Paramount Theatre, Art Deco concert hall in Downtown Oakland, United States
The Paramount Theatre is an Art Deco concert hall in Downtown Oakland featuring a three-thousand-seat auditorium decorated throughout with Egyptian-inspired architectural details. The space showcases elaborate wall decorations, ornamental metalwork, and a grand marquee illuminated by neon lights.
The theater was completed in 1931 by architect Timothy L. Pflueger as the largest multi-purpose theater on the West Coast at the time. It opened during a period of rapid growth in the motion picture industry.
The theater serves as home to the Oakland East Bay Symphony and Oakland Ballet, hosting regular classical music performances and dance productions. It remains a gathering place where the community comes together for live arts.
The main entrance is on Broadway at 2025; the auditorium is entered from a spacious lobby, with a mezzanine bar and a lower-level bar added in the 1973 restoration. Seats installed then are wider, with more legroom between rows than the 1931 original. The theater is a working concert hall, so interior access is tied to performances and events rather than daily visiting hours.
The Wurlitzer organ built for the Paramount in 1931 was a four-manual, twenty-rank Publix I (Opus 2164) costing $20,000. The popcorn machines and candy counters added in the 1950s were removed when the Oakland Symphony Orchestra Association bought the building in 1972. The 1973 restoration widened the seats and increased row spacing for leg room.
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