Paramount Theatre of the Arts

When the glamorous world of film and motion pictures captivated the American imagination in the 1920s, movie houses around the country were built like palaces, as dramatic as the movies shown within their walls. As a result of the Great Depression of the '30s, the Paramount Theatre in Oakland was the last of the palaces built on the West Coast.

Construction on the Paramount began in 1930 and was completed in late 1931. Designed by renowned architect Timothy L. Pflueger, the theatre is considered one of the greatest Art Deco monuments found in the United States today.

The well-recognized façade features the word “Paramount” along the side of the building, a sign nearly 125 feet high and flanked with mosaics of monumental scale. The grand lobby glitters in golds and greens, featuring an illuminated “fountain of light” made from carved glass. Even in the women’s “smoking room,” itself a testament to another era, a lavish mural by Charles Stafford Duncan evokes a mood of decadence.

In the face of economic hardship, ownership of the theatre has changed hands sporadically. But all of the theatre’s meticulous details were fully restored in the 1970s, when the Oakland Symphony Orchestra bought the building, saving it from decades of decline that followed its 1930s glory days.

Today, public tours of the theatre are available two days a month and private tours during regular operating hours can also be scheduled. The Paramount is officially recognized as a National Historic Landmark and a California Registered Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Paramount Theatre is more than a pretty building. It is fully operational, hosting a variety of shows, from concerts to plays to variety shows to regular Oakland East Bay Symphony performances. The enormous theater seats 3,000 guests, with orchestra front and rear seating, three balcony levels and an orchestra pit that accommodates 42 musicians.

HelloSanFrancisco Tip: Today's fully upgraded sound system by Meyer Sound helps ensure audio quality that brings the theatre-goer's visual experience to life. Movie classics are still shown here as well, in all the big-screen glory of Hollywood’s Golden Era – and for only five bucks a flick.

- by Renee M. Rutledge, San Francisco Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Renee M. Rutledge

Renee M. Rutledge currently writes articles on local travel and culture for Red Tricycle, Parents' Press, Oakland Magazine, and Alameda Magazine.