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The Roseland Theater, sometimes called the Roseland Theater and Grill, is a music venue located at 8 Northwest Sixth Avenue in the
Old Town Chinatown Old Town Chinatown is the official Chinatown of the Northwest section of Portland, Oregon. The Willamette River forms its eastern boundary, separating it from the Lloyd District and the Kerns and Buckman neighborhoods. It includes the Portland ...
neighborhood of
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
, in the United States. The building was originally a church, constructed by the
Apostolic Faith Church The Apostolic Faith Church, formerly the Apostolic Faith Mission, is a Holiness Pentecostal denomination of Christianity, with nationwide reach and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, United States. The Apostolic Faith Mission of Portland was foun ...
in 1922. In 1982, Larry Hurwitz converted the building to a music venue called Starry Night. In 1990, the club's 21-year-old publicity agent was murdered in one of the theater's hallways; Hurwitz was convicted for this murder ten years later. Hurwitz sold the club in 1991, claiming he had lost support from the local music industry. The venue was given its current name during the 1991 ownership transfer. During the 1990s, Double Tee acquired control of the hall's operations, then purchased and renovated the building. The theater features a standing-only main floor and an upstairs balcony with an adjacent bar. Peter's Room, an intimate showcase venue with a 400-person capacity, includes a restaurant and bar. Roseland has been named "Best Haunted Venue" by one local publication, referring to the 1990 murder. The venue is known for hosting a variety of music acts and for its good acoustics.


History


Apostolic Faith Church

The
Apostolic Faith Church The Apostolic Faith Church, formerly the Apostolic Faith Mission, is a Holiness Pentecostal denomination of Christianity, with nationwide reach and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, United States. The Apostolic Faith Mission of Portland was foun ...
bought the property at 8 Northwest Sixth Avenue from the A. Meier estate in 1922 and immediately began constructing a two-story building at the site. To make way for the new structure, church members first razed an older building that had housed a saloon at that address. The new building was finished in August 1922. Made of brick and constructed entirely with donated labor, the structure had a footprint of next to a parking lot. The lower floor contained 11 storerooms, some of which were rented to others, a printing room, the church headquarters, and a small chapel with a seating capacity of 200. The upper floor consisted of a large meeting hall that could seat 1,150 people. The meeting hall was designed partly with music in mind. Its raised platform held up to 70 people, including a 40-piece orchestra and male and mixed quartets that performed during church services. The church sold the building in 1981. A neon sign reading "Jesus, the Light of the World", hung on the building but was removed in 1981.


Starry Night

Larry Hurwitz owned and operated the Starry Night nightclub in the building from 1982 through 1991. The venue had a capacity of less than 1,000 people. In the 1980s, the Starry Night hosted musical acts including
Animotion Animotion is an American synth-pop band from Los Angeles, California, best known for the songs " Obsession", "Let Him Go", "I Engineer", and " Room to Move". Formed in 1983 from the remnants of a retro science-fiction band called Red Zone, t ...
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Nu Shooz Nu Shooz is an American R&B group fronted by husband-and-wife team of John Smith and Valerie Day, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Nu Shooz released four albums in the U.S. during the 1980s. Their third album, '' Poolside'', brought t ...
, and the Crazy 8s. Hurwitz sold the Starry Night in February 1991, claiming he had "lost the support of the local music industry". The transfer in ownership resulted in a name change to Roseland Theater. In 1992, Roseland's manager for the new owners, Oregon Theater Management, said the name was changed to disassociate from Hurwitz's business and reputation.


Murder of Starry Night employee

In 2000, Hurwitz was convicted of the murder 10 years earlier of the Starry Night's 21-year-old publicity agent, Timothy Moreau, to keep Moreau from alerting authorities to a counterfeit ticket scam at the club. Another club employee, George Castagnola, pleaded guilty to helping Hurwitz kill Moreau. Moreau was strangled in the theater after a John Lee Hooker concert. After selling the club, Hurwitz moved to
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, but in 1997 a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of
tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
related to the scam.
Extradited Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
to the United States and pleading guilty to the tax evasion charges, he was sentenced to a year in federal prison. Publicity generated by the tax-evasion trial led to new information about the murder. Hurwitz was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading
no contest ' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. In criminal trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neith ...
to one count of murder in 2000, and released in 2008 after serving between 7 and 8 years. Meanwhile, to settle a civil wrongful-death suit filed against him by Moreau's parents, Hurwitz in 2001 stipulated to his part in the murder, agreed that a jury would have found him guilty if he had not pleaded "no contest", and agreed to pay the Moreau family 3 million in damages. The details of the case were reported in a 23-part series in the newspaper ''
PDXS ''PDXS'' was a biweekly tabloid newspaper in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon from 1991 to 1998. It was founded by Jim Redden, previously a reporter with ''Willamette Week'' and subsequently with the ''Portland Tribune'', and his brother Bill ...
'' during the 1990s.


Roseland Theater

In 1991, Double Tee Promotions acquired control of Roseland's operations. In December 1995, ''
The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...
'' reported that the company and its president, David Leiken, would be purchasing and renovating the building over several months. Leiken founded Double Tee, which produces events throughout the Pacific Northwest and continues to manage Roseland, in 1972. The project, which included purchase of the building, new lounges and restrooms, and a ventilation system, was estimated to cost between $1.75 million and $2 million. The size of the street-level floor would also increased to accommodate an additional 350–440 guests, replacing a small club called the Garden. The renovation project ended in 1997; Leiken updated the building's facade and opened a nightclub and sports bar on the lower level. Roseland remained open during the renovation, which reportedly cost around $2.5 million. Roseland Theater has been called a "somewhat chaotic" Portland staple, hosting "multi-generational concerts every night of the week by everyone from small local bands to huge national icons". The
all-ages A family-friendly product or service is one that is considered to be suitable for all members of an average family. Family-friendly restaurants are ones that provide service to families that have young children. Frequently, family-friendly produc ...
venue is known for its smaller size, accommodating up to 1,400 people. It is a popular venue for touring rock acts, though it also hosts blues, comedy, dance, hip hop, indie, and rap artists. Performers have included
Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...
, the
Dan Reed Network Dan Reed Network is an American funk rock band formed in 1984 by Dan Reed in Portland, Oregon. They released several albums during the mid-to late 1980s and scored a top 40 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1988. History Formation Dan Re ...
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Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
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Medeski Martin & Wood Medeski Martin & Wood (or MMW) is an American jazz fusion band formed in 1991, consisting of John Medeski on keyboards, Billy Martin on drums, and Chris Wood on bass. The band is influenced by musical traditions including funk and hip hop and ...
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Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
, the
Misfits Misfits or The Misfits may refer to: Film and television * ''The Misfits'' (1961 film), a film starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift * ''The Misfits'' (2011 film), a Mexican film * ''The Misfits'' (2021 film), an American ...
, the
Pixies A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas aro ...
, Bonnie Raitt, and the
Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk ...
. During the 1990s, Phish performed at the venue four times, including once when it was still called Starry Night. In the 2010s, the venue has hosted
Cut Copy Cut Copy (sometimes stylised as Cut/Copy) are an Australian synth-pop band formed in 2001 by Dan Whitford (vocals, keyboards and guitar). Originally a home-recording project, the band now includes Tim Hoey (guitars), Ben Browning (bass guitar), ...
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, and Snoop Dogg. Roseland features a standing-only main floor and an upstairs balcony for patrons aged 21 or older because of an adjacent bar, and can also host a variety of events, including
cage fighting Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...
. Downstairs includes Roseland Grill, a narrow bar with a wall covered in posters. Peter's Room, an intimate showcase venue, includes a restaurant and bar and has a capacity of 400 people. Peter's Room is open during all Roseland events and streams activity from the theater's main stage on screens. The stage in Peter's Room is above the main floor. According to Double Tee, the theater and Peter's Room host between 150 and 180 events annually.


Reception

In 2008, ''
Willamette Week ''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture. History Early history ''Willame ...
'' named Roseland the "Best Haunted Venue" in a retrospective "Best of Portland" list highlighting the best of 1988. Music journalist Martin Acaster wrote: "The Roseland has all the ambiance of a dank cave but boasts stellar acoustics." Travelogue writer Rachel Dresbeck noted the "eclectic mix" of music genres hosted by the venue, which she said has "great sound" and "good stage visibility".


See also

*
List of music venues in Portland, Oregon Following is a list of notable music venues in Portland, Oregon: * Aladdin Theater * Alberta Street Pub * Antoinette Hatfield Hall * Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall * Crystal Ballroom * Dante's * Doug Fir Lounge * Hawthorne Theatre * Holocene * J ...
* Music of Oregon *
Reportedly haunted locations in Oregon There are a number of widely reported haunted locations in the state of Oregon in the United States. Many reported hauntings in Oregon are linked to such historic places as the Oregon Trail and early coastal communities. Portland, the state's l ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1920s architecture in the United States 1922 establishments in Oregon 1982 establishments in Oregon Churches completed in 1922 Former churches in Oregon Music venues in Portland, Oregon Nightclubs in Portland, Oregon Northwest Portland, Oregon Old Town Chinatown Reportedly haunted locations in Portland, Oregon Restaurants in Portland, Oregon Theatres in Portland, Oregon