Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Headquarters

Hidden behind the mirrored-glass front of 8949 Wilshire Boulevard sits the headquarters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, an organization that has celebrated and chronicled the art of filmmaking for almost a century. Although the Academy’s operations are dispersed across many locations, the headquarters oversees the Academy Awards, the Academy’s membership program, marketing and communications, and hosts the Academy Governors when they meet to steer the organization’s future. The building also features the Academy’s 1,010-seat Samuel Goldwyn Theater, which holds screenings of nominated films, among others, for Academy Members. Additionally, the headquarters has served as the primary location for each year’s Oscar nominations announcement.

Since the formation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927, the organization’s headquarters has moved through a series of locations, including Hollywood’s historic Taft Building and the now-demolished Academy Awards Theatre in West Hollywood. The property on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills was purchased in 1972 to house the Academy’s operations and, in the summer of 1975, a newly constructed building opened for business.  The Wilshire headquarters has been home to many aspects of the Academy’s work. The Margaret Herrick Library was located here before moving to its current location on La Cienega Boulevard in 1990. The Academy Players Directory, the long-running publication used for decades by casting directors and filmmakers to find actors, was also based on Wilshire until 2002. 

Additionally, this location included two theaters: the 67-seat Academy Little Theater and the 1,010-seat Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The larger space was the site of countless public programs celebrating great films and the artists behind them. The series “Facets of the Diamond” presented each of the first 75 Best Picture winners with introductions and panel discussions, while “Great to Be Nominated” presented other Best Picture contenders for the first 80 years of the awards.  “A Monstrous Centennial” celebrated the hundredth year of Universal Studios by showcasing its classic horror films. Olivia de Havilland and Sidney Poitier are among the screen legends honored in person at the Goldwyn, and the theater also hosted anniversary screenings for classics like Singin’ in the Rain (USA, 1952) as well as centennial celebrations of filmmakers such as Fred Astaire, Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, and Mary Pickford. 

The Wilshire headquarters also included two gallery spaces. From the 1970s to the early 2010s, these galleries held public exhibitions on costume design, set decoration, and other aspects of the art and craft of film. When the Wilshire building was remodeled in 2013, the gallery spaces were eliminated with an eye toward the future construction of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

The 2013 remodel also eliminated the Academy Little Theater and upgraded the Goldwyn Theater. The boardroom underwent a complete renovation as well, to make room for governors in newly added and expanded Academy branches, such as Casting Directors, Makeup Artists and Hairstylists, and Costume Designers. The extra room would come in handy when the Academy later added three governors-at-large as part of its ongoing effort to advance inclusion in the entertainment industry and increase representation within its membership.