El Capitan Undergoes Seismic Retrofitting

When “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” goes on stage at the El Capitan Theatre later this month, it’s not likely that the 68-year-old West Hollywood monument will come tumbling down. Not after this week, when 140,000 pounds of steel were threaded vertically through the building as part of a $3-million seismic retrofitting.

The 1,000-seat theater, preparing for the June 21 premiere of another Disney animation movie with a stage show, is now among the first historic buildings in Los Angeles to conform to the city’s revised earthquake regulations.