page_title: El Capitan Theatre
section_title: Disney and restoration
hierarchical_section_title: El Capitan Theatre / History / Disney and restoration
caption_attribution_description: El Capitan Theater, 6838 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California Confetti falling down before the movie starts
context_page_description: El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple is owned by The Walt Disney Company and serves as the venue for a majority of the Walt Disney Studios' film premieres.
context_section_description: Late in the 1980s, Disney purchased a controlling stake in one of Pacific Theatres' chains, leading to Disney's Buena Vista Theaters and Pacific renovating the El Capitan Theatre and the Crest by 1989. These theaters became Disney's flagship houses. They spent $14 million on a complete renovation of the Paramount, restoring much of the building's original decor as well as the theater's original name. El Capitan reopened in 1991 with the premiere of The Rocketeer.
  In 1990, the city of Los Angeles designated El Capitan as a Cultural Heritage Monument. The 1992 National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation was bestowed on the restorers of the theater. A Michael Jackson mural was approved by the National Park Service to be placed on the side of the building in December 1992.
  After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the building's frame was compromised and the theater had been flooded by its sprinklers and was considered uninhabitable by building inspectors. The owner walked away from the theater leaving the building to its mortgage company, CUNA Mutual Group. CUNA Mutual, having Disney as a continuing tenant, not only refurbished the theater but the office floors above for $10 million. In July 1995, Buena Vista purchased the Lanterman organ from Glendale City Redevelopment Agency.
  From the November 18, 1995, Toy Story premiere to January 1, 1996, Disney rented the Masonic Convention Hall, the next-door building, for Totally Toy Story, an instant theme park and a promotional event for the movie. In July 1998, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution purchased the convention hall to continue using it as a promotional venue. A Disney Store location opened next to the theater in the El Capitan Building in 1998.
  The $3 million seismic retrofitting was finished in time for the June 21, 1996, premiere of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The building's full restoration was completed in December 1997, which included the sign tower. The Hollywood Entertainment District, a self-taxing business improvement district, was formed for the properties from La Brea Avenue to McCadden Place on Hollywood Boulevard. The office space's first tenants were TrizecHahn Centers, builders of the 425,000-square-foot development on the other side of the boulevard. In conjunction with the Herbie: Fully Loaded premiere on June 22, 2005, the Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store opened up in the El Capitan Building on the ground floor replacing a Disney Store.
  CUNA Mutual having leased the building to full capacity placed the building up for sale in 2008 at a price of $31 million. In November 2013, Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop co-located with the Disney Studio Store next to the theater in the El Capitan building.
caption: Confetti rains at the climax of a show.
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