Keith Albee:
A History

The outside circular ticket booth was constructed of Verdi antique marble and bronze grills with two antique lanterns for decoration. The main lobby was floored with rubber matting panels with dividing stripes of white Italian marble. The marble base is of imported Belgian black. An advance ticket booth faces a large ornamental mirror. The lobby is filled with amber colored chandeliers.

Three balconies overlook the grand foyer. Drinking fountains are made of Botticini marble. Described as offering patrons a "millennium in convenience," the rest rooms, cosmetic rooms and smoking rooms reflected luxury.

For instance, the women's rooms are furnished in Louis XVI styles. Both lounges have fireplaces, candelabra and clocks on the mantels. Mezzo-tints, from the same period, are hung on the walls.

Strolling out into the balcony of the main auditorium, you gaze upon stuccoed walls, Moorish influenced glass windows and -- high above on the left and right -- a Spanish town and garden, including potted evergreens. The great dome is finished in beautiful Mediterranean blue creating a true skyline effect. Fluffy white clouds drifted along the ceiling in seeming movement across a star-studded midnight sky.

Near the stage, huge structures resemble opera house box seats which hid the large pipes of the organ. Hung with dark red velvet and gold curtains, the boxes were mounted with Golden Bermini pillars, festooned with cherubs and an assortment of rococo décor. Marble and gilt throughout has been compared to the grandeur that was Greece and the glory that was Rome.

The gold-framed lobby mirror high in the archway across from the balcony lounge typifies the baroque opulence of the 1920s. Indeed, the bronze gilded frames of mezzanine mirrors over small Romanesque tables and the beaded fringe and tasseled pulls of the lushly decorated floor lamps reflect light in small golden pools.

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