The Dolby Theatre (formerly known as the Kodak Theatre) is a live-performance auditorium in the Hollywood and Highland shopping mall and entertainment complex, on Hollywood Boulevard and North Highland Avenue, in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, USA. Since its opening on November 9, 2001, the theater has hosted the Academy Awards ceremonies, initially held there in March 2002. It is the first permanent home for these annual awards ceremonies. The theater was designed by David Rockwell of the Rockwell Group, with Theatre Projects Consultants, specifically with the Oscar ceremonies in mind. The result of astute planning and technical design, the auditorium is particularly successful as a venue for televised theatrical performance. The architectural team consulted extensively with leading production personnel in Hollywood, achieving a highly functional cable infrastructure, with an underground cable bunker that crosses under the theater to truck locations on adjacent streets. Power is also substantial and accessible. And the theater has a unique, Rockwell-designed cockpit in the orchestra seating area for camera, sound, and stage management. The hall from the front entrance to the grand stairway is flanked by storefronts, as well as Art Deco columns displaying the names of past recipients of the Academy Award for Best Picture, with blank spaces left for future Best Picture winners, well into the 21st century. Currently the columns are set for Best Picture up to 2071. In a fashion reminiscent of Hollywood movie-making, the building is dressed before the Academy Awards ceremony, sometimes with a different sign on its facade, red drapery to hide its storefronts, and the famous red carpet running up its grand stairway.