6233 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles 90028 | map |
Pages about the Pantages Theatre:
| Pantages overview | street views 1929 to 1954 | street views 1955 to present | ticket lobby | entrance vestibule | main lobby | main lounges | main floor inner lobby | balcony lobby and lounge areas | vintage auditorium views | recent auditorium views | backstage | booth | support areas |
Mechanical rooms under the lobby:
Access is via a door in the restroom area on the east end of the lobby. The stairs down are underneath the east stairs up to the balcony. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
A view from the landing at the bottom of the stairs. We're looking west with one of the three supply fans in this area on the right. The reddish brown doors allowed access to both sides of the air washers, now replaced with cooling coils just beyond. The fan itself is something like 14' in diameter. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
On the left just beyond the column can be seen the motor for the second fan. In the distance are the air washer access doors for a third fan. The fans are original 1930 vintage equipment. We'll get another view of the fan area from around to the left, closer to Hollywood Blvd. If we were to turn 90 degrees to the right from where this photo was taken we'd be looking toward a passage that goes along the house right side of the plenum under the auditorium and ends up backstage.
A shot taken from a few feet to the right of the previous view allows a better view of the second fan. The motor for it is down beyond the column. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
After going to the left (closer to Hollywood Blvd.) this is the view west. The fan area is off to the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
Closer to the two Westinghouse 400A motor-generator sets that provided DC for the stage and booth arcs. The nominal output voltage was 110 but the actual voltage was controlled by rheostats in the booth that regulated the field current. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
The black switchboard on the right is original 1930 equipment for various 3 phase mechanical loads. There's a newer switchboard section out of sight just beyond. Down beyond the electrical gear we'll get
another look down into the fan area.
"Proj. D.C." Thanks to Steve Gerdes for this photo of the switch on the board for one of the two motor-generator sets. It was taken during the April 2022 LAHTF "all-about" tour of the theatre. See his full set on Facebook.
A look away from Hollywood Blvd. into the west end of the same fan area seen in earlier photos. The second fan is on the right with the third unit seen on the left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
Another view of the same area as the previous photo. The plenum under the auditorium seats is beyond the far wall. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
A wider view from the same vantage point as the previous photo. Thanks to Claudia Mullins for this one. It's a shot she took during the
April 2022 LAHTF "all-about" tour. See her terrific 40 photo Pantages
set on Facebook.
Equipment at the west end of the mechanical room. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
Looking back toward the east end of the space. Hollywood Blvd. is off to the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
A view east along the switchboard seen in the previous image. The "Notice" advises that you'd better not change anything related to the AC system without first talking to Scott Madrigal, the theatre's technical director. Photo: Claudia Mullins - 2022
Another view of the two motor-generator sets. Thanks to Mike Hume for his 2022 photo. Visit the page about the Pantages on his Historic Theatre Photography site. Note the rectangular panel above that red hose on the right.
A closer look at the Brown Instrument Co. remote thermostat. By turning the dial you could check the temperature at 12 different locations in the theatre. The label above the gauge says "Brown Resistance Thermometer." On the right note some tubing for the pneumatic temperature control system. Photo: Steve Gerdes - 2022
A DC generator commutator and brush detail. Photo: Steve Gerdes - 2022
Mechanical rooms once under the stage:
A 1930 Mott Studios photo of the Pantages boilers. It's in the California State Library collection, one of 17 photos in their set # 001387214. The Library also has another take of the boiler room shot as item # 001421902.
Howard Nugent, a former master electrician at the Pantages notes: "This boiler room existed until the 1999-2000 renovation. The boilers and hardware were removed and this space was converted into 2 floors of modern dressing rooms, principal rooms upstairs and ensemble dressing rooms downstairs. The door at the end of this photo was the only access to this space before. They cut through the 3-4 foot thick concrete wall, the wall behind the boilers in the photo, to give access to the dressing rooms. Compared to the old dressing rooms these new dressing rooms are great." Thanks, Howard!
A Mott Studios look at the chiller for the air conditioning system in 1930. The photo is in the Tom B'hend and Preston Kaufmann Collection, part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collection.
Pages about the Pantages Theatre:
| Pantages overview | street views 1929 to 1954 | street views 1955 to present | ticket lobby | entrance vestibule | main lobby | main lounges | main floor inner lobby | balcony lobby and lounge areas | vintage auditorium views | recent auditorium views | backstage | booth | back to top - support areas |
| Hollywood Theatres: overview and alphabetical lists | Hollywood Theatres: list by address | Downtown theatres | Westside | Westwood and Brentwood | Along the Coast | [more] Los Angeles movie palaces | L.A. Theatres: main alphabetical list | L.A. Theatres: list by address | theatre history resources | film and theatre tech resources | theatres in movies | LA Theatres on facebook | contact info | welcome and site navigation guide |
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