Historic movie palaces / Southwest Detroit
Hollywood Theatre
Closed – archive entry · 1927–1959
Southwest Detroit's $2 million movie palace: when it opened in 1927, its 3,436 seats made it the city's second-largest cinema after the Michigan, complete with a crying room for parents with babies and free valet parking for 700 cars.
Quick facts
- Opened
- 1927
- Closed
- 1959
- Architect
- Charles N. Agree, with Graven & Mayger (interiors)
- Style
- Spanish Renaissance
- Seats
- 3436
02 / The story of this place
Make time for these
Brothers Ben and Lou Cohen built the $2 million Hollywood as the flagship of their chain, to bring a downtown-class palace to southwest Detroit. Charles N. Agree designed it, with interiors by Graven & Mayger of Chicago. It opened on September 24, 1927, and its 3,436 seats made it the city's second-largest cinema after the Michigan, with a 60-foot lobby, a crying room for parents with babies and free valet parking for 700 cars. Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Sophie Tucker and magician Howard Thurston appeared on its stage, and in September 1928 Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys played here with a then-unknown Bing Crosby. Its Barton organ, the third-largest the company built, was rated by organists second only to the Capitol's. The location never drew the crowds it needed: the screen went dark on May 25, 1958, a brief 1959 reopening failed, and the building was demolished in 1963.
- 3,436 seats, second only to the Michigan
- A then-unknown Bing Crosby played here in 1928
- A crying room and free valet parking for 700 cars
Plan your visit
The Hollywood was demolished in 1963 and no longer stands on West Fort Street. Its rescued Barton organ went into restoration for the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2020.
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Back to cinemas ↗
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