The Hollywood Theatre

[gfsfadmin]

I've just updated the Greetings From Sioux Falls entry on the Hollywood Theatre. I've cleaned up some things that needed cleaning up and added some pictures that were generously provided by Ken Mills and Midcontinent Media.

Now might be a good time to share some memories of the Hollywood Theatre and the wonderful times had there.

I'm sad to say I don't well remember the building itself. I did see some great films there. I saw Aliens and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I'm sure I saw more as well, but don't remember. When the Hollywood was showing second-run films, they had a movie memorabilia store you could get to from the lobby. I wish I had more pictures of the interior.

[hollywood]

One of the most interesting things about the Hollywood building is the way the auditorium was placed at approximately 45 degree angle to the lobby of the theater. With the river cutting off the southeast corner of the site, this angled placement allowed for the large auditorium. The rounded shape of the foyer made for a smoother joining of the lobby and auditorium. Because of the angle of the auditorium the commercial space fronting Phillips Ave to the north of the theater entrance was triangular. This space from time to time housed a branch Post Office, Social Security offices and Kelo TV studio space and later the theater office. The space on the 2nd floor was quite limited and was only the attic over the theater lobby and a small office space adjoining the projection booth. What other space there was on the 2nd floor was filled with air handling equipment. the retail space fronting on Phillips Ave was single story.
The "It's Hollywood Theater Time" sign on the back of the building faced east and was prominent in the view from the 8th st bridge and until the early 70s had a round clock wrapped by an neon arrow that pointed to the rest of the sign. The clock was removed because the neon was broken and the clock no longer worked.

[gfsfadmin]

Thanks for that, Hollywood. I've been looking for some architectural drawings of the theatre, but thus far have come up empty-handed. I do have some new picture of the interior which should be going up soon.

[hollywood]

Don't know where you might look for architectural drawings of the Hollywood other than Spiztnagle or maybe Joe Floyd's attic or basement. However I do recall seeing somewhere, maybe the pictorial history book or a chamber brochure an airial view of downtown SF taken from an eastern vantage point. The photo was centered on the 9th street ramp and the Hollywood was also quite visible in it's irregular shaped glory.