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:

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

History

Building

Notable events

See also

References

External links