Oscar's elegant home – in a shopping mall

Memo to Nicole, Halle, Sissy, Renee, and Judi: Think Scarlett O'Hara. After all, the restrooms in the Oscars' new home are built to allow two women in hoop skirts to pass each other without so much as touching.

Don't forget the parasols, either. The facilities are located outside the ballroom, over a couple of open-air concrete ramps.

And for those who don't win or become bored during the ceremonies, there's the Gap, Brookstone, or even a Burger King to duck into.

In a dramatic return to Hollywood, Oscar's new home at the Kodak Theatre is located in the belly of a suburban shopping mall, the Hollywood & Highland project, named for the streets it straddles.

"For our night, it won't look like that," says Ric Robertson, executive administrator of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). "We will wrap or drape in one attractive way or another the commercial element."

While viewers might think Sunday night is just about the Oscar winners, the locals know better.

Behind the scenes, residents and developers are holding their breath about the future of a $615 million project designed to lure Oscar home permanently and revive a part of town that has become a haven for runaways and drug dealers.

"The vision of the place was for the metaphor to have authentic meaning," says Beth Harris, director of marketing for the developer, TrizecHahn. "We wanted Oscar to come back."

The Academy hasn't held the Oscar ceremonies in the real Hollywood since 1929, when it lasted all of 15 minutes, hardly long enough for a self-respecting celebrity to exit a limo these days.

Whether the shoe will fit or drop remains to be seen.

As is so often the case in this industry town, the devil is in the details.

The $94 million Kodak Theatre, designed for the Oscar ceremonies, is pure nostalgia. It resembles a 1920s movie palace with stacked opera boxes.

"What I like about this space," says singer Barry Manilow, who performed at the theater last December, "is there isn't a bad seat in the house."

Architect David Rockwell says he designed the theater more vertically to keep a close relationship between performers and the

entire house, even the highest seats. "Warmth and intimacy," is the goal, he says.

But that audience bonding may come at the cost of disgruntled Oscar voters.

The Kodak seats a mere 3,300, down from roughly 4,000 at the Shrine Auditorium. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has had to notify its voting membership that many who want tickets will be turned away.

The stage is big by theater standards. But the demands of the Oscar telecast – the biggest awards show aired on TV with a nearly $16 million budget – are much larger. Stage left is small, which means the entire show must load from the right.

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