Los Angeles Theatres: Egyptian: views along the east side / Las Palmas Ave.

1994 - Damage to the rear of the building from the Northridge earthquake. This is one of over 800 images in the great book "The Story of Hollywood: An Illustrated History" by Gregory Paul Williams, available on Amazon. This photo is on page 352. There's a preview of the book to browse on Google Books. It's a shot that also makes an appearance in "Temple of Film: 100 Years of the Egyptian Theatre," an eleven minute short Angus Wall made for Netflix to celebrate the theatre's reopening in 2023.

c.1997 - Repair work underway on the stagehouse and auditorium walls. The building on the right had once been the Egyptian II and III. It's a photo that appeared, uncredited, with the presentation Netflix made about their renovation plans to the city's Cultural Heritage Commission on January 7, 2021. The visuals from that presentation are available in a 1/7/21 Google Drive folder.

2013 - The white building, formerly the Egyptian 2 & 3, was the Arena Cinema at the time of the photo. Behind it is the theatre with an interesting view of the back of the forecourt wall. We're looking west across Las Palmas Ave. Photo: Bill Counter

2019 - The east wall. The upstage door (just to the right of the neighbor's scaffolding) went behind the screen and to what little was left of the basement. The organ chambers are on the roof just in front of the proscenium wall. Note a little access door, blocked at the time, to get into the house left one. Photo: Bill Counter

2019 - Looking along the east wall toward the forecourt. At the far left is an exit from the front of the auditorium. The stairs in the center go to the house left singer's box. Photo: Bill Counter

2021 - The demolition work in full swing for the Netflix renovation project. Exterior stucco was getting removed for better waterproofing of the interior plaster walls and installation of a new seismic bracing system. See the backstage page for interior views of the stage during the renovations. Photo: Bill Counter - October 11

2021 - A peek inside at a temporary steel structure holding up the proscenium wall, the organ chamber and the front of the decorative ceiling. Photo: Bill Counter - October 11

2021 - A better view view straight through after the removal of additional sections on the opposite side. Photo: Bill Counter - November 23

2022 - The stripped out area of the house left singer's box. Photo: Bill Counter - January 6

2022 - Looking along the east wall toward the forecourt. That opening with the orange mesh is an office area, formerly the men's smoking room, that's above the boxoffice space. Photo: Bill Counter - January 6

2022 - Thanks to Tyler Purcell for this photo, a January post on the Friends of 70mm Facebook page.

2022 - Getting a bit more treacherous to walk out to the forecourt. Photo: Bill Counter - February 7

2022 - Looking along the east wall after more digging adjacent to the building. That's the back of the singer's box in the upper left. Bill Counter - May 12

2022 - Farther toward the forecourt. The red marks on the concrete indicate where repairs and patching are needed. Bill Counter - May 12

2022 - A view back toward the stage end of the building. Bill Counter - May 12

2022 - A peek in the front exit house left. Bill Counter - May 12. See the auditorium page for many photos of the interior during construction.

2022 - The east wall as construction continues. Once upon a time the building on the right was the Egyptian II and III. Bill Counter - May 12

2022 - A view a month later without the blue tarp. Repairs on the concrete columns are winding up and the voids will soon get filled in. Photo: Bill Counter - June 21

2022 - A closer look at the stagehouse. The man up there on the beam with the rotohammer is drilling holes for insertion of pieces of horizontal rebar before concrete is poured to fill in the walls. Photo: Bill Counter - June 21

2022 - The stagehouse and auditorium getting sealed up again with new concrete in many of the bays. Photo: Bill Counter - July 20

2022 - Scaffolding going up to do some infill at the top and stucco the stagehouse. Photo: Bill Counter - August 19

2022 - A look up to the former smoking lounge above the boxoffice area. Photo: Bill Counter - August 19

2022 - The vista back toward the stage end of the building. The opening on the far right goes into the lobby. Photo: Bill Counter - August 19

2022 - An auditorium side wall plaster detail. Photo: Bill Counter - August 19

2022 - The back of the house left singer's box. That's new concrete in the areas covered with the black membranes. Photo: Bill Counter - August 19

2022 - A stagehouse view as scaffolding goes up. Photo: Bill Counter - August 19

2022 - The exterior walls continued to get filled in. Photo: Bill Counter - September 16

2022 - A look toward the stagehouse from up the block on Las Palmas. Photo: Bill Counter - October 14

2022 - A cutaway view of the rooftop organ chambers in front of the proscenium wall. The sloped area on the right is the tone shoot that directed the sound down to the auditorium via the ceiling sunburst grille. Photo: Bill Counter - October 14

2022 - The open top of the wall is the rear of the deconstructed parapet above the theatre entrance. The guess is that Sid had a walkway built along the back of the wall for his Bedouin to patrol the rooftop. The angle seen on the side of the structure follows the line of the tile roof seen from the street. Photo: Bill Counter - October 14

2022 - In the exit passage along the east side of the building looking toward Hollywood Blvd. Photo: Bill Counter - October 14

2022 - Looking back toward the stagehouse with a fine view of some of the new steel going into the east wall. Photo: Bill Counter - October 14

2022 - The exit to the forecourt. Photo: Bill Counter - October 14

2022 - While most of the passage along the east side of the building had been filled in, the excavation continued on the lobby end of the building. Photo: Bill Counter - November 22