Label
Pix Theatre
1945
6126 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, California
Donated by Mary Rodriguez and Drew Kennedy
The Pix Theatre in Hollywood, California, was known by many names and is an exemplary piece of Hollywood history. Opened in 1926, it was initially designed in a Spanish Colonial Revival Style as the Music Box Theatre. At that time, many theatres were quickly opening on Hollywood Boulevard. In order to distinguish the Music Box from its competition, architects Morgan, Walls, & Clements designed an open-aired terrace above the theatre’s lobby for dancing, socializing, and illicit drinking. It switched from vaudeville revues and cinema to a play theatre a little less than a year after its opening with the premiere of Chicago, starring Clark Gable and Nancy Carroll. In 1945, the theatre was remodeled in a streamline moderne style when it was purchased by Fox West Coast and renamed the Fox. After the theatre was sold again, the new owners found a frugal way to remove the Fox name by sealing the F to make a P and cutting the O down to an I — Pix! The Pix Theatre maintained its flamboyant neon facade until closing its doors in 1977. The Nederlander Organization reopened the theatre in 1985 as the Fonda Theatre as an homage to actor Henry Fonda. Portions of the Pix marquee were donated to MONA including one set of bulb-and-neon “Pix” lettering and several flourishes and “waves” of neon. Regardless of the name, the historic theatre, in all of its lives, remains a nod to Hollywood’s rich history of entertainment.