The Pasadena Convention Center is a

convention center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. It consists of three buildings.

Pasadena Civic Auditorium

The Civic Auditorium, one of the major structures in the

Pasadena Civic Center District The Pasadena Civic Center District is the civic center of and a historic district in Pasadena, California. The district is roughly bounded by Walnut and Green Streets and Raymond and Euclid Avenues. History Construction on the buildings in the ...

, was built in 1931 and is best known for being the home for the

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

from 1977 until 1997. It was designed by architects

George Edwin Bergstrom George Edwin Bergstrom (March 12, 1876 – June 17, 1955) was an American architect who designed The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. Biography George Edwin Bergstrom was born in Neenah, Wisconsin, of Norwegian immigrant ancestry. His ...

Cyril Bennett John Cyril Bennett (June 21, 1891 – 1957) was a British-born American architect. Early life Bennett was born in Hereford, England. Career As an architech, Bennett designed several buildings in Pasadena, California, including the Pasadena Pl ...

, and

Fitch Haskell Fitch Harrison Haskell (October 30, 1883 - May 20, 1962) was an American architect. He designed several buildings in Pasadena, California, including the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and All Saints' Episcopal Church. Education He graduated from Phil ...

. Today, the Auditorium is home to the People's Choice Awards and the former home of the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra. It has also been used for some episodes of '' American Idol''. It was used as the show's venue for "Hollywood Week" in season 10. The 3,029-seat theater hosts musicals, operas and concerts, among other events, on its stage. The venue's theatre organ was acquired in 1979, having been commissioned from American firm

M. P. Möller Mathias Peter Møller, commonly known as M.P. Möller or Moeller (29 September 1854 – 13 April 1937), was a prolific pipe-organ builder and businessman. A native of the Denmark, Danish island of Bornholm, he emigrated to the United States in 187 ...

in 1938 as a touring organ by Englishman

Reginald Foort Reginald John Foort (23 January 1893 – 22 May 1980), FRCO, ARCM, was a cinema organist and theatre organist. He was the first official BBC Staff Theatre Organist from 1936 to 1938, during which time he made 405 broadcasts on the organ at St ...

, who attended its Pasadena inauguration on April 23, 1980. It had been used by the BBC during and after World War II. In addition to the main auditorium, the Civic Auditorium building originally contained two lecture rooms and an exhibition hall of .''Southwest Builder & Contractor'', January 2, 1925 The auditorium was famously the site of some of the earliest live performances of Van Halen before being discovered. The '' Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever'' special was taped here on March 25, 1983; and aired on NBC in May. The show is best remembered for Michael Jackson's performance of " Billie Jean" in which he debuted his signature dance move the " Moonwalk".

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

's 1951 album ''

Satchmo at Pasadena ''Satchmo at Pasadena'' is a live album by Louis Armstrong that was recorded at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in 1951. Reception Al Campbell at AllMusic gave the album four stars and said, "At the time of this concert, musicians began to take ...

'' was also recorded here. The annual NAACP Image Awards have been held at the Auditorium numerous times, including at least (earlier records are incomplete) 1992–2000, 2014–2018, and 2020–2022, excluding 1995 (no awards presented) and 2021 (virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The auditorium has also been used for the Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant. The preliminary and final competitions were broadcast live on NBC. From 2017 to 2019, the Auditorium hosted the 44th, 45th, and

46th Daytime Emmy Awards The 46th Daytime Emmy Awards, presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), honored the best in U.S. daytime television programming in 2018. The ceremony was held on May 5, 2019, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pa ...

alongside their related 44th, 45th and 46th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. The auditorium has hosted the ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...

'' audition rounds since

season 11 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

(2016). It also serves as the main venue for the live shows starting on season 17 (2022). The auditorium hosts the annual Pasadena Unified School District graduation ceremonies for Blair High School, John Marshall Fundamental Secondary School, John Muir High School and Pasadena High School, which takes place after the Memorial Day holiday, since 2011.

Exhibition Building

The Exhibition Building, adjacent to the west side of the Auditorium, features of exhibit space and can seat up to 4,400 for various events. Adjacent to the Exhibition Building is a annex seating up to 600 patrons.

Conference Building

The Conference Building, adjacent to the south side of the Auditorium, has 20 meeting rooms totaling .

References

External links

Pasadena Convention Center

The Pasadena Civic Auditorium
{{Pasadena Convention centers in California Concert halls in California Buildings and structures in Pasadena, California Tourist attractions in Pasadena, California Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States Public venues with a theatre organ

Pasadena Civic Auditorium

Exhibition Building

Conference Building

See also

References

External links