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Lee designed the Academy Theatre for the Fox West Coast chain to host the annual Academy Awards show, although it was never staged here; it opened on 11/07/1939, becoming an important location for movie premieres. It continued to exhibit films until 1976; as Lee designed it, the Academy had a moderately large capacity, seating 1,156.

The Academy Theatre demonstrated divergent aesthetic approaches for interior and exterior. Architect S. Charles Lee (1899-1990) employed the contemporary taste for streamlining on the exterior; this is seen especially well in the slick, rounded corners of the ticket booth and the large unbroken curve of the lobby. (Circular forms were used widely in late 1930s roadside architecture, most notably for Los Angeles drive-in restaurants, such as Herbert's Drive-In.) Curvilinear side walls wrapped around the columnar signage tower, which had a helical shelf spiraling to the top. The shelf enabled light to be reflected off the spiral to highlight the neon letters spelling out "Academy" for passing motorists. Like other Streamline designers of the 1930s, Lee used glass block extensively, allowing light to bathe the lobby. Streamline designers liked the effect of light glinting off of metallic trim pieces, further suggesting movement. While the architect created a Modern exterior design composed of undecorated, simple and compound curves of stucco, the interior featured a different, more traditional motif. Lee, like others of the 1930s and 1940s, most notably the Skouras Brothers, studied the luxurious interiors of the Baroque and Rococo eras; Lee focused on and greatly exaggerated Rococo filigree decoration, contrasting its curvilinear lines against plain wall backgrounds. (The Skouras Brothers often gilded their filigree ornamentation, making it the prime decorative motif.) The Academy Theatre's interior had a sort of Streamline feel to it, (particularly its ceiling design) but Lee curved the lines of movement, making them more whimsical and lilting than forceful.

PCAD id: 2404