Reader to Reader

Frank A. Gagliano writes (Letters, Nov. 17) that the forecourt of the Chinese Theater was “sterilized” and “ruined” by the removal of the canopy, ticket booth and marquee (with neon dragons) as part of the Hollywood & Highland project. These elements were not part of the original 1926-27 design and construction. The canopy was added in the ‘30s and, as with Grauman’s Egyptian down the street, the large marquee was a “modernization” of the postwar years.

The removal of these items returns the theater to a state more closely resembling its original appearance, and I am glad to have the opportunity to finally see it in this form, without the aforementioned intrusive additions.

STEVEN A. WELLS

Glendale

*

The newly restored Grauman’s Chinese is a great tribute to the golden days of Hollywood. The theater is, once again, a premiere showplace in Hollywood. Gone are those tacky neon signs and tin canopy.

Thanks to meticulous care, the theater now looks the way Sid Grauman envisioned it.

MILT LARSEN

Hollywood