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How the Egyptian Theatre Shaped the Birth of Hollywood

April 22, 2025
Photo Courtesy Mike Hume

  No life is ever untouched by moments of uncertainty, and for Sid Grauman, the American entrepreneur behind Hollywood’s iconic Egyptian Theatre, a historic movie theater located on Hollywood Boulevard, it once seemed as though both his career and the theater itself might never materialize. The year was 1906, and Grauman and his father had lost everything after the San Francisco earthquake wreaked havoc on their business, demolishing two theatres they were operating—the Unique Theatre and the Lyceum Theatre. For a time, it seemed as though Grauman’s dreams of an entertainment career were shattered beyond repair. After all, what could be more devastating, more emotionally crushing, than an earthquake that wipes out everything you have worked so hard to build? Just as the earth trembles without warning, humans too face moments that shake us to our core. Yet, even in the face of such devastation, Grauman refused to give up. Despite losing everything, he did everything he could to lift his spirits. From the ruins of the wrecked theater, he saved one of the movie projectors and, with a tent gifted by an evangelist preacher, he created a makeshift theatre…


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