Inglewood’s Academy Theater, originally designed to host the Academy Awards, never did. Architect S. Charles Lee designed the Academy, and later Inglewood’s Fox Theater, for the Fox West Coast Theatre chain. Lee developed theater design standards over the course of his career, building over 300 palaces for movie patrons. His dramatic forms and luxurious designs framed patrons’ entertainment, allowing them momentary escape during the challenging Great Depression and Cold War years.

The Academy Theater is noted for a streamlined aesthetic, circular forms and glass block. The exterior naming spire, is circled by a helical light illuminating the 'Academy' name. The Academy served as a location for film premieres through the 1970s. In 1976 the Academy Theatre became a church.

Maggie Valentine writes in her classic history of the genre, The Show Starts on the Sidewalk: An Architectural History of the Movie Theater, Starring S. Charles Lee 1994, "Initially viewing the design of movie palaces akin to a cathedral to film where patrons were treated like royalty for 25 cents, the Depression caused him to abandon that belief. He came to see cinemas as machines for entertainment and profit, developing a formula in which he combined entertainment and visibility."