Epitomizing the greatness of Hollywood and the glorious excess of the Roaring Twenties, movie palaces were opulent movie theaters with plush carpeting, gilded ceilings, glass staircases, Wurlitzer organs, stylized decor, uniformed ushers, and as many as 6,000 seats. Movie palaces of yesteryear remain a nostalgic reminder of Holly-wood's and America's greatest days.

It was not always thus. When Hollywood was young, and films silent, moviegoing was considered entertainment for the lower classes. Exhibition of early cinema reflected the stark class division of movie audiences. The earliest venues for projected movies were converted store fronts. In 1904 Harry Davis and John Harris, store owners and two of the hundreds of local entrepreneurs who shaped movie history, charged five cents for admission to the movies they showed in their converted store in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Combining the price of the ticket with the Greek word for theater, they called their theater...