Egyptian Theater

But in 1922, showman Sid Grauman (who owned several of the Broadway movie palaces) helped shift the entertainment center from downtown to Hollywood Blvd. when he built the Egyptian Theatre - five years before Grauman built his famous Chinese Theatre down the street.

The Egyptian theme was inspired by the discovery of King Tut's tomb in that very same year. Like the Chinese Theatre, it had an open courtyard out front to draw in passersby off the sidewalk. This forecourt featured massive, four-feet wide Egyptian-style columns, hieroglyphics, murals, a tiled fountain, large pots filled with exotic plants, and even a 12-foot figure of a dog-headed Egyptian god guarding the portico.

These forecourts also served as a congregating place for the press and fans during the many gala movie premieres Grauman liked to stage, a particularly Hollywood form of publicity stunt employed by the studios to generate media excitement for their newly-released films.