The building was financed by the Hill Street Fireproof Building Company, designed by George Edwin Bergstrom with the theater and building interior designed by William Lee Woollett, all for impresario Sid Grauman,[2] known at the time for the Million Dollar Theatre and best remembered today for his two Hollywood movie palaces: the Chinese and Egyptian theaters.

[3] The theater's first screening was the film premiere of Gloria Swanson's My American Wife, with the actress in attendance.

Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanian Orchestra accompanied the film on stage, as did three vaudeville acts.

The theater also featured an orchestra lift, one of the largest balconies ever built, the longest projection throw in Los Angeles, and the theater was one of the first to be air conditioned in the United States.

[1][5] Metropolitan Annex was built of brick with terra cotta detailing in 1923, and was remodeled by Hal Pereira in 1941.