Curbed LA - 2017 OscarsLove where you live2017-02-26T15:55:27-08:00http://la.curbed.com/rss/stream/145014612017-02-26T15:55:27-08:002017-02-26T15:55:27-08:006 things you didn’t know about the Oscars red carpet
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<img alt="89th Annual Academy Awards - Red Carpet" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Muk9hfVKWhz-QBfFYwg9AZq6bJE=/200x0:3400x2400/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/53434809/645612080.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Ben Peterson Remote/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>A symbol of the Academy Awards, the iconic carpet made its debut in 1961</p> <p id="pOizz6">The 89th Academy Awards are set to begin in just a couple hours, and stars are already stepping gingerly across the red carpet as fans and reporters look on. The red carpet is such an Oscars staple that many likely take it for granted, never wondering, say, where it’s made or how long it takes to set up.</p>
<p id="TIItgx">Fortunately, the <em>LA Times </em>has done a bit of digging into these questions and others, producing a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-oscars-red-carpet-20170224-htmlstory.html">surprisingly fascinating guide</a> to the iconic floor covering that’s been the site of countless wardrobe malfunctions and fashion faux pas over the awards show’s long history. Here are some highlights:</p>
<h2 id="83kPYk">1. It’s made in Georgia</h2>
<p id="PqN55K">Signature Systems Group, the company that has set up the Academy Awards red carpet since 2008, receives the nylon carpet from a textile mill in Dalton, Georgia. The name of the mill, however, is a secret.</p>
<h2 id="PiEQAm">2. It’s not actually red</h2>
<p id="8UJRAN">Another secret is the carpet’s true color. Called Academy Red, the hue is reportedly closer to burgundy, but its exact characteristics are a matter of speculation.</p>
<h2 id="XI9DUS">3. It totals 50,000 square feet</h2>
<p id="G38Ut0">The massive carpet is delivered in multiple rolls weighing as much as 630 pounds. Setup requires 18 workers and about 900 man-hours.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">PHOTOS: Red Carpet setup continues for the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oscars?src=hash">#Oscars</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RedCarpet?src=hash">#RedCarpet</a> <a href="https://t.co/mt0XQ1MGo3">https://t.co/mt0XQ1MGo3</a> <a href="https://t.co/G0wI9PcKhD">pic.twitter.com/G0wI9PcKhD</a></p>— The Gold Knight (@goldknightblog) <a href="https://twitter.com/goldknightblog/status/702540629818122240">February 24, 2016</a>
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<h2 id="joq55K">4. It’s not as old as you might think</h2>
<p id="rYF3Pg">The first time stars walked the red carpet in advance of the Academy Awards was in 1961.</p>
<h2 id="eT0Thz">5. It has its own security detail</h2>
<p id="8of67o">Security for the Oscars is <a href="http://variety.com/2016/film/news/oscars-2016-security-academy-awards-1201715288/">notoriously tight</a>, but not all of those law enforcement officers and bodyguards are there for the stars. A watchful group of protectors guard the carpet itself from possible vandals seeking a souvenir. </p>
<h2 id="TWJhTp">6. It’s never reused</h2>
<p id="zNUrNR">Each carpet is unceremoniously destroyed after the awards show ends. How? That happens to be another trade secret.</p>
<ul>
<li id="ocEH8z">
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-oscars-red-carpet-20170224-htmlstory.html">The red carpet isn’t actually red, and other secrets underfoot at the Oscars</a> [LA Times]</li>
<li id="JAej9O">
<a href="http://la.curbed.com/2013/2/24/10270562/oscars-red-carpet-dolby-hollywood">Inside the Oscars's Elaborate Infrastructure on Hollywood Boulevard</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
<li id="J0Qz8u">
<a href="http://la.curbed.com/2016/2/23/11075170/oscar-theaters-history">How the Oscars spent 73 years looking for a home</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
<li id="QvfEgk">
<a href="http://la.curbed.com/2017/2/17/14652956/oscars-2017-street-closures-hollywood">Oscars 2017: Hollywood street closures</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
</ul>
https://la.curbed.com/2017/2/26/14745794/oscars-academy-awards-red-carpetElijah Chiland2017-02-24T16:32:21-08:002017-02-24T16:32:21-08:00Here are the street closures for the 2017 Oscars
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<img alt="Hollywood Boulevard Oscars" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KXyuCuchWKkht-DprVH9Cq4k6bc=/45x0:934x667/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/53298523/02_2013_OSCARS-86.0.0.jpeg" />
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<p>Don’t even think about going to Hollywood on awards night</p> <p id="ghSlU3">It’s that time of year once again when the biggest stars in movie descend upon Hollywood to claim their Oscars—and bring traffic in the area to a standstill. Yes, it’s Oscars road closure season.</p>
<p id="hscab3">The Los Angeles Department of Transportation has released street closures and tow zones for the event. As always, it’s lengthy, so strap in.</p>
<p id="ZZXwIW">Roads began closing last weekend, with Hollywood Boulevard closed to traffic between Orange and Highland to make way for the red carpet arrival area. LADOT tells us that back-to-back movie premieres after the ceremony will push back Hollywood Boulevard’s reopening to 6 a.m. March 3.</p>
<p id="ymoWJd">On February 26—the day of the ceremony—Hollywood will be closed to traffic from La Brea to Cahuenga Boulevard starting at 4 a.m. Highland will also be closed between Sunset and Franklin Avenue. Also closed the day of the ceremony will be the southbound Highland Avenue off-ramp from the 101 Freeway. </p>
<p id="xXRynp">In addition to the street closures, parking in the area will be severely restricted on <strong>February 26</strong>. Parking in any of these areas from <strong>6 a.m. to midnight</strong> will get your car towed:</p>
<ul>
<li id="LK3cbZ">Franklin Avenue between La Brea Avenue & Cahuenga Boulevard — Both sides</li>
<li id="H9Zrzh">Hollywood Boulevard between Cahuenga Boulevard & Vine Street — North side</li>
<li id="8PBBj9">Hollywood Boulevard between Highland Avenue & Cahuenga Boulevard — Both sides</li>
<li id="AdwZin">Hollywood Boulevard between Highland Avenue & La Brea Avenue — Both sides</li>
<li id="MZAFKX">Highland Avenue between Franklin Avenue & Sunset Boulevard — Both sides </li>
<li id="AeOkoN">Hawthorn Avenue between La Brea Avenue & Highland Avenue — Both sides</li>
<li id="JMEHHk">Orange Drive between Hollywood Boulevard & Sunset Boulevard — Both sides</li>
<li id="KPTPQg">Sunset Boulevard between Detroit Street & Vine Street — Both sides</li>
<li id="MJtjZh">Wilcox Avenue between Sunset Boulevard & Franklin Avenue — Both sides</li>
<li id="UDR5il">McCadden Place between Yucca Street & Hollywood Boulevard — Both sides</li>
<li id="ZEaLcO">Yucca Street between Highland Avenue & Las Palmas Avenue — Both sides</li>
<li id="1EvHcy">Highland Avenue between Sunset Boulevard & Santa Monica Boulevard — East side</li>
<li id="uFZt2k">Wilcox Avenue between Fountain Avenue & Sunset Boulevard — Both sides</li>
<li id="zx9gqJ">De Longpre Avenue between Wilcox Avenue & Cahuenga Boulevard — Both sides </li>
<li id="ZC69BT">Cole Place between Cahuenga Boulevard & Fountain Avenue — Both sides</li>
<li id="xFpPsn">Fountain Avenue between Wilcox Avenue & Cole Place — Both sides</li>
<li id="8kSmeg">Hollywood Boulevard between Vine St & Argyle Ave — South side</li>
<li id="tPu2pc">Argyle Avenue between Yucca St & Hollywood Bl — East side</li>
<li id="WFVmNM">Outpost Drive between Franklin Avenue & La Pressa Drive — Both sides</li>
<li id="xTzs7a">Outpost Circle between Outpost Drive & Hillside Avenue — Both sides</li>
<li id="I76w4Y">El Cerrito Place between Outpost Drive & Hillside Avenue — Both sides</li>
</ul>
<p id="RBDUy8">From <strong>11 a.m. </strong>to <strong>6 p.m.</strong> <strong>February 26</strong>, parking on the following streets will result in an automatic tow:</p>
<ul>
<li id="LQb2E8">Santa Monica Boulevard between Highland Avenue & McCadden Place — North side</li>
<li id="dZlEHv">Santa Monica Boulevard between Highland Avenue & Mansfield Avenue —South side </li>
<li id="8OGm35">Highland Avenue between Santa Monica Boulevard & Sunset Boulevard — East side</li>
<li id="X9n8Xm">Highland Avenue between Sunset Boulevard & De Longpre Avenue — East side</li>
<li id="BLOC2z">Cahuenga Boulevard between Sunset Boulevard & Hollywood Boulevard — Both sides</li>
<li id="LnbOar">Cahuenga Boulevard between Hollywood Boulevard & 101 Freeway — West side</li>
<li id="SdQeRf">Vine Street between 101 Southbound Freeway & Sunset Boulevard — West side</li>
<li id="RHskEO">Vine Street between Homewood Avenue & Fountain Avenue — West side</li>
<li id="GxY2mD">Vine Street between Lexington Avenue & Santa Monica Boulevard — West side</li>
<li id="QPKvgc">Fountain Avenue between Vine Street & Highland Avenue — North side</li>
<li id="9fWOyn">La Brea Avenue between Lexington Avenue & Santa Monica Boulevard — Both sides</li>
<li id="0sjNqp">La Brea Avenue between Sunset Boulevard & Franklin Avenue — Both sides</li>
</ul>
<p id="bk4wGO">From <strong>10 p.m.</strong> and <strong>6 a.m.</strong> daily from <strong>February 19</strong> to <strong>March 1</strong>, the following streets will be tow away zones:</p>
<ul>
<li id="WnQerJ">Hawthorn Avenue between Highland Avenue & Orange Drive – South side</li>
<li id="5QTXKW">Hawthorn Alley between Highland Avenue & Orange Drive – Both sides</li>
</ul>
<p id="m2JJIZ">From <strong>10 p.m.</strong> and <strong>6 a.m.</strong> daily from <strong>February 25</strong> to <strong>27</strong>, the following will be tow away zones:</p>
<ul><li id="1pYYQq">Johnny Grant Way between Highland Avenue & Orchid Street – Both sides</li></ul>
<p id="pg99HA">From <strong>6 a.m.</strong> to <strong>3 a.m.</strong> daily from <strong>February 26</strong> to <strong>March 1</strong>, the following will be tow zones:</p>
<ul>
<li id="v6tNnf">Ivar Avenue between DeLongpre Avenue & Sunset Boulevard — West side</li>
<li id="Fr3WbM">DeLongpre Avenue between Ivar Avenue & Vine Street — South side </li>
<li id="YINTHD">Gordon Avenue between Fountain Avenue & Sunset Boulevard — West side</li>
</ul>
https://la.curbed.com/2017/2/17/14652956/oscars-2017-street-closures-hollywoodJeff Wattenhofer2017-02-24T12:00:00-08:002017-02-24T12:00:00-08:00How the Oscars spent 73 years looking for a home
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5rsOx4HNqgDKsrCGxffCOUDTZAU=/110x0:999x667/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48914771/02_2013_OSCARS-86.0.0.JPG" />
<figcaption><a href='http://instagram.com/elizabethdanielsphoto'>Elizabeth Daniels</a></figcaption>
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<p>This week, the 89th Academy Awards will be held at the 3,400-seat Dolby (<a href="http://la.curbed.com/2012/5/1/10375074/dolby-buys-naming-rights-for-former-kodak-theatre">formerly Kodak</a>) Theatre. Oscar’s customized Hollywood home since 2002, the theater was designed by David Rockwell and is encased in a <a href="http://la.curbed.com/2015/1/30/9996684/ray-bradbury-hollywood-highland-intolerance-set-dw-griffith">movie-inspired mall</a>, designed by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn, that draws tourists from around the globe on the 364 days of the year that Oscar isn’t in residence. It is the perfect home to celebrate the multibillion-dollar business the film industry has become. But for Oscar’s first 73 years, the ceremony bounced from iconic Los Angeles venue to iconic Los Angeles venue, representative of a growing industry in search of respectability, an identity, and a space to flex its growing muscle.</p> <p dir="ltr">The first organizational meeting of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was held at Downtown’s gilded Biltmore Hotel on May 11, 1927, where more than 300 industry leaders elected swashbuckling star and pioneering producer Douglas Fairbanks as AMPAS’s first president. The organization hoped to bring legitimacy and respect to the nouveau riche industry, whose workers—many first generation Americans or formerly indigent lower-class performers—were still shunned by much of Los Angeles high society.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The Biltmore, the "grand dame" "host of the coast," built in 1923 by blue-blooded businessmen who hoped to show up the great hotels of the East Coast and Europe, was the perfect meeting place for an Academy that "intended to represent to the industry what the Academie Francaise represents to the world of art in Europe."</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><q class="left">"It was just a family affair." -First best actress winner Janet Gaynor on the first Oscars</q></p>
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<p dir="ltr"><span>That night, MGM boss Louis B. Mayer suggested that awards could be given by the Academy to highlight the industry’s "artistic" successes and merit. Designer </span><a href="http://la.curbed.com/tag/cedric-gibbons"><span>Cedric Gibbons</span></a><span> began to draw a sketch of a crusader atop a reel of film on one of the Biltmore’s fine tablecloths, and thus the statue we now know as "Oscar" was born.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The first Academy Awards were held on May 16,</span><span> 1929, in the pastel-hued Blossom Ballroom of the new Roosevelt Hotel, designed by the firm of Fisher, Lake and Traver. The Spanish Colonial Revival style Roosevelt, with its prime location in the heart of Hollywood, had opened in May of 1927, and unlike the staid Biltmore, it had been funded partially by the motion picture world’s burgeoning aristocracy. Backers included Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Sid Grauman, whose famed </span><a href="http://la.curbed.com/2013/9/19/10196190/see-all-the-lovely-renovations-at-the-imaxready-chinese-theatre"><span>Chinese Theatre</span></a><span> had opened across the street the year before.</span></p>
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<img alt="First AMPAS meeting at the Biltmore hotel." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qERgLfWxZT5EmdNDSHMYdjVeOPo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6094765/00044960.0.jpg">
<cite><a href="http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/photosearch_pageADV.jsp">Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection</a></cite>
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<p dir="ltr"><span>The first awards banquet featured dinner and dancing, like most company parties. Winners had been announced three months before in an AMPAS newsletter and some, including best actor winner and future Nazi Emil Jannings, were not even present. First best actress winner Janet Gaynor </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/28/arts/janet-gaynor-recalls-the-first-awards.html"><span>remembered</span></a><span> the night, attended by around 270 industry insiders:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>It was just a family affair. It wasn't open to anyone but academy members. There were tables for eight or 10 set up around the ballroom. I remember there was an orchestra, and as you danced, you saw most of the important people in Hollywood whirling past you on the dance floor. It was more like a private party than a big public ceremony.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr">Indeed, the first ceremony garnered little attention from the outside world, including the press. But the media soon caught on, and the next few ceremonies grew in both size and stature. Over the next decade, the awards banquet was held occasionally in the Fiesta Room or the fantastical <a href="http://www.kcet.org/living/food/the-nosh/the-cocoanut-grove-the-ambassador-hotel.html"><span>Cocoanut Grove</span></a> nightclub in the sprawling Myron Hunt-designed Ambassador Hotel, in what is now Koreatown. But its true home during the ‘30s was the Biltmore Bowl (originally called the Sala De Oro), the "largest hotel ballroom in the world," which had been added onto the Biltmore during a massive 1928 expansion. The <i>LA Times</i> breathlessly described the sunken ballroom shortly after it opened that year:</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>In addition to space provided for tables, there are forty-six boxes on the main and mezzanine floors. At the far end of the ballroom is an elevated stage which by the press of a button can be lowered and made a part of the dance floor. Behind the stage is a series of mirrors reaching from the floor to the ceiling, with its relief patterns of gold and mosaic. An allegory of Italian art follows the arches over the boxes. Delicate rose tinted silken drapes reach from the boxes to the floors. Ornate grills in the ceiling and side walls, in addition to being decorative, play a part in the ventilation system.</span></p>
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<p dir="ltr"><span>The enormity of the Biltmore Bowl, which could hold over 2,000, meant many more people were allowed to join in the once intimate "family party." It was relatively easy to get tickets to the annual banquet, with AMPAS using the funds raised to pay for the venue and ceremony. In 1939, the </span><span><i>LA Times</i></span><span> reported that "three hundred and seventy-eight Hollywood notables will spend $25 a piece, 800 lesser lights will lay out $10 per plate and about 200 members of the press will eat and view the proceedings ’on the house’ in the Biltmore Bowl."</span></p>
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<p dir="ltr">As the ceremony became a nationwide marketing tool, the event spilled to the outside of the Biltmore as well, as fans began to gather to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars. Far from shunning the attention, the exterior of the Biltmore was decorated in true Oscar fashion, the <i>LA Times</i> reported:</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>For the first time, the golden statuette, sometimes called "Oscar" which is used as the symbol of achievement in the industry, was actually placed in full view of every street passerby. A huge neon lighted affair, in front of the Grand Ave. entrance to the Bowl, greeted the eye. Inside the Bowl, "Oscars" were everywhere. They were even used as favors at the table and a huge assemblage of the golden statuettes adorned the different levels of the table and platform in front of the orchestra.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>During the 1940s, the ceremony morphed from a large industry banquet into the traditional stage show we see today, necessitating a radical change in venues. As World War II progressed, the idea of dancing and dining while millions died was considered to be in poor taste. The last banquet was held at the Cocoanut Grove in 1943. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr">The next year, the more utilitarian Awards moved to the 2,258 seat Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, which caused considerable grumbling among everyone, including presenter Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy, as recounted by the <i>LA Times</i>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Last night the academy convened again, and they didn’t get so much as a bottle of soda pop or a bag of peanuts…festivities started early. Most of the guests were out of the forecourt by 8 o’clock leaving hundreds of spectators in the bleachers—and the lurch. The big searchlights probed the sky emptily and the special cops assigned to the beat rocked back and forth on their heels, waiting for something to happen…when Bergen told him the theater was designed in a Chinese style and period, Charlie guessed it must have been the reign of terror…the curtain went up on the biggest Oscar you ever saw—12 feet if it was an inch. It was made of cardboard. It gave everybody an awful start. It looked like Frankenstein’s monster who isn’t even in the running this year.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The ceremony was held at Grauman’s for three years before moving to the Moorish Revival style Shrine Auditorium in Downtown Los Angeles. In 1948, the 6,300-person venue proved to be too large for AMPAS to fill. "At 8:45, a half hour after the start of the performance, a loud-speaker advised the mob jammed into bleachers along both sides of Royal St. that 550 good balcony seats were still available. But there were few takers."</span></p>
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<img alt="View from the street of the Chinese Theatre as guests arrive for the Academy Awards." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fib_XjXcXJVLGtbmAqlF7R9fb9g=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6094773/00044983.jpg">
<cite><a href="http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/photosearch_pageADV.jsp">Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection</a></cite>
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<p dir="ltr"><span></span>In 1949, the ceremonies were held in their strangest and most mysterious venue. Only days before the show, AMPAS announced that they would be holding the Oscars not on a soundstage as they planned, but in the "Academy Awards Theater" at their headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard in West Hollywood. Since the theater only sat 950 people, attendance was limited to "nominees, studio personnel involved with presentations and the press."</p>
<p dir="ltr"><q class="right">In 1953, AMPAS finally allowed their arch-rival, television, to broadcast the show.</q></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Officially, AMPAS claimed they had made the decision so they could put more of their money into cultural and educational programs. They were supposedly pleased with the decision, stating, "It has always been hoped to center activities of the organization in its own establishment." According to film historian </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Years-Official-History-Academy-Awards/dp/B004C7GCEA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1455661800&sr=8-2&keywords=80+years+of+oscar&tag=curbed-20" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><span>Robert Osborne</span></a><span>, this was a bunch of malarkey. The sudden change was the direct result of the growing distrust of the studio system:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The major Hollywood studios—MGM, 20</span><span>th</span><span> Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount and RKO Radio—had withdrawn their financial support of the awards in order to remove rumors that they had been trying to exert their influence on voters. The new, shrunken seating capacity made it impossible to accommodate more than a fraction of those who hoped to attend, and the last-minute withdrawal of studio support had left no time for Academy officials to raise the needed funds to rent a larger location.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>This experiment seems to have been a dismal failure. In 1950, the Oscars moved to the B. Marcus Priteca-designed Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, where they would stay for 10 years.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">In 1953, AMPAS finally allowed their arch-rival, television, to broadcast the show. Millions of viewers across the country watched as Bob Hope hosted the proceedings from the palatial Art Deco theater. According to the <i>L</i><i>A Times</i>, the interior of the Pantages reflected the change:</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The stage was banked with flowers and plants and surmounted by Roman columns and a large Oscar as usual but something new had been added. At the back of the stage stood a giant TV screen, and smaller ones were scattered strategically throughout the auditorium. On all these screens the business on stage was repeated ad infinitum.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>In 1961, the show moved again, this time to the new Welton Becket-designed Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, far from what most considered the heartbeat of Hollywood. "Interest in the Oscar and the awards continued to grow," Robert Osborne writes in his book </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/80-Years-Oscar-Official-History/dp/0789209926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455661800&sr=8-1&keywords=80+years+of+oscar&tag=curbed-20" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><span>80 Years of Oscar</span></a><span>. "Simultaneously, the audience capacity at the Pantages…had been reduced…and after investigation, no other auditorium in the area was found by the Academy to be either big enough or available on the dates required." Much to everyone’s surprise, the far-flung venue was a hit, according to the </span><span><i>LA Times</i></span><span>:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The Civic Auditorium in the Bay City proved to be the most spacious and commodious of the academy’s several one night stands down through the years. A looming expanse just a shell’s throw from the blue Pacific…of steel, glass, concrete, gala banners and welcoming red carpets. But the early night chill seeping in from the sea cast no damper on the proceedings taking place in this modern, sloping, pillarless (nobody sat behind a post) amphitheater packed with industry notables.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The Awards would stay at the Civic for most of the 1960s. In 1969, they moved to the theater most people now associate with the Oscars—the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles. Opened in 1964, the Pavilion was designed by Civic Auditorium architect </span><a href="http://la.curbed.com/tag/welton-becket"><span>Welton Becket</span></a><span> in the New Formalism style.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><q class="left">In 1969, Downtown welcomed Hollywood with open arms, proclaiming the ceremony was back "after 40 years in the provinces."</q></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The Music Center’s construction was </span><a href="http://la.curbed.com/2014/4/4/10120618/the-starstudded-birth-of-the-music-center-turning-50-this-year"><span>spearheaded by Dorothy Chandler</span></a><span>, a member of one of the blue-blooded families that had once shunned Hollywood folk. Now, Downtown welcomed Hollywood with open arms, proclaiming the ceremony was back "after 40 years in the provinces." The theater sat 3,197 people and bleachers were set up for another 3,000 spectators outside the venue. "In the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion the show will for the first time enjoy facilities suitable for what has evolved into not only a glittering social event but also a big and complicated theatrical production," the </span><span><i>LA Times</i></span><span> enthused.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">The Oscars stayed at the Pavilion for almost two decades and become synonymous in the public’s mind with the increasingly popular televised show. Many were shocked in 1988 when AMPAS chose to hold the sixtieth Academy Awards at the then rather decrepit Shrine Auditorium. Its reasons were twofold—the Shrine could accommodate almost twice as many people, and the venue gave the Academy more rehearsal days.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Until 2002, the Awards bounced between the "<a href="http://variety.com/2001/film/awards/kodak-theater-custom-made-for-kudocast-1117857379/" style="background-color: #ffffff;">cold vastness of the Shrine</a>" and the "cramped confines of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion." When the Oscars were held at the Pavilion, there was a frenzy each year over who got tickets. When it was held at the Shrine, many grumbled over its unsafe location, dingy accommodations, and a backstage so small reporters were "crammed in a tent."</p>
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<img alt="Oscar statues clustered inside the lobby of the Dolby Theatre." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oWgyEWzYxrV3x46K07d8yVJewQw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6094879/02_2013_OSCARS-5.JPG">
<cite><a href="http://www.elizabethdanielsphotography.com/">Elizabeth Daniels</a></cite>
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<p dir="ltr"><span>These difficulties increasingly convinced the Academy that they needed a home of their own that would meet the many needs of the enormous telecast. This problem was solved when the Academy was approached by TrizecHahn Corporation, who wanted to build a grand new theater complex on Hollywood Boulevard.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>AMPAS collaborated with TrizecHahn to build the perfect Academy Awards venue. "It had to be glamorous and beautiful, which we believe it is," </span><a href="http://variety.com/2001/film/awards/kodak-theater-custom-made-for-kudocast-1117857379/"><span>said Bob Rehme</span></a><span>, former Academy president. "We wanted it designed to hold a live TV show, with a permanent main camera position. It had to have a large stage, like the Shrine or Radio City Music Hall. And it had to have a very large orchestra pit that could hold 75 musicians—no Broadway show has that big an orchestra."</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>On March 24, 2002, the 74</span><span>th</span><span> Academy Awards were held at the new Kodak Theatre, just a stone’s throw away from the Roosevelt Hotel, where the journey had begun 73 shows before. For better or worse, the Academy Awards has finally come home—for now.</span></p>
https://la.curbed.com/2016/2/23/11075170/oscar-theaters-historyHadley Meares2017-02-21T19:51:21-08:002017-02-21T19:51:21-08:00Inside the energetic opening of ‘La La Land’
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<figcaption>Courtesy of Lionsgate</figcaption>
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<p>Here’s how it came together </p> <p id="hA3gYS"><em>USA Today</em> has an inside look at the bombastic opening scene of <em>La La Land</em>, including iPhone video shot by director Damien Chazelle that served as the blueprint for the set piece. </p>
<p id="JVT3CC">In the number, called <em>Another Day of Sun,</em> dozens of dancers in bright clothes enthusiastically tap, stomp, skateboard, and ride bicycles over the roofs and hoods of cars stuck in traffic on the <a href="http://la.curbed.com/maps/la-la-land-filming-locations">105/110 freeway overpass</a>. All of that was (not-so-shockingly) a complicated puzzle to piece together, <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516509&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Flife%2Fmovies%2F2017%2F02%2F18%2Fexclusive-watch-how-they-created-la-la-lands-big-opening-number%2F98091302%2F&referrer=archive.curbed.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fla.curbed.com%2F2017%2F2%2F21%2F14672256%2Fla-la-land-damien-chazelle-opening-scene-video" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Chazelle told the paper</a>. </p>
<p id="FBSwMu">For starters, they had to start prepping for the scene before they even knew on which highway they’d be swinging and twirling. They had to not only cast dancers, but dozens of cars that could “support dancing without caving in.”</p>
<p id="gJMTTX">Once they had all of the players in place, they practiced in parking lots, because they only got <em>one</em> rehearsal on location. Chazelle captured one of those full-on parking lot rehearsals on his iPhone, using the footage as a map for the one freeway rehearsal.</p>
<div id="oU7Ovt"><iframe title="USA TODAY - Embed Player" width="540" height="304" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="true" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://www.usatoday.com/videos/embed/98094062/?fullsite=true"></iframe></div>
<p id="0zrE4w">It was a “wreck,” says <em>USA Today</em>.</p>
<p id="9igryY">“The crane could not move the way an iPhone moves,” Chazelle told<em> </em>the paper. “The choreography looked different, the slant of the freeway created a lot of other challenges. Everything was just tricky. We had to go back and regroup and make some adjustments.”</p>
<p id="ArlCoP">Spoiler alert! Everything worked out just fine. The film scored a record 14 <a href="http://www.vox.com/2017/1/24/14367638/oscar-nominees-2017-list-nominations">Oscars nominations</a>, including for best picture and best director. </p>
<ul>
<li id="module-position-Pvv4H-jco1E">
<a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516509&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Flife%2Fmovies%2F2017%2F02%2F18%2Fexclusive-watch-how-they-created-la-la-lands-big-opening-number%2F98091302%2F&referrer=archive.curbed.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fla.curbed.com%2F2017%2F2%2F21%2F14672256%2Fla-la-land-damien-chazelle-opening-scene-video" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Exclusive: Watch how they created 'La La Land's big opening number</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
<li id="DfrWbq">
<a href="http://la.curbed.com/maps/la-la-land-filming-locations">The ultimate 'La La Land' filming location map</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
</ul>
https://la.curbed.com/2017/2/21/14672256/la-la-land-damien-chazelle-opening-scene-videoJenna Chandler2013-02-24T14:29:11-08:002013-02-24T14:29:11-08:00Inside the Oscars's Elaborate Infrastructure on Hollywood Boulevard
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<p></p>
<p><br><span class="credit">[Photos by <a href="http://www.elizabethdanielsphotography.com/">Elizabeth Daniels</a>]</span></p>
<p><strong>Hollywood Boulevard</strong>'s been shut down from Orange to Highland for a week in preparation for the <strong>Oscars</strong>, but what actually goes on back there? It's an enormous operation with a skybridge thingy, trailers, electronics galore, the red carpet (of course), and a mysterious tent that they were weird about us photographing. Check it all out above ahead of the awards tonight, the first in the <a href="http://la.curbed.com/archives/2012/05/dolby_buys_naming_rights_for_former_kodak_theatre.php">newly-renamed Dolby Theatre</a>.</p>
https://la.curbed.com/2013/2/24/10270562/oscars-red-carpet-dolby-hollywoodAdrian Glick Kudler