Scenes of L.A. during WWII: Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Grauman's Chinese Theatre, one of the best-known and most-photographed movie theaters in the world, is known for the collection of stars' footprints and signatures in its forecourt. This is how the theater entrance looked the day my father snapped this photograph in 1942.

A closer view of the box office to Grauman's Chinese Theatre as it appeared in the early 1940s.

After stopping by the box office to purchase a ticket, a movie-going patron in 1942 would walk underneath the awning, past the footprints of Hollywood's most famous stars, to the theater entrance, which is flanked by two stone Chinese lions.

The theater was built by legendary showman Sid Grauman and opened in 1927. In 1973, it was bought by Ted Mann and became known as Mann's Chinese Theatre. Reportedly the partnership that acquired the theater in the wake of the Mann theater chain's bankruptcy filing has changed the name back to Grauman's Chinese.
http://www.seeing-stars.com/Theatres/ChineseTheatre.shtml

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