The Shrine Auditorium is a landmark large-event venue in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. It is also the headquarters of the Al Malaikah Temple, a division of the
Shriners
Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic society established in 1870 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.
Shriners International describes itself ...
. It was designated a
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria.
History
The Historic-Cult ...
(No. 139) in 1975, and was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1987.
History
Opened in 1926, the current Shrine Auditorium replaced an earlier 1906 Al Malaikah Temple which had been destroyed by a fire on January 11, 1920.
The fire gutted the structure in just 30 minutes, and nearly killed six firefighters in the process.
In the late 1960s, the Shrine was referred to as "The Pinnacle" by the audiences of rock concerts.
In 2002, the auditorium underwent a $15 million renovation that upgraded the stage with state-of-the-art lighting and rigging systems, and included new roofing and air conditioning for both the Auditorium and Expo Center, modernized concession stands, additional restrooms, repainting of the Expo Center, and a new performance plaza and parking garage. The entire complex follows a Moroccan architectural motif.
Architect and engineer (1922) (14595001970).jpg, The old Shrine Auditorium, 1905.
OldShrineAuditorium-1910.jpg, The old Shrine Auditorium, 1910.
Shrine Auditorium (254834418).jpg, The Shrine Auditorium in 1990, before the 2002 renovations.
Building
The new auditorium was designed in the
Moorish Revival style
Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centur ...
by San Francisco-based theater architect
G. Albert Lansburgh
Gustave Albert Lansburgh (January 7, 1876 – April 1969) was an American architect largely known for his work on luxury cinemas and theaters. He was the principal architect of theaters on the West Coast from 1900 to 1930.
Life and career
Lan ...
, with local architects
John C. Austin and A. M. Edelman associated. When built, the auditorium could hold 1,200 people on stage and seat an audience of 6,442. An engineer who consulted on the project said that the steel
truss
A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure.
In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...
supporting the balcony was the largest ever constructed.
The Shrine Auditorium seats approximately 6,300 people (reduced during the 2002 renovation from the original 6,700 capacity) and has a stage wide and deep.
The Auditorium features two boxes above the orchestra level holding 40 people each and seven
loges on the balcony holding between 36 and 47 seats each (total capacity of the loges: 274). Of the remaining seats, 2,964 are on the orchestra level and 2,982 on the balcony level.
Adjacent to the Shrine Auditorium is the
Shrine Exposition Hall.
File:Al Malaikah Temple - Shrine Auditorium, 655 W. Jefferson Blvd. University Park.jpg, View of the building from University Park.
File:Shrine Auditorium side.JPG, Southwest facade
File:Shrine Auditorium spire.JPG, South Spire
File:Al Malaikah Temple - Shrine Auditorium, 655 W. Jefferson Blvd. University Park, 6.jpg, Royal Street vestibule
File:Al Malaikah Temple - Shrine Auditorium, 655 W. Jefferson Blvd. University Park, 4.jpg, vestibule different angle
File:Al Malaikah Temple - Shrine Auditorium, 655 W. Jefferson Blvd. University Park, 5.jpg, Detail of stained glass window
Notable events
The Shrine Auditorium has hosted a number of events, mainly for entertainment:
See also
*
List of convention centers in the United States
This is a list of convention centers in the United States by state or insular area.
By state Alabama
*Bald Rock Lodge (Cheaha State Park)
* Bessemer Civic Center
*Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex
*Bryant Convention Center (Tuscaloos ...
*
*
*
Bridges Auditorium
*
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center, which is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt ...
References
External links
Shrine LA! Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall Official Site*
Image of Stevie Wonder and Patti LaBelle performing at the Shrine Auditorium, 1978.Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections,
Charles E. Young Research Library,
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
.
{{Authority control
Concert halls in California
Convention centers in California
Basketball venues in Los Angeles
Theatres in Los Angeles
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
Masonic buildings in California
Masonic buildings completed in 1925
Event venues established in 1925
Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles
Shriners
University Park, Los Angeles
USC Trojans basketball venues
Moorish Revival architecture in California
Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in California
Grammy Award venues