
Phil Hoskins
Thanks for some great memories. It is hard to believe our city stood by and watched this great old place, along with The Worth, The Palace and The Majestic simply destroyed and discarded. Any chance of this piece of jistory being retored?
Oct 26th, 2007
Kevin
Phil,
You’re welcome! It’s a miracle that this much of the Hollywood survives, since the Worth and the original Palace both fell to the wrecking ball. It was the Electric Building’s constant use that saved it, I suppose.
I figure the chances of a restoration are low at this point, but it’s totally still possible. The lower seating area of the Hollywood is now the parking garage for the Electric Building apartments. The walls below the balcony are stripped to bare brick, and concrete parking surfaces were poured over the seating area. Above the parking, half the ceiling is a drop ceiling and the other half is the underside of the balcony (the ornate light fixtures seen in the photos are gone from the parking area - only their surrounding trim remains. The fixtures themselves were replaced with fluorescent tube lights and the holes plastered in).
It is entirely possible that the Hollywood could be fully restored at some point in the future, but for now I doubt it’s going to happen. The EB apartments are usually pretty full. Apparently, when the apartments were first going in the developer tried to partner with the Star-Telegram across the street to build a garage on their 6th Street parking lot site that would serve the S-T and the apartments, but the paper wouldn’t work with them, so they had to convert the theater to parking and use the Bank Of America garage nearby for overflow.
Oct 26th, 2007
Margaret
Wow - those photos are stunning. I hate that such wonderful buildings like the theaters and the houses on Quality Hill (to name a few) were all destroyed in the name of “progress.” It’s pretty cool that the Hollywood is still there. I would love to go explore it in person.
Oct 26th, 2007
Dismuke
Another potential difficulty to its being restored even if other parking arrangements for the apartments could be found is that - at least as far as I could make out from looking into the shell of the theater from the parking lot entrance - it might not have had all that big of a stage area.
Being built in 1930, the theater came along right as the advent of talking pictures was in the process of very quickly killing off the old vaudeville circuits. Theaters of that size built just a few years earlier tended to have full sized stage areas because during the silent era even those that ran movies frequently paired the movie with live entertainment of some sort.
Had the Hollywood been built primarily for showing movies, its stage area would likely have been very small. Again, I emphasize that all of this is mostly speculation on my part and I have not had an opportunity to get inside the parking area or to come across the historical documentation to confirm one way or another. But if that is the case, then for it to be reopened for modern usage, it would at the very least require a major reconfiguration to expand the stage area. It is not possible to add on to the back as the building extends to the sidewalk. So they would have to extend it into the audience area. If so, it would probably depend on whether there would be room enough to do so to make it viable for modern usage. I can imagine that there might be certain types of corporate meetings that would have a need for a large auditorium but not necessarily a large stage area - but how many such events come along in any given year?
Of course, they could always restore it for showing movies. Wouldn’t it be fun to see all those neat old movies from the 1930s on the big screen as they were intended to be seen? The question is whether a single screen movie theater could attract a crowd large enough to pay the air conditioning bill, let alone the cost of the space?
As long as the place is sealed off from vandals and the elements and, in effect, “mothballed” there is always hope. Who knows what technologies and cultural shifts in the future may come along and impact the way we get our entertainment. Perhaps someday it will once again be easy fill a house that large on a regular basis.
Oct 28th, 2007
Glen Land
I worked at the Hollywood Theatre from 1964 to about 1970. I started out as an usher and worked up to Assistant Manager. This was when it belonged to Trans-Texas Theatre, Inc out of Austin,TX. Harry Gaines was the manager during that time. The theatre was extensively remodeled in late 1963 and re-opened for Christmas with “Four for Texas”. The stage area was only about 10ft from front to back. I got to work at the stage to keep the girls from jumping up and trying to kiss the screen when we showed the Beatles in “A Hard Day’s Night”. I have some pictures that I took of tahe theatre and its insides from the time I worked there. The room that you identified as a store room upstairs with the spiral staircase was the ushers dressing room at one time. before then the dressing room was in the basement toward the engine room. If you are interested I would be happy to share some of my pcitures and stories.
Oct 29th, 2007
Kevin
Glen,
That sounds really neat! Shoot me an e-mail at kevin@westandclear.com - I’d love to see some photos and hear some tales!
Oct 29th, 2007
pete asplund
could happen…
Dec 28th, 2007
reuben phillips
glen, i would very much like to see those pictures. boxswatter@gmail.com if you get the chance.
Jan 20th, 2008
Amber
It is sick to see such beauty fall to that…I was wondering if you knew of any functioning “art deco” theaters/hotels etc. I am having an old hollywood glamour themed wedding and I am looking for an appr. venue. thanks
Jan 27th, 2008
Robert Francis
Glen,
Could you send me some of those photos?
Thanks,
Robert
francis.r@att.net
Jan 29th, 2008
roger smith
my name is roger smith. I worked as a usher at several of the theatres in fort worth. I also worked as a projectionist at all the theatres in fort worth. When theatres died in fort worth I removed the projection rooms out of about 15 of them and still have all of it. I worked at the Hollywood , worth , and palace. When the worth closed I stripped out theprojection booth and have alot of the old film and date strips for all of the interstate theatres. All of the worth theatre including its beatiful sign was dumped and cover under dirt over by the trinity river. I watched the demolition company do it. It is still over there. A friend of mine has the Wurlitzer pipe organ that was at the worth. And later moved to casa. I helped remove it from casa and had it stored at my antique mall in benbrook for years. I have tried for twenty years to get fort worth entersted in redoing the Hollywood. Isis or ridglea. Theatre sense all the others have been blown down. But there doesnt seem to be any will. Of the three show row theatres the worthwas hands down the prettiest then the Hollywood then the palace. If anyone wants to talk to me my cell is 214 938.5656. Roger smith
Apr 20th, 2008
Ann
Who currently owns this structure? I wonder if there is even a possibility that this building could be “given” to the Historical Society for preservation? I would like to help you in any way I can. I live in Alaska, but grew up in Ft. Worht….then OKC….OKC did precisely the same thing, tore down all of the wonderful theaters. That is a real shame. Please let me know what I can do to assist you.
thanks
Ann
Apr 23rd, 2008
Donna McMichael
“Those were the days my friends!” Those movie houses were spectacular. I so wish going to the movies felt like that now. We have moved forward is so many ways and so backwards in other ways.
Apr 23rd, 2008
Rick Norris
Here’s a link to a site to illustrate what a group of dedicated citizens can achieve to preserve a bit of their small town’s history. The Hollywood is not beyond redemption, I’d say!
http://www.poncantheatre.org/
All that’s missing is a bit of leadership!
Apr 23rd, 2008
Jerre Butler
Born in ‘29, I’m old enough to remember the H’wood, Worth, Palace, Majestic, Tivoli, New Liberty, Bowie and Ridglea, and the I believe the Parkway on Eighth Ave. Never made it to the New Isis or east. The mems are all pleasant. Re the one fellow’s comment about the organ from the Worth; I recall many times that Billy Muth rose from the dungeon below to play anything he wanted to at the Worth. I also remember my aunt taking me to see Cab Calloway at the Worth. As I recall, there were many stage shows there. All of them enjoyable. As I said, all the mems are pleasant. If a resurrection of the Worth organ is started, It would be nice to hear of it.
Apr 24th, 2008
Tommye Willberg
I can’t remember how many times I went to the Hollywood Theater as a kid–and some beyond. Isn’t it heartbreaking to see her in that shape with so much of her beauty still intact? Our neighborhood theater was the Tower on Belknap and Riverside Drive. It’s been replaced with a 7-11 and God knows what. Historians want to preserve buildings like the Hollywood all the time. I wish there was some group that would get behind restoring this old girl. Keep me posted if there is a petition or some other action we can all take.
May 14th, 2008
Emma Tomiak
I would LOVE to get some of the photos yall mentioned and hear some fun stories about these wonderful theatres! I’m a projectionist myself, and have been for the past 5 years. I’m VERY interested in cinema history, especially local cinemas.
If anyone would like to share stories/photos or just chat about local cinemas, please email me at etomiak@gmail.com
And Kevin, I just about jumped out of my chair when I saw your photos. What a wonderful experience that must have been! I’ve always hoped to have the chance to see the insides of what’s left of our local single screens. I’d buy you 10 steak dinners at Del Frisco’s for a chance to look around in there!
Jun 21st, 2008
dan
Can anyone tell me which Threatre that "Follow The Sun" (The Ben Hogan Story) was shown in when it premiered in Fort Worth in the early 1950’s.
Thanks much.
Jun 22nd, 2008
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