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Paramount Theatre (Oakland, California)

Adapted from Wikipedia · Discoverer experience

The grand exterior of Oakland's historic Paramount Theatre, captured in 1975.

The Paramount Theatre is a beautiful 3,040-seat Art Deco concert hall located at 2025 Broadway in Downtown Oakland. Built in 1931, it was once the largest multi-purpose theater on the West Coast, able to hold over 3,400 people. Today, it is a special place for many different kinds of performances.

The theatre is now home to the Oakland Symphony and the Oakland Ballet. It hosts many kinds of shows, including R&B, jazz, blues, pop, rock, gospel, classical music, as well as ballets, plays, stand-up comedy, lectures, and even classic movies from Hollywood's Golden Era. It is a wonderful spot for people of all ages to enjoy live entertainment.

History

The Paramount Theatre was built as a movie palace in the late 1920s. Designed by architect Timothy L. Pflueger, it opened in 1931 at a cost of $3 million. The theater featured Art Deco style, inspired by an art show in Paris.

The Paramount began with big plans but closed in 1932 due to high costs. It reopened in 1933, showing popular films and adjusting to new times. Through the years, it hosted famous movies and performers like Elvis Presley. In the 1970s, the Oakland Symphony bought and restored the theater, making it their home. Today, the Paramount remains a beautiful historic spot, offering tours and events.

Main events

Symphony and ballet

Michael Morgan was the music director from September 1990 until his death in August 2021. In May 2007, the Oakland East Bay Symphony opened its final rehearsal to the public with a performance of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

In December 2007, the Oakland Ballet celebrated the 35th anniversary of Ronn Guidi's The Nutcracker at the Paramount Theatre, with Michael Morgan conducting the music of Tchaikovsky.

Notable concerts

The Paramount has hosted many famous concerts since the mid-1970s. Some of these include performances by Bob Marley & The Wailers, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Prince, James Brown, Diana Ross, Bonnie Raitt, Al Green, Jeff Beck, Lionel Richie, B.B. King, Anita Baker, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, Gladys Knight, Lucinda Williams, and Nelly Furtado.

1974

1975

1976

  • Grover Washington Jr., George Benson, January 16
  • Vladimir Horowitz, February 15
  • Bob Marley and the Wailers, May 29 and 30
  • Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, October 2

1977

  • Peter Allen, December 15
  • Al Jarreau with The Crusaders, December 31

1978

1986

1988

1991

1992

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

  • Amy Grant
  • Lyle Lovett
  • Bonnie Raitt
  • Lionel Richie

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2011

Stand-up comedy

Black Comedy Explosion

  • 1990 Paul Mooney, Martin Lawrence, Shawn Wayans, Damon Wayans, Larry La La, Laura Hayes
  • 1991 Martin Lawrence, Jamie Foxx, Chris Thomas, Yvette Wilson
  • 1992 Jamie Foxx, Chris Thomas, Yvette Wilson
  • 1993 D. L. Hughley, Paul Mooney, Chris Tucker, Yvette Wilson, Ruben Paul
  • 1994 George Wallace, Mark Curry, Chris Tucker, Chris Spencer
  • 1995 Chris Rock, Mark Curry, Cedric the Entertainer
  • 1996 Dave Chappelle, Cedric the Entertainer, Tommy Davidson
  • 1997 Jamie Foxx, Yvette Wilson, Cedric the Entertainer, Chris Thomas, D. L. Hughley, Arnez J, Sheryl Underwood, Guy Torry
  • 1998 Tommy Davidson, Don 'D.C.' Curry
  • 1999 Don "DC" Party, Sheryl Underwood, Mike Epps
  • 2000 D. L. Hughley
  • 2001 Guy Torry, Bruce Bruce, Ricky Smiley
  • 2002 Tommy Davidson, Sheryl Underwood, Alex Thomas
  • 2004 Sheryl Underwood, Paul Mooney
  • 2005 D. L. Hughley, Lavelle Crawford
  • 2007 Lavelle Crawford, Earthquake, Sheryl Underwood, Ruben Paul

Live stage plays

  • 1997 – The musical play The Wiz was at the Paramount, with Grace Jones, Peabo Bryson and CeCe Peniston.
  • 2001 – The Diary of Black Men, directed by Clarence Whitmore, a play that had been touring the country since 1983
  • 2006 – Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail played to a packed seven-date stint at the Paramount.
  • 2008 – Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats was performed in May.

Classic movie nights

It wasn't until 1987 that the Paramount returned to its true calling as a movie house, showing Buster Keaton's The General (1926), a silent film accompanied by the Wurlitzer. In 1988, Casablanca (1942), starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, launched the first movie series. The 2002 feature was Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove (1964).

In 2002 it showed Wizard of Oz (1939), with Judy Garland, and in 2004 the Paramount showed several classic movies: Harvey (1950), starring James Stewart, Viva Las Vegas (1964) starring Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret, The Graduate (1967) with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, and The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) starring Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner.

The Paramount Movie Classics series continues scheduling screenings throughout the year and is enthusiastically supported by guests and staff members alike who often dress up in costume as movie characters.

Other

In order to accommodate the large number of people attending on the High Holy Days, since 2001 Oakland's Temple Sinai has held its main High Holy Day services at the Paramount, filling the entire 1,800 seats on the mezzanine of the theater, and most of the 1,200 seats in the balcony.

Notable events

The Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 in Oakland. They held elegant events that honored such screen legends as Clarence Muse, Hattie McDaniel, Billy Dee Williams, Melvin Van Peebles, and Danny Glover with the Oscar Micheaux Awards. Some of the events were hosted at Oakland's Paramount Theatre. In 2001 Harry Belafonte, Eubie Blake and Diahann Carroll was inducted in the Filmmakers Hall of Fame at the Paramount.

1995 – Poet Maya Angelou read from her work at a benefit at Paramount for the St. Paul's Episcopal School.

1999 – Actress Halle Berry was at the Paramount for the premiere of Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, an HBO docudrama.

2007 – Former Congressman Ron Dellums was sworn in on Monday, January 8, as Oakland's 48th mayor in a public ceremony at the Paramount Theatre. A crowd of 1,900 people gathered for the ceremony.

2011 – Hosting of the premiere for the 2011 film Moneyball. The cast as well as some Oakland Athletics players and executives attended the premiere.

2012 – Abel Gance's film Napoléon had four screenings from March 24 to April 1 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Accompanied by a live orchestra, Napoléon was shown at the original 20 frames per second and ending with a 20-minute final triptych sequence. These, the first US screenings of British film historian Kevin Brownlow's 5.5-hour-long restored version, were described as requiring three intermissions, one of which was a dinner break. Score arranger Carl Davis led the 46-piece Oakland East Bay Symphony for the performances.

Images

A grand theater lobby with ornate decorations and classic architectural details.
A beautiful fountain of light inside the grand lobby of the historic Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California.
Colorful dancing figures painted on the wall of the Grand Lobby at the historic Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California.
A beautifully decorated ceiling inside the historic Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California.
A historic view of the elegant proscenium at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California.
Interior view of the lounge at the historic Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California.
A grand interior view of the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California, showing its beautiful mezzanine foyer.
Interior view of the men's lounge at the historic Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California.
Interior view of the Women's Lounge in the historic Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California.
Historic Art Deco mural inside the Paramount Theatre's elegant women's lounge.
Architectural drawing of the basement layout of the historic Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California.
A detailed floor plan of the first floor of the historic Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California.
A historic theater building in Oakland, California.

Related articles

Art Deco
List of concert halls
Downtown Oakland
Oakland Symphony
Rhythm and blues
Jazz

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