Movie Great Poised for a Comeback : Urban renewal: Officials hope to reverse the cinema district’s long decline. The reopening of the El Capitan Theatre marks the first step.

Time was when Hollywood was the glamorous movie capital of the world, a place where searchlights illuminated the heavens as stars of the silver screen strolled past gawking onlookers into the premieres of their latest films.

But over the years, Hollywood crumbled, and its renowned theaters fell into disrepair. Crime flourished, traffic worsened and cruisers along world-famous Hollywood Boulevard made it a chore just to get to the ticket window. Studios began taking their premieres to Westwood and elsewhere, and customers followed, leaving Tinseltown to fall further into neglect.

Some people in Hollywood hope to change all that. City Councilman Michael Woo, entertainment industry leaders, developers and preservationists have teamed up to establish what they hope will be a bustling cinema district along eight blocks of Hollywood Boulevard, in the heart of the old movie capital.

By late this year, the number of theater screens in Hollywood will have nearly doubled, to 15. And leaders of the revival effort hope that increased police patrols, parking and lighting improvements, cleaner streets, banners, advertisements and other inducements will once again attract people to Hollywood.

The long road back starts this week, with an official dedication of the Hollywood Cinema District on Monday and the reopening of a restored El Capitan Theatre, once one of the city’s most spectacular movie houses, on Wednesday.

Opening night at El Capitan is to be a star-studded affair, as the Walt Disney Co. premieres “The Rocketeer.” Six more theater screens will be up and running when the long-awaited Galaxy project opens in the fall.

One sunny morning last week, Canadian filmmaker Carey Connor stood transfixed as craftsmen painted the ornate exterior lobby of the 65-year-old El Capitan, touching up the gilded Italian Renaissance-style ceiling and Spanish Baroque bas-relief walls.

“In a hall like this, you’re really going to the movies,” Connor exclaimed, head tilted back and arms outstretched as if to embrace the huge neon marquee towering above him.

Connor, who was in town to negotiate movie deals, said the restored theater is a badly needed shot in the arm not just for Hollywood but for all movie buffs who are tired of sitting in cramped cineplexes staring at tiny screens and listening to murky sound.

“When I was a kid, I went to theaters like these and said, ‘Someday I want to go to Hollywood,’ ” Connor said. “It’s got character. It’s what you’d expect here.”

The El Capitan restoration is a joint venture between the Pacific Theatres chain and Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Inc., the distribution arm for all Walt Disney Studios movies.

Opened as a vaudeville theater in the ‘20s, the El Capitan soon changed to movies and became part of the lore of the Golden Age of Hollywood. In 1941, its name was changed to the Paramount, and Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” premiered there.

By the end of the 1980s, however, the theater had become run-down and, because many movie patrons had fled Hollywood for theaters elsewhere, sparsely attended. It was closed in late 1989.

After expressing some initial misgivings, Disney executives eventually concluded that the theater had the potential to serve as a flagship for the company’s releases. Two years and $6 million later, El Capitan has been painstakingly restored, and will seat 1,100.

“We are very proud of it,” said Buena Vista spokesman Dick Cook. “We are very supportive of bringing back the grand style and excitement that everyone conjures up when they say Hollywood.”

Woo said the reopening of El Capitan “is a striking move” toward bringing Hollywood’s cinema district back to its former glory.

But he said it will take a lot more than one restoration project. Because of the boulevard’s reputation as a dangerous place, police patrols on foot and bicycle will be beefed up, paid for by merchant contributions and a $10,000 donation from his district’s discretionary funds, Woo said.

Woo also hopes to see oversized, attention-grabbing billboards, like those on the Sunset Strip. And he wants to set up a central ticket kiosk that sells tickets to all area theaters, and an eye-catching joint advertising campaign for them.

Also, Woo said he hopes to get improved lighting and security at parking lots and more validated parking. And by encouraging the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and other businesses to sponsor informational tours and ads, Woo hopes to cash in on “the enormous thirst of tourists who want information on movie stars and anything about the movie industry.”

But even as Woo’s staff gets ready for Monday’s official launch of the cinema district (complete with look-alikes of Marilyn Monroe and other Hollywood luminaries), a controversy has surfaced over whether the fledgling district will be able to survive four years of Metro Rail construction.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission plans to start building its Red Line subway along almost the same stretch of boulevard next year, from Vermont Avenue west to Highland.

That’s just east of El Capitan, and near the famous Mann’s Chinese Theater. Some local merchants predict the huge construction project will cause monstrous traffic jams and make parking nearly impossible.

“It’s like dressing up the bride before you dump her in the water,” said Doreet Hakman, chairwoman of the Hollywood Boulevard Community Council, which represents some local merchants. “Once Metro Rail comes, that’s it.”

John Miller, president of the Los Angeles Historic Theater Foundation, said he is worried that Metro Rail officials won’t adequately compensate for all the problems caused by construction.

“I think we could even lose some theaters if they’re put out of business (by construction) for three years,” he said. “There’s enough theaters in other parts of town so that people will look elsewhere.”

Said Dan Chernow, a Pacific Theatres vice president: “Those who are in the cinema district clearly are concerned and want to know more. Part of the problem with Metro Rail is the lack of information that has come out.”

Woo and Metro Rail officials said they will take special precautions to ensure as little disruption of business as possible during construction.

“It won’t be easy,” Woo said, “but it will work. There will be disruption and the street is going to be torn up. But it will not be the end of the world, and Hollywood will be better after it is finished.”