PICTURE OF PRAISE OSCAR ATTENDEES LAUD LOCATION, ACOUSTICS OF KODAK THEATRE.

Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer

THE ACADEMY Awards' return to Hollywood at the new Kodak Theatre got a thumbs-up from those attending the ceremony.

``I grew up 10 blocks from here,'' said two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster, pleased that the Oscars were back in Hollywood. ``My whole life has been about lying in bed, eating Chinese food, watching the Oscars. Now it's back in the neighborhood.''

``It's great to bring the Academy Awards back to Hollywood,'' said Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn. ``This is where it started; it's good to be home.''

The $94 million Kodak Theatre, in the $600 million Hollywood & Highland retail and entertainment complex, was built to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' specifications and there were concerns about holding it in Hollywood and the theater itself.

Although there has been some criticism of the sound quality in the Kodak Theatre during its concert presentations, George Watters II and Christopher Boyes, who won Sunday for achievement in sound editing for ``Pearl Harbor,'' enthused about the acoustics and security at the new venue. ``It sounded really good out there,'' Watters said. ``I was impressed.''

His partner in sound, Boyes, added that the security was impressive and extremely smooth. ``The minute I got out of the limousine, I felt everything was handled really well.''

Mark Stetson, holding an Oscar backstage for achievement in visual effects for ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,'' said his Kodak experience had the best resolution of any Academy Awards ceremony he has attended. ``This is a terrific place,'' he said, adding that it might be a bit small. ``This seemed to be the smoothest in terms of getting people seated.'' Tightened security, though, forced the number of fans allowed in the bleachers section to be cut to 400, all of whom went through background checks.

In the meantime, in hopes of seeing some of Hollywood's royalty, thousands of fans showed up outside police barricades.

Mixed with the estimated 2,500 fans was a small army of police that included SWAT teams on rooftops. Though some in the crowds may have missed their favorite stars, arrivals seemed to go without a hitch.

Previously, the show has alternated between the 5,600-seat Shrine Auditorium and the 3,197-seat Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and some academy members complained in the weeks preceding the ceremony that the 3,100-seat Kodak was too tiny to accommodate all the voters who wanted to attend Sunday's 74th annual event, in which the telecast returned to Hollywood for the first time since 1960, when it was held at the Pantages Theatre.

The Kodak Theatre is less than a block from the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where the first Oscars were presented in 1929.

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9 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 4 -- cover -- color) A few new faces, clockwise from top: Honorary award winner Sidney Poitier; Woody Allen's first time at the Oscars; Randy Newman, winner for best song - finally, after 16 nominations; host Whoopi Goldberg busses best-actor nominee Russell Crowe during the first awards ceremony at the Kodak Theatre.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(5) Celebrities line the red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Kodak Theatre before the Oscar presentation Sunday.

Ric Francis/Associated Press

(6) A larger-than-life Oscar stands sentinel over the theater's heavily guarded entrances.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(7) ``It's great to bring the Academy Awards back to Hollywood... It's good to be home,'' proclaims L.A. Mayor James Hahn.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

(8 -- 9) Security personnel stake out the Oscar arrivals from a nearby rooftop on Hollywood Boulevard. Fans, meanwhile, watch the scene on a big screen TV outside the Kodak Theatre.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer