Hollywood Theatre

410 W. 7th Street,
Fort Worth, TX 76102

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Interstate Theatres Inc. & Texas Consolidated Theaters Inc., RKO, Trans-Texas Theatres

Architects: Alfred Charles Finn, Wyatt C. Hedrick, Jim Vowell

Functions: Parking Garage

Styles: Art Deco

Nearby Theaters

1952 photo credit Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Built in 1929 by architects Alfred Charles Finn and Wyatt C. Hendrick, the eighteen story Electric Building and Hollywood Theatre were designed in Art Deco style, with stylized friezes on the building’s exterior of electricity-themed designs. The Hollywood Theatre was opened April 18, 1930 with Lila Lee in “Flight”.

For four decades, the string of theatres along 7th Street was Fort Worth’s Broadway, including the Worth Theatre, the Palace Theatre and the 7th Street Theatre. It was renovated in 1963 to the plans of architect Jim Vowell.

In the early-1970’s, as multiplexes began sprouting up around Fort Worth’s suburbs, the large movie palaces fell into quick decline. The Hollywood Theatre was among the last of the major houses to be shuttered, when on January 19, 1973 it screened Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett in “Pete ‘n’ Tillie”.

After more than two decades closed and crumbling away, the Electric Building and Hollywood Theatre were renovated into a luxury apartment tower. Unfortunately, while the magnificent Art Deco lobby of the Electric Building was stunningly restored, the former Hollywood Theatre was completely gutted and became a four level parking garage for the apartment building tenants.

The Electric Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

Contributed by Bryan Krefft

Recent comments (view all 15 comments)

Don Lewis
Don Lewis on April 25, 2010 at 12:58 am

A postcard view of the Hollywood and Worth Theatres in downtown Ft. Worth.

Don Lewis
Don Lewis on July 17, 2010 at 7:13 pm

From 1951 a newsprint photo of Randolph Scott promoting his world premier “Fort Worth” in front of the Hollywood.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on November 7, 2016 at 9:15 pm

1952 photo added, photo credit Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Copy credit Special Collections, UTA Library.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on July 23, 2017 at 7:24 pm

The Hollywood Theatre underwent a $150,000 renovation in 1963, for operators Trans-Texas Theatres. An articlea bout it appears on this page of the January 13, 1964, issue of Boxoffice. The gala reopening took place on Christmas Day, 1963. Fort Worth architect Jim Vowell had designed the remodeling.

Scott_Martin
Scott_Martin on January 9, 2018 at 8:10 pm

We over at SMU’s G. William Jones Film & Video Collection recently uncovered some news footage of the theater if anyone’s interested. https://youtu.be/Glb7ClzJqQo

rivest266
rivest266 on June 23, 2018 at 5:29 pm

This opened on April 18th, 1930 grand opening ad in the photo section.

rivest266
rivest266 on June 26, 2018 at 5:36 am

Closed in 1974.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on April 15, 2019 at 12:24 pm

Closed January 19, 1973 with a reduced-cost screening of “Pete ‘n’ Tillie” for 50 cents admission.

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