Regency Academy Cinemas
{{short description|Former movie theater in Pasadena, California}}
{{Infobox venue
| name = Regency Academy Theatre
| fullname =
| image = Colorado Theater in the 1920s.jpg
| image_caption = The theater in 1928
| former_names = Bard's Egyptian Theatre
Bard's Pasadena Theatre
| address = 1003 E. Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, California
| coordinates = {{Coord|34.1463|-118.1297|region:CA-US|display=inline,title}}
| type = Movie theater
| broke_ground =
| built =
| opened = June 23, 1925
| renovated = 1942, 1957-1958, 1984
| expanded =
| closed =
| yearsactive =
| owner =
| seating_type =
| seating_capacity = 1,709 originally
| website =
| architect = Lewis Arthur Smith (1925)
Carl Gerhardt Moeller (1957-1958)
}}
Regency Academy Cinemas, formerly Bard's Egyptian Theatre and Bard's Pasadena Theatre, also known as Colorado Theatre and Academy 6, is a movie theater located at 1003 E. Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California.
History
The theater that would become Regency Academy Cinemas first opened as Bard's Egyptian Theatre on June 23, 1925. The theater was designed by Lewis Arthur Smith, operated by the Louis L. Bard chain Far West Theatres Inc., and its capacity at opening was 1,709. The opening night film was Bobbed Hair.{{cite web |title=Regency Academy Cinemas |url=https://beekman.herokuapp.com/theaters/2155 |publisher=Cinema Treasures |access-date=March 20, 2025 |first=William |last=Gabel}}
In 1942, Fox West Coast Theaters bought the theater, renovated it, and then re-opened as Academy Cinemas on July 3, 1942. Reap The Wild Wind was the theater's first screening post-remodel,{{cite web |title=Academy Cinemas advert |date=July 3, 1942|url=https://beekman.herokuapp.com/theaters/2155/photos/346597 |via=Cinema Treasures}} and the theater would go on to host numerous Hollywood premieres throughout the 1950s.{{cite news |title=These are 19 of the most unusual Southern California movie theaters |newspaper=Pasadena Star-News |url=https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2018/03/12/19-unusual-southern-california-movie-theaters-where-you-should-see-a-film/ |first=Michelle |last=Mills |date=March 12, 2018}}
In 1957-1958 the theater underwent a $200,000 {{USDCY|200000|1958}} Streamline Moderne remodel, done by Carl Gerhardt Moeller, and in 1984, the theater was converted to a six-theater multiplex.{{cite web |title=Bard's Egyptian Theatre, Pasadena, CA |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/2405/ |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |first=Alan |last=Michelson |accessdate=March 20, 2025}}
The theater at one point was a Mann Theatre and is currently operated by Regency Theatres as the Regency Academy Cinemas.{{cite web |title=Early Views of Pasadena |page=6 |publisher=Water and Power Associates |url=https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_Views_of_Pasadena_6_of_8.html |access-date=March 20, 2025}}
Architecture and design
The theater was originally designed in the Egyptian Revival style; however, in 1942, the theater's themed statues were covered with murals of mermaids and underwater scenes. In 1958, the entire theater was redesigned in the Streamline Moderne style and in the 1984, the single theater was split into six, with the theater's former grandeur hidden by plaster after the renovations were complete.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Movie theaters in Los Angeles}}
Category:Theatres completed in 1923