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Everything you need to know about visiting the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Brush up on ticketing and exhibition info for L.A.’s movie museum.

The history of moviemaking finally found a permanent home in Los Angeles with the 2021 arrival of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Located next to LACMA in the Wilshire May Company buildling and in a soap bubble-like space designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, the museum features four full floors of gallery space, two theaters (including a 1,000-seat space in that giant glassy sphere) a restaurant and a gift shop.

The collection features the sorts of cinematic treasures you’d expect from the people who put on the Oscars, with a rotation of items that’s included the Rosebud sled from  Citizen Kane , R2-D2 and C-3PO, the sole surviving shark from  Jaws and a selection of costumes from some of our favorite L.A. films , among many others. You’ll also find a revolving set of galleries dedicated to specific creators and industry crafts.

Where is the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures?

You’ll find the museum at 6067 Wilshire Boulevard in L.A.’s Miracle Mile neighborhood.

The closest parking garage is LACMA’s Pritzker parking garage (entrance on 6th Street), as well as at the Petersen Automotive Museum  on the other side of Wilshire.

When can I visit the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures?

The museum is open six days a week, on Monday and Wednesday through Sunday from 10am to 6pm. It’s closed on Tuesdays.

How do I get tickets to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures?

Timed tickets are required and include admission to all exhibitions. They cost $25 for adults, $19 for seniors (62 and up), $15 for students, and are free for visitors 17 and younger and California residents with an EBT card.

An immersive installation dubbed the Oscars Experience costs an additional $15. Outdoor public areas and the lobby (which includes the small Spielberg Family Gallery and the gift shop) are free to access.

What’s the Oscars Experience? And is it worth it?

Consider this the made-for-Instagram experience at the museum. The Oscars Experience lets you step up to a podium with bright lights and a virtual crowd in your face as your accept your award: an undedicated Oscar, identical to the ones given out during the Academy Awards, that you can pick up (but not keep). You’re only inside for a few seconds, and you’ll be emailed a personalized, polished video of your award acceptance. It’s well put together, but remarkably expensive for just how brief it is; only plunk down the $10 if being able to say “I held an Oscar” is a must.

What can I see right now at the museum?

After the museum’s debut special exhibition, a Hayao Miyazaki retrospective , as well as its follow-up, the excellent “ Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971 ,” the Academy Museum is now hosting “ John Waters: Pope of Trash .” The career-spanning exhibition, which runs into the summer of 2024, follows the evolution of the  Hairspray and Pink Flamingos writer and director’s delightfully filthy style and includes costumes, clips and props from each of his films.

On the horizon , the museum will mount “Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures” in the fall of 2024, with costumes, props and concept art from foundational cyberpunk films like Blade Runner , Tron , Akira and The Matrix .

The museum has also undergone a number of rotations within its permanent collection since first opening. Its debut deep dives on Spike Lee and  The Wizard of Oz  have given way to Agnès Varda and  The Godfather . In the Varda gallery, the museum has collected beautiful photographs, film clips and artwork (including a sculpture of her cat, Nini) from the French New Wave pioneer.

As for  The Godfather , expect to hear the familiar Nino Rota score as you inspect all sorts of familiar props and costumes from the Francis Ford Coppola film (including Vito Corleone’s desk and, yes, a horse head), as well as behind-the-scenes bits like the director’s heavily annotated copy of the original book and Marlon Brando’s jaw prosthetic.

Just past those two galleries, the display of costumes seems to be the most frequently updated space in the museum. (On our last visit, we spotted Laura Dern’s  Jurassic Park outfit and Michael Keaton’s  Beetlejuice wig.)

On the second floor, the galleries now focus on Casablanca , with original production objects and the stories of European émigrés who worked on the film; Boyz n the Hood , specifically its depiction of Black life in South L.A. and its impact on pop culture; collaborations between production designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer, who’ve specialized in period pieces like Anna Karenina and Darkest Hour ; and documentarian Lourdes Portillo’s projects on identity and social justice in Latin America and the U.S. In addition, the permanent “Hollywoodland” will debut this spring with an examination of the history of filmmaking in L.A., starting in the early 20th century.

The third floor’s “Inventing Worlds and Characters” gallery feature what just might be its most familiar objects. The dimly-lit space includes costumes and prosthetics from some of cinema’s most iconic sci-fi and fantasy films. The pieces here rotate occasionally (so you won’t find E.T. there at the moment) but have regularly included C-3PO from  Star Wars , Okoye from  Black Panther and the Amphibian Man from  The Shape of Water , with more recent additions like Frank from  Donnie Darko and Edward Scissorhands.

Can you still see Dorothy’s ruby slippers?

Unfortunately, these are now off display as of November 2022. The shoes are in pristine condition, and the museum tells us that periodically taking them off display is one of the surest methods of keeping it that way. But don’t worry: They’ll likely return at a to-be-determined date in the future.

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Academy Museum Announces Advance Ticket Sales, App and Free Admission for Children

By Clayton Davis

Clayton Davis

Senior Awards Editor

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The long-awaited Academy Museum’s opening on Sept. 30 is getting closer, and it has announced that timed advance admission tickets will be available beginning on Aug. 5 at 9:00 a.m. PT. The museum will also be offering free admission to visitors 17 and under after reaching a milestone from supporters and the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, whose support is in honor of Academy Museum Honorary Trustee and former AMPAS president Sid Ganis.

“I know everyone involved in developing and opening the Academy Museum shares in my tremendous excitement at finally being able to invite the community in to explore our exhibitions and programs,” said Bill Kramer, director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures .

General admission tickets will be $25 for adults, $19 for seniors (age 62+) and $15 for students. In addition to free admission for visitors ages 17 and younger, California residents with an EBT card will also be free. Exhibitions included in the general admission include the multi-floor “Stories of Cinema,” the inaugural temporary retrospective of animator Hayao Miyazaki and “Path to Cinema: Highlights From the Richard Balzar Collection.”

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“The Oscars Experience,” an immersive simulation that enables visitors to feel if they are walking at the Dolby Theatre and accepting an Oscar, will be sold separately at $15, with a required general admission ticket purchase.

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The museum’s public spaces are all accessible without a general admission ticket and free to the public, including the Walt Disney Piazza and the Academy Museum Grand Lobby, which houses the Spielberg Family Gallery and Fanny’s restaurant and cafe.

Tickets will only be available through advance online reservations via the Academy Museum’s website and a new app for IOS and Android, which launches Aug. 3.

The museum will be open seven days a week, with hours Sunday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (The Oscars Experience tickets will be available from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) and Fridays and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The museum will require visitors to follow all COVID-19 public health guidelines by California and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in place at the times of their visits.

Later this summer, the museum will announce its inaugural public programs, film screening series and more information regarding future events.

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Dolby Theatre Tours

Kayte Deioma

The Dolby Theatre was built as the Kodak Theatre in the Hollywood & Highland Center , which opened in 2001. It is the permanent home of the Academy Awards, located in the heart of Hollywood next to the Chinese Theatre , with the Hollywood Walk of Fame outside its door. Tours are offered daily, except during Oscar preparation. The facade shown here is at the front of the Hollywood & Highland Center. The box office and theatre are actually at the back of the Center, accessed from the inside. 

Hours:  Daily 10:30 am to 4 pm, tours leave every half hour and last about a half hour or longer if people have a lot of questions. Where:  Hollywood & Highland, 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028. Tours depart from the level 2 entrance. The box office is on the first level. Tickets:  $20 adults, $16 seniors (65+), and youth under 18, children under 3 Free (strollers will be checked at the door). Discounts:  The Dolby Theatre Tour is also included in the  Go Los Angeles Card . Parking:  $2 for the first 2 hours with validation at Hollywood & Highland, $1 per 15 min thereafter. There are other parking options nearby . Info:   www.dolbytheatre.com/tours Note:  Tours are suspended in February for Oscar preparations and occasionally for special events. Check the website for dates.

Touring the Dolby Theatre (formerly Kodak Theatre) at Hollywood & Highland Center is an interesting way to spend a half hour in Hollywood. If you're short on time or money, there are other Hollywood experiences with more bang for your buck, but if you're a fan of everything Hollywood or aspire to stand on this stage and accept a little gold statue someday, you might want to invest the money. If you have a Go Los Angeles Card, then definitely try to schedule it in. In 2012 the name changed from the Kodak Theatre to the Dolby Theatre and the venue got a Dolby sound upgrade. Taking photos on the tour is strictly prohibited. But you can get a glimpse inside and more information about visiting on the next few pages. 

Dolby Theatre Background

During preparations leading up to the Academy Awards in February, the Dolby Theatre is off limits. The rest of the year, you can go on a half hour guided tour of the facility. The $20 admission is quite steep for taking a look around, but for aspiring stars who have been practicing their acceptance speeches in the mirror since they were small, the chance to stand on the actual stage where so many have received the gold-plated Oscar may be irresistible. It has also been the stage where American Idol contestants belted out their final performances for several years. Since 2001, the Kodak Theatre (now the Dolby Theatre) has been the permanent home of the Academy Awards. Located next to The Chinese Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland shopping and entertainment complex, the theatre hosts concerts and special events when there is no awards ceremony going on.

The Dolby Theatre Tour

Your tour guide describes the red carpet path that the celebrities will follow from Hollywood Boulevard into the theatre, then leads you through the experience from the bar, to the VIP Room and Green Room and out onto the stage. You can see where your favorite celebrities sat in the steep rows of red seats while they waited to hear if their name would be called. All the while, your guide shares his or her knowledge of Oscar trivia. The 3400-seat theatre was designed to showcase the glamour of Hollywood with multi-tiered box seats rising up each wall and a silver-leafed tiara of lights camouflaging and supporting the lighting catwalk suspended from the ceiling.

It probably won't look like the photo above when you see it. This was set up for an AFI Awards Gala with tables all the way up on the stage. 

The Oscar Photo Exhibit at the Dolby Theatre

One of the highlights of the Dolby Theatre tour is the collection of photos of past Academy Award winners like Grace Kelly, Halle Berry and Jack Nicholson accepting their golden statues. Each floor has an exhibit on either side of the grand spiral staircase. The walkway that awardees traverse to the press area is lined with more of these images.

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There's no better time to visit the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Whether you’re viewing groundbreaking exhibitions and attending diverse film screenings, or even enjoying a stunning bar and cafe , a day at the Academy Museum is a must for any movie lover. Museum hours are Sunday to Thursday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Friday to Saturday from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Click here to purchase tickets.

If you're looking for more perks, click here to become an Academy Museum member and receive exciting benefits including complimentary general admission for one year, members-only expedited check-in, invitations to members-only events and film screenings, discounts at the Academy Museum Store, and more.

Advanced Reservations

Timed admission tickets to the Academy Museum are on sale. Advance reservations must be made online and a ticket will be required to visit the Academy Museum’s exhibitions . The public may also visit the Academy Museum Store and Fanny’s restaurant and Café .

Exhibitions

There are multiple ongoing exhibitions currently on view at the Academy Museum. Stories of Cinema is a three-floor exhibition presenting the diverse, international and complex stories of moviemakers, the works they create, and the impact their art has on the world. Additional ongoing exhibitions are The Path to Cinema: Highlights from the Richard Balzer Collection and Backdrop: An Invisible Art.

Another exciting exhibition is Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971 . A first of its kind, the exhibition explores the visual culture of Black cinema, from its early days to just after the Civil Rights Movement. 

MORE: Everything to Know About the Academy Museum Exhibition 'Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898 - 1971'

The Academy Museum offers the public a robust schedule of screenings, discussions, and programs for film lovers of all ages in the museum’s state-of-the-art David Geffen Theater and Ted Mann Theater. In addition to ongoing series such as Family Matinees, Oscar® Sundays, Available Space, and Branch Selects, the museum also features limited series and spotlight screenings that explore specific exhibitions, film artists, genres, and more. 

The museum also features ongoing education and family programs, including youth programs, family studio activities, family matinee screenings, and school tours. These activities will take place through the museum in exhibition galleries, theaters, and the Shirley Temple Education Studio. Accommodative tours for our hard of hearing and deaf communities, and low vision and blind communities, will be offered monthly as well as accommodative family film screenings for neurodivergent viewers.  

COVID-19 Policy: Face masks are required for all visitors ages 2 and up, regardless of vaccination status. Masks must be worn at all times in the museum’s public spaces, including galleries, theaters, restrooms, and the Academy Museum Store. Masks must cover the nose and mouth completely, and must not have any exhalation valves, vents, or holes of any kind. For more Health and Safety protocols please click here . Masks are not required while dining at Fanny’s Restaurant and Café.

Cameras and Photography: Visitor photography for personal, non-commercial use is allowed inside the Academy Museum during public hours, except in galleries where indicated. Please note that audio and video recording and photography is prohibited in the theaters. Feel free to share your photos with us on social media @academymuseum and #AcademyMuseum!

Food and Drinks: No food or drinks are allowed in the museum galleries or theaters. Please keep your mask on at all times.

Backpacks, Bags, and Large Items: In order to help ensure a safe and less crowded environment, we encourage visitors to leave large bags at home whenever possible.

Please note that backpacks of any size may not be worn on the back; they must be carried by hand, worn on the front of the body at all times.

Wheeled Mobility Devices: Manual and electric wheelchairs and manual strollers can be used in all galleries. Manual wheelchairs are available to rent at no charge. Please visit the Winkler Welcome Center in the Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby to request a wheelchair.

Electric personal mobility devices (EPMDs), such as Segways and mobility scooters used because of a disability, must be driven on the lowest speed (at a pace similar to walking). EPMDs may not be used for any other reason than to assist with a mobility disability.

Other wheeled mobility devices such as bicycles, skateboards, scooters, inline/roller skates, or hoverboards are not permitted in the museum.

For a full list of policies and procedures, click here.

Academy Museum Store

The Academy Museum Store features merchandise designed and produced by Academy Members, artists based across California, Los Angeles-based artists specifically, designers, and creatives. Shoppers can find Oscars ® memorabilia, clothing, furniture, accessories, vinyl records, items for the office and for the home, posters, maps, illustrations, toys, games, and other movie-related collectibles. The Academy Museum Store also offers one of the most comprehensive collections of cinema books and catalogues in Los Angeles.

Fanny's Restaurant and Café

Fanny’s is the museum’s restaurant and café, and is named after Fanny Brice – the legendary movie, vaudeville, theater, and radio star portrayed by Barbra Streisand in her Oscar®-winning role in 1968's Funny Girl. The striking two-story, 10,000-square-foot space was conceptualized by the late architect Osvaldo Maiozzi, and features a chef-designed open kitchen, elegant bar, and captain-based service style that nods to a bygone era. The cuisine and cocktails are by Chef Raphael Francois and Julian Cox, respectively. 

Fanny's cafe and bar is open Sunday through Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Meanwhile, Fanny's restaurant is open Wednesday through Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. For more information about Fanny's menu and operating hours, please click here.

Click here to join the Academy Museum's newsletter to discover complete stories and experience history from the largest institution in the United States devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. 

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Academy Museum will roll out a digital red carpet before the Oscars

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The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures won’t open until Sept. 30, but you can “visit” as soon as April. The museum held an online media preview Wednesday, during which it announced that virtual programming will start on its website April 22.

The museum is the public face of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The 93rd Oscars ceremony will spotlight the film industry on April 25, and the museum is rolling out the virtual red carpet a few days before with screenings, panel discussions, educational workshops and other online events.

“The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has long been a dream of the academy, the city of Los Angeles and the film industry,” Director Bill Kramer said in his welcome address Wednesday. Drawing on the academy’s film archive and its Margaret Herrick Library of works on paper as well as participation from academy members across its branches, the museum will be “unparalleled in what it will offer,” Kramer said.

After several false starts — the museum originally planned to open Dec. 14, 2020, and the pandemic pushed the opening to April 30, 2021, then Sept. 30 — Kramer said museum officials were confident it will open in September.

“We are prepared to open and fully ready to open,” Kramer said. “We will continue to monitor the health and safety components of opening in September,” he added, “but we’re feeling very good about it.”

The first virtual event in April will be a conversation with groundbreaking women in the industry, hosted by museum trustee Diane von Furstenberg and moderated by the museum’s chief artistic and programming officer, Jacqueline Stewart . “Breaking the Oscars Ceiling” will feature Whoopi Goldberg, Marlee Matlin, singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie as well as Sophia Loren, who will receive the museum’s inaugural annual Visionary Award at its first fundraising gala Sept. 25.

The website also will showcase an interactive timeline of Oscars history, previewing a similar timeline in the museum when it opens.

In the days leading up to the Oscars, the museum will screen online writer-director Dee Rees’ 2011 “Pariah,” with a cast and crew discussion afterward, as well as writer-director Alfonso Cuaron’s 2001 “Y Tu Mamá También.” Cuaron will discuss the film in Spanish, with English subtitles, with cinematographer Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki afterward.

Kramer said that the museum chose those films because they’re represented in the core exhibition “Stories of Cinema.”

“We wanted components of our core exhibition and to bring them to life through these virtual programs,” he said.

Pre-opening educational programs include a conversation with six Black visual effects artists and a day of art-making workshops, live performances and other events related to the work of Hayao Miyazaki. The retrospective “Hayao Miyazaki” is the museum’s inaugural special exhibition and is being touted as the first major U.S. exhibition of the Japanese filmmaker’s work.

Stewart called the slate of pre-opening and in-person planned programming “dynamic, diverse and deeply grounded in the history and artistry of filmmaking.”

A pre-opening, virtual “In Conversation” film series, Stewart said, “will address intersections between filmmaking and social change, directors’ inspiration, creative collaborations and so much more.”

Wednesday’s event included a virtual tour of the museum’s galleries, seen in renderings and led by museum trustee Laura Dern . Prerecorded comments were from academy members including Guillermo del Toro , Spike Lee and Rita Moreno — all of whom are highlighted in the museum’s exhibitions — as well as museum board vice chair Miky Lee . Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano , who designed the 300,000-square-foot, $482-million museum, participated in the preview as did Kulapat Yantrasast , whose Culver City-based wHY Architecture designed the gallery interiors.

When it opens, “Stories of Cinema” will address the evolution of filmmaking across three floors of the museum, with deep dives into different facets, including directing, screenwriting, cinematography, sound design, costume design, hair and makeup, and visual and special effects. Conceptual exhibits will focus on topics such as sci-fi/fantasy characters and worlds. The museum will refresh gallery content every eight to 12 months, Kramer said, and it will rotate in guest curators from the industry. The first three will be filmmakers Lee and Pedro Almodóvar and Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir .

The museum’s fourth floor will be devoted to special exhibitions. After “Hayao Miyazaki,” the museum will present “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971” in 2022.

All of Hollywood’s narratives, including the industry’s problematic history regarding racism, diversity and lack of inclusion, will be addressed throughout the museum, Kramer said. A gallery about the history of the Oscars will address, among other things, the 1940 treatment of Hattie McDaniel. The “Gone With the Wind” actress was the first African American to win an Oscar but was made to sit in the back of the room at the ceremony. An Impact/Reflection gallery will address how movies mirror and impact our world, touching on the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements as well as the topics of labor relations and climate change. An animation exhibit will address racism and sexism in the field; an exhibit on makeup will address the history of blackface and yellowface.

“We’re a museum about cinema, the art of films, our history, our future,” Kramer said in a question-and-answer session after the presentation. “And given that mandate — the mission that we have to celebrate and create moments of discovery around moviemaking — we can’t erase our past.”

It’s a particularly relevant time to address such topics, Stewart said in the Q&A. “This is a moment when so many institutions are thinking through these questions.”

“It’s incredibly important too,” she added, “that we’re working with people who have contributed to filmmaking in so many different areas, all areas of the craft.”

The museum will lean heavily on its two state-of-the-art movie theaters to host in-person events. Screenings and discussions with movie industry figures will be held in the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater and 288-seat Ted Mann Theater.

Is the museum concerned that visitors might be wary of sitting in a theater?

“I think we have to keep an eye on what’s possible when we open, given the pandemic,” Kramer said in an interview. “But we have both in-person and virtual options in front of us.

“Our hope is that people will be very eager to return to theaters. We do have the ability to do timed ticketing and staggered seating, so if we need to employ those visitor services options, we will to make the spaces safe.”

Construction of the museum — a restored 1939 May Co. building and Piano’s new globe-shaped theater, both next to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Wilshire Boulevard — is complete. The ground-level restaurant, cafe and retail store are nearly complete. Installation of the exhibitions is nearly finished but for objects that will be placed in vitrines and cases closer to the opening.

“Our exhibition spaces are built out,” Kramer said, “and look absolutely beautiful.”

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Deborah Vankin is an arts and culture writer for the Los Angeles Times. In what’s never a desk job, she has live-blogged her journey across Los Angeles with the L.A. County Museum of Art’s “big rock,” scaled downtown mural scaffolding with street artist Shepard Fairey, navigated the 101 freeway tracking the 1984 Olympic mural restorations and ridden Doug Aitken’s art train through the Barstow desert. Her award-winning interviews and profiles unearth the trends, issues and personalities in L.A.’s arts scene. Her work as a writer and editor has also appeared in Variety, LA Weekly and the New York Times, among other places. Originally from Philadelphia, she’s the author of the graphic novel “Poseurs.”

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All the locations the Oscars have called home

The 2021 Academy Awards are heading back downtown.

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine , The Hollywood Reporter , and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight , is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

As Hollywood's biggest night, the Oscars are all about glitz, glamour, and celebrating the past year in movies.

When they began in 1929, they were far more of an insider affair, a celebratory banquet rather than a presentational ceremony. But as their allure grew—and they were broadcast, first via radio, then television—so did the trappings of their banquet hall.

Over a dozen different locations have played host to the Oscars, and the 2021 Academy Awards add a new space to the mix with the announcement that Union Station will play home to portions of the ceremony. Here, we look back at all the places they've rolled out the red carpet over the years.

Roosevelt Hotel, Los Angeles

The Roosevelt Hotel, which still stands today and often plays host to premieres and glitzy Hollywood events, holds the honor of being the location of the very first Academy Awards (the nickname "Oscar" hadn't been coined yet). The banquet was held in the hotel's Blossom Ballroom and was open only to Academy members. Douglas Fairbanks was the host, and the ceremony was held three months after the winners were already announced! It was at this ceremony that Clara Bow war drama Wings became the first ever Best Picture winner, but the business of handing out the statues only took 15 minutes (a far cry from today's marathons).

Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles

The Ambassador Hotel, demolished in 2005 and replaced by a school, was once a Hollywood hotspot and home to the famed nightclub Cocoanut Grove where performers like Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland entertained. In 1930, the second ceremony was held within the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, and it was the first ceremony to be broadcast in a one-hour live special on a Los Angeles radio station. From 1930 to 1943, six Academy Awards banquets were held here, alternating with the Biltmore Hotel as a location. It was here that trailblazing screenwriter Frances Marion became the first writer to win two Academy Awards, and the Oscars had their first tie—between Wallace Beery and Fredric March for Best Actor—in 1932. The Ambassador was also where Gone With the Wind set records at the 1940 ceremony, which also saw the milestone of Hattie McDaniel's Oscar win . The 1940 ceremony also prompted the Academy to transition to secret sealed envelopes after the L.A. Times published the names of the winners before the event.

Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles

The Biltmore Bowl, a ballroom complete with a stage, was the site of the Academy Awards eight times from 1931 to 1942. The hotel, still famed for its art deco architecture, has multiple ballrooms with ties to Oscar history. The Crystal Ballroom was the site of a 1927 luncheon where the Academy was founded. It was also here that MGM art director Cedric Gibbons first sketched the design for the Oscar statuette on one of the hotel's linen napkins. Luise Rainer made Oscar history at the Biltmore, becoming the first actor to win back-to-back Oscars (a feat repeated only one year later by Spencer Tracy ).

Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles

The Chinese, now known as the TCL Chinese, is a Hollywood icon, home to countless movie premieres and the famed forecourt where stars have immortalized their hands and footprints in cement. But it also played home to the Oscars from 1944 to 1946. The 1944 ceremony (the 16th Academy Awards) marked the first time the ceremony was held in a large public venue, pivoting away from the original banquet format. Beloved classic Casablanca won Best Picture at the 1944 ceremony. This was the first year the Oscars were covered by network radio, and also the beginning of the supporting actor and actress winners receiving full size statuettes. 1944 marked the last time there were 10 Best Picture nominees until 2009 .

Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles

The 1947 and 1948 Oscars took place in downtown Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium, a venue designed in the Moorish Revival style. The 1948 Awards got a redux (and the Shrine, which is still standing, a retro makeover) in 2020 when Ryan Murphy recreated the ceremony for his Netflix series Hollywood. Though the ceremony didn't need to be made any more groundbreaking, considering the impact of Best Picture winner Gentlemen's Agreement, which tackled anti-Semitism in new and unflinching ways.

Marquis Theater, Los Angeles

For one year only, the Academy moved the ceremony to their own private theater on Melrose Avenue. The 21st Academy Awards were held here on March 24, 1949. It was a ceremony filled with firsts, including the first non-Hollywood produced Best Picture winner ( Laurence Olivier 's Hamlet ) and the introduction of the Best Costume Design category.

Pantages Theater, Los Angeles

Beginning in 1950, the Oscars kicked off an 11-year run at what was then known as the RKO Pantages Theater. This Art Deco marvel once part of the famous Pantages movie palace circuit has since been converted for theatrical productions and hosts national tours of productions like Hamilton . The first televised Oscars took place here in 1953 (with joint presentations from New York City) with Bob Hope —who hosted a record 19 times—presiding over the event. For their first time on TV, the Oscars came complete with an upset in the Best Picture category when Cecil B. DeMille 's The Greatest Show on Earth beat heavy favorite High Noon . In 1960, it was here that Ben-Hur set the record for most Oscar wins ever, which has been met twice but never broken.

NBC International Theatre, New York

In 1953, the Oscars offered their first ever bicoastal broadcast, airing live on television (for the first time) from both Los Angeles' Pantages Theater and New York's International Theater in Columbus Circle. Fredric March acted as emcee for the NYC proceedings, with many nominated Broadway actors going straight from their theaters to the broadcast since it didn't begin until 10 p.m. E.T. The theater, which was owned by NBC , was torn down not long after this.

NBC Century Theatre, New York

The Oscars remained a bicoastal affair from 1954 to 1957, and it was this theater that served as the New York City hub for the broadcast. It was here that two of the biggest actresses of the 1950s accepted their Academy Awards. In 1954, newcomer Audrey Hepburn won for her gamine role as royalty playing hooky in Roman Holiday , while the 1955 awards honored an entirely different type of performance, Method actress Eva Marie Saint's hyper-realistic turn in On the Waterfront .

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, Calif.

The Academy Awards reached their furthest West destination beginning in 1961 when they moved to Santa Monica. The newly built Civic Auditorium played host to the Oscars until 1968. The Apartment became the last black-and-white film to win Best Picture for over three decades here. In 1966, the ceremony was broadcast in color for the first time from sunny Santa Monica. This was also the site of the infamous 1963 Oscar spat between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis where Crawford upstaged Davis in the midst of her What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? nomination (this moment and all that led up to it was also recreated by Ryan Murphy on Feud: Bette and Joan ). The 1968 awards were postponed from April 8 to April 10 due to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr .

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles

Beginning in 1969, the Oscars found a new space at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, home to the LA Opera and one of the biggest stages in the world. The ceremony was held here every year through 1987, and then it alternated with the Shrine Auditorium for another dozen years from 1988-2001. The 41st Academy Awards in 1961 were the first to be broadcast internationally. That year also marked Stanley Kubrick 's only Oscar win, for the visual effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey , and a rare tie (the only one in the Best Actress category) between Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter and Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl . The 1999 ceremony was the final one to be held here, and it was at that Oscars where Shakespeare in Love famously upset Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture.

The Oscars returned to the Shrine for the 1988 and 1989 ceremonies, before alternating between here and the Dorothy Chandler until 2001. During the Academy Awards' second stint at the Shrine, it served as host for the 70th Oscars in 1998 where Titanic won an epic 11 Oscars, tying with Ben-Hur for most wins ever (which would be matched once more by The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2003). Due to Titanic's immense box office popularity, that became the highest-rated broadcast in Oscar history.

Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles

The Dolby Theatre, formerly known as the Kodak, was designed specifically with the Oscar ceremony in mind and has played home to the Academy Awards since it opened in 2001. The Dolby will share hosting duties with Los Angeles' Union Station in 2021, marking the first time in two decades that the ceremony has diverged from what has been dubbed the Oscars' permanent home. Numerous memorable modern Oscar moments have occurred here, including the Lord of the Rings record-tying 11 wins and the infamous envelope mix-up that led to La La Land being mistakenly named Best Picture before the record was corrected to honor Moonlight . Presumably, after the COVID disruption, the Oscars will continue here for many years to come.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist , featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best films.

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