The Hollywood Pacific Theater: Sam Warner’s Ghost

Posted: 12.18.2024 | Updated: 02.05.2025

The Hollywood Pacific Theatre in Hollywood, California, is a monument to a golden age of cinema and the creative fires that forged the movie industry and Hollywood of today. So often, the passage of time has reduced these old theatres to footnotes of the past.

Etched forever on the pages of Hollywood history are names and places that fought and struggled to bring the LA movie machine of today into existence. Los Angeles is sprinkled with theaters and landmarks that bear the names of the people, like so many stars in the sky. 

For some, however, progress came at a steep price. The hauntings and ghostly goings-on at one Hollywood movie palace scream loudly about that mortal cost.

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Who Haunts The Hollywood Pacific Theater?

For most of us, going to the movies or settling in with the family to watch a blockbuster has been a much-enjoyed ritual since childhood. As we watch the title credits roll, we passively become familiar with an endless list of famous and anonymous names responsible for casting a spell on us and drawing us into their world. 

For the Hollywood Pacific Theater, it all began with four brothers whose legacy would be ingrained in our appetite for films. Warner Brothers are known the world over for the iconic ‘WB’ logo and the film and television empire they created.

There was a time, however, when Sam L. Warner and his brothers balanced precariously somewhere between success and oblivion. In the case of Sam Warner, it’s believed he may even have returned from the grave to finish his life’s work. 

History of the Hollywood Pacific Theater

The Warner Theatre opened for business on April 26th, 1928. The theatre was built with competition and innovation in mind. Hollywood showman and entrepreneur Sid Grauman had two of Hollywood’s most recognized locations nearby: The Chinese Theatre, heralded today as a temple to moviemaking and the joy of cinema, and The Egyptian Theatre. 

Four brothers, Jewish-Polish immigrants, had made their early winnings in cinema showing films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania and Ohio before purchasing a cinema of their own. In 1917, the family quintet moved their operation and aspirations to California. Warner Brothers Pictures Inc. was born in 1923.

To compete with studios such as MGM, Sam Warner foresaw the future. Warner insisted WB invest in what was thought to be a passing fad; ‘talking pictures.’ However, Sam’s vision came at a cost. The studio reported a 1926 loss of $333,413. 

The opening night was Glorious Betsy, which starred Conrad Nagel and Dolores Costello. 

Originally, the brothers intended The Jazz Singer’s premiere, starring Al Jolson, to be the Warner Theatre’s inaugural evening. Still, Sam Warner tragically passed away the night prior, mere inches from his dream.

In 1949, the Supreme Court decreed studios could no longer own theatres. A 1953 ownership change saw innovation continue. Widescreen’s introduction (Cinerama) further attracted attendees.

A 1968 sale to Pacific Theatres saw the venue renamed and ushered in one of its finest moments: the premiere of Stanley Kubrick’s 1969 masterpiece, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’.

The 1994 Northridge Earthquake ended the venue’s use as a cinema. Water damage ravaged the building, and today, the lightless facade and eerie decaying interior are only inhabited by security and hardy video bloggers who break the silence and law to peer inside. However, something may be hiding in the dark.

Sam Warner In Life and Death

The four brothers constantly had to battle the major studios that wanted them out of business. This, along with the general antisemitism of the age, made it all the harder for a Jewish-owned business to finance plans. The industry and press were less than convinced that ‘talking pictures’ would be a success. Some suggested that ruin lay in wait for Sam and his siblings.

The opening night at The Warner was intended to be the film ‘The Jazz Singer’ starring Al Jolson, which would go on to be a huge commercial success. However, the pressure cooker and physical demands of trying to meet that deadline and install the revolutionary sound system saw Sam Warner’s health rapidly deteriorate. 

Sadly, the movie will premiere in New York City, with the Warner Theater still incomplete. Jack Warner joined Sam in the installation and production of The Jazz Singer.

In September 1927, one month before the release of the Al Jolson classic, Jack Warner noticed Sam was becoming increasingly unwell. By the end of September, Sam could barely walk and was hospitalized. 

Amongst several medical issues, Sam Warner had a mastoid infection of the brain. Despite the doctor’s best efforts, Warner slipped into a coma.

He died a single day before the release of The Jazz Singer. His vision would change the world and propel WB into the big leagues. Sam Warner died within sight of it. 

Hauntings of the Hollywood Pacific Theater

For decades, staff at the Hollywood Pacific Theater, formerly the Warner Theater, have steadfastly claimed to have seen a tired and agitated Warner walking the halls of the movie palace. The elevators were reported to work of their own accord, in darkness, with no one around but the night security.

In the 1970s, two late-night cleaning staff members were frozen stiff as they watched the ghost of Sam Warner look them dead in the eyes before turning, entering an elevator, and disappearing upward. 

The staff were so disturbed that they chased down security to explain what they had seen and then promptly quit on the spot. Warner’s ghost has been seen far less since the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, which ended the venue as a theater.

Some have speculated that Sam Warner constantly returned to his labor of love in the hope of completing his task. The earthquake effectively closed that chapter and, yet again, may have ended the dream.

Haunted Hollywood

The birth of Hollywood contains all the drama and spine-chilling moments of a script waiting to be read on an LA studio desk. The Warner tale and the birth of the Hollywood Pacific Theatre are only a chapter in the real-life and afterlife tales that are woven through the rise of movie-making to the pinnacle of pop culture today. 

Sam Warner didn’t live to see his dream come alive or even to see a full house, rolling credits, and a hush fall over an excited audience in his beloved theater.

However, it doesn’t mean that he and many others aren’t watching over Hollywood Boulevard and the movie palaces that still stand for the glitz and glamour of the age. Dive into a truly haunted Hollywood history on a Los Angeles Ghost Tour to learn more!

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for haunted stories from around the nation, and keep reading our blog for the best-haunted history in Los Angeles. 

Sources:

• https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0912580/bio
• https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/warner-pacific-theatre
• https://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/earthquakes/northridge
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHAjtHUEq9c