Sadly, most of the most glorious palaces are long gone. The Warner Cinerama sits empty but could be restored - gorgeous. The Chinese is not the Chinese that I grew up with - it had a major redo when the reconfigured it for IMAX. The Carthay Circle was spectacular - gone. The Village is still in Westwood and is nice, as is the Bruin, but I wouldn't call either one a palace. Both Beverly Hills movie theaters, the big ones, are gone - The Beverly and the Stanley Warner Beverly Hills, which, like the Ritz on Wilshire Blvd. is now a parking lot. The Saban was formerly the Wilshire - where Sound of Music played for two years, but it's still beautiful. There are very few single screen theaters left in LA - all the single screens I attended regularly as a child are gone with the wind. While there are a few gorgeous downtown theaters left, some of the best were torn down, while others became retail outlets. I suppose it's pretty much the same in any city anywhere, but especially the major cities.