The San Gabriel Mission Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located in the Mission District of the city of

San Gabriel, California San Gabriel (Spanish for " St. Gabriel") is a city located in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California. At the 2010 census, the population was 39,718. San Gabriel was founded by the Spanish in 1771, when Mission San Gabriel Arc ...

History

The Playhouse was constructed between 1923 and 1927 for

John Steven McGroarty John Steven McGroarty (August 20, 1862 – August 7, 1944) was a poet, ''Los Angeles Times'' columnist, and author who also served two terms as a United States Democratic Party, Democratic Congressman from California from 1935 to 1939. __TOC_ ...

’s hugely successful '' Mission Play''.County of Los Angeles Public Library, http://www.colapublib.org/history/sangabriel/faq.html, "San Gabriel Frequently Asked Questions", 2012 The Mission Playhouse’s architect was

Arthur Burnett Benton Arthur Burnett Benton (April 17, 1858 – 1927) was an American architect. Life He was born in Peoria, Illinois. He studied at the School of Art and Design, at Topeka, Kansas. He worked for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. He moved ...

who designed the Playhouse in the Mission Revival style. The façade was designed to resemble McGroarty’s favorite mission,

San Antonio de Padua San Antonio de Padua, or plainly Padua, is a city in the Greater Buenos Aires, in Argentina. It is located in Merlo Partido. The city has an area of and a population of around 38,000. The name commemorates the village founded by Francisco de Mer ...

in Monterey County. The 1,387-seat theater has Native American influences in its painted and carved ceiling. Replicas of Spanish lanterns used aboard galleons in the 1800s hang from the ceiling. Woven tapestries that were a gift from

King Alfonso XIII of Spain Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alfo ...

in 1927 adorn the sides of the theater. The theater is home to a fully restored 1924 Wurlitzer pipe organ originally built for the Albee Theatre in Brooklyn, New York. After the run of ''The Mission Play'', the Mission Playhouse was used as a movie theatre. During WWII, the Playhouse dressing rooms were turned into apartments. Since 1945, the Playhouse has been owned and operated by the City of San Gabriel. When the City purchased the Playhouse, they renamed it the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium. On September 26, 2007, the theatre was renamed and once again called the Mission Playhouse. The Playhouse is known to be haunted by the spirit of Its original owner, known affectionately by locals as “Uncle John”, who often makes surprise appearances during stage performances. The Playhouse has been used as a film location for various TV series and movies such as

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy/drama television series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986; in addition, four three-hour specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series was set on the luxury passenger cruise ship MS ''Pac ...

and

Remington Steele ''Remington Steele'' is an American television series co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from Oc ...

. Throughout the years, many notable names have graced the Playhouse stage including

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He is best known as the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 (''GoldenEye'', ''Tomorrow ...

Ricardo Montalban Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugue ...

Florence Henderson Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom ''The Brady Bunch''. Henderson also appeare ...

Tony Plana José Antonio Plana (born April 19, 1952) is a Cuban actor and director. He is known for playing Betty Suarez's father, Ignacio Suarez, on the ABC television show ''Ugly Betty'' and for voicing Manuel "Manny" Calavera in the video game ''Grim ...

, and

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...

.San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, http://www.missionplayhouse.org/rentals/client-testimonials/, 2012

References

{{Coord, 34.09837, -118.10829, type:landmark_region:US-CA, display=title San Gabriel, California Theatres in Los Angeles Theatres completed in 1927 Public venues with a theatre organ National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in California