the article about how the premiere of Disney Hall in 2003 was treated like the oscars, an event long associated with LA & prior to 2000 was held in dtla, made me go through the history. Then the show moved to the Shrine near USC before going to...Hollywood itself. As dtla has moved up in value, that annual event ("Hollywood") has decreased in the same thing. Even the shrine auditorium today is in better shape that it was in 1998...notice the way it was painted & how its front side was barren except for the presence of power poles. Look at dtla in 1978....if ppl aren't satisfied with the skyline today, they should be lucky they didn't have to deal with it 45 yrs ago.
But at least the moat & geysers of the dwp bldg were operating.
Now there are things like the microsoft theater, the dolby theater, youtube theater (in inglewood), a new art museum in exposition pk, the space shuttle exhibit, an expanded history museum.....I like how the past of LA helps give a better sense of where the city...& dtla in particular...has been & where it needs to be in upcoming yrs....
• Video Link
https://youtu.be/m3eQqNJ1WEE
https://youtu.be/aNGyALUyb1g?t=79
Quote:
“Live from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, the 71st annual Academy Awards.… Welcome to a star-studded evening here at the Music Center. The stars are out tonight to celebrate the best of the best…” So crowed the cheerful ABC announcer at the top of the 1999 Oscars telecast as the camera prowled the red carpet.
It was also the last year that the Oscars ceremony was held at the Music Center after a nearly three-decade run — the longest of any venue in Oscars history. The Oscars broadcast was a publicity bonanza for the Music Center, providing the performing-arts venue with international exposure. For the academy, the center’s photogenic Midcentury architecture lent an air of class and sophistication to the annual ritual.
“It’s a very elegant facility, and I know the [board of governors] was originally attracted to it because of that,” said Bruce Davis, former executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
So why did the Oscars leave the Pavilion? Leaders at both organizations recalled that scheduling had become an issue as the academy had to compete with the L.A. Philharmonic, L.A. Opera and other arts companies for use of the Dorothy Chandler.
In the mid-’80s, the Oscars started alternating venues with the Shrine Auditorium near USC. Starting in 2002, the ceremony moved into its new permanent home at the Kodak Theatre (now the Dolby Theatre) at Hollywood & Highland. The Music Center first hosted the Oscars in 1969, when Gregory Peck was the academy’s president. Until that time, the Oscars had led a somewhat nomadic existence and had most recently been held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
Having opened to the public in 1964, the Music Center was a relatively new venue that boasted state-of-the-art facilities. It was Dorothy Chandler herself — the philanthropist and wife of former Los Angeles Times publisher Norman Chandler — who helped secure her namesake theater for the academy.
“She became an ally,” recalled Walter Mirisch, the Oscar-winning producer and a former academy president. “We then needed to get it by the academy board and also the Board of Supervisors of the county. There was some opposition to it, and it didn’t go easily even with Buff Chandler’s assistance.”
Mirisch said there were questions about scheduling and how the Oscars would affect downtown traffic on Monday nights. He added: “Somehow or other, as in most of the things [Chandler] set out to do, with her help, we were able to accomplish it.”
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^ 54 yrs since 1969, I don't know if as much effort would be put into trying to host the show in dtla, at the music ctr or otherwise. It was held in Union Station a few yrs ago & has sadly lost its popularity before & since then.
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