The Hollywood Theatre just inherited 600 "gently used" seats from Regal Cinemas. Much as they scored sound equipment and projectors from Regal when the chain shut down their downtown Broadway Metroplex theater, word is these seats were donated after Regal decided to upgrade one of its Lloyd Cinemas auditoriums to IMAX status.
The only problem? The seats are gonna cost $30,000 to install. You can donate to the Hollywood's seat-installation fund here, and as Hollywood Theatre Executive Director Doug White noted in an email, "If you have sat in one of our current seats, you know how important this initiative is, both to our success and your comfort." (He's right. The current seats suck.) The Hollywood's head programmer/technical director, Dan Halsted, also let me know of another upgrade: The theater just ordered a new screen for the main auditorium, which should be installed later this month.
The Hollywood's been changing a lot in the past year or so, in terms of programming, attitude, and aesthetics—and as far as I can tell, just about all the changes have been really great ones. The theater feels vibrant and unique in a way that it hasn't for a long time—which is another way of saying that if you're one of the rare folks with a few bucks to spare these days, there are worse ways to spend it than helping the Hollywood continue to improve.