Aquarius Theater

The mural on the historic Aquarius Theater in Hollywood was originally painted by a collective of Dutch and English artists for the opening of Hair, and the theater, in 1968. Before then it had been the Earl Carroll Theatre from its opening in 1938 until 1953, a nightspot called Moulin Rouge until 1966, the Hullabaloo Club until 1968 and, for just six months, the Kaleidoscope. Fox renamed it the Chevy Chase Theater in 1993 and Nickelodeon renamed it Nickelodeon on Sunset in 1997. In 2016 the theatre was given local Historic-Cultural Monument status. Nickelodeon vacated in 2017 just in time for Quentin Tarantino to repaint it as the Aquarius for his film “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.” The theater will be preserved as part of a new mixed-use development currently under construction, but a new operator has not yet been named.

Hollywood, Los Angeles County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt