Orpheum Theatre - 1926 (Los Angeles, California)

USA / California / Vernon / Los Angeles, California / South Broadway, 842
 theatre, place with historical importance

842 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90014
(213) 239-0937

The Orpheum Theatre on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, California, opened on February 15, 1926 as the fourth and final Los Angeles venue for the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. After a $3 million renovation, started in 1989, it is the most restored of the historical movie palaces in the city.

The Orpheum has a Beaux Arts facade designed by movie theater architect G. Albert Lansburgh and has a Mighty Wurlitzer organ, installed in 1928, one of three pipe organs remaining in Southern California venues.

Soon after it was opened, it was a popular venue for burlesque queen Sally Rand, the Marx Brothers, Will Rogers, Judy Garland (singing with her family as Francis "Baby" Gumm) and comedian Jack Benny, as well as jazz greats Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. In the 1960s the theatre held rock and roll concerts featuring Little Richard, Aretha Franklin and Little Stevie Wonder. The restored Orpheum Theatre is now a venue for live concerts, movie premieres and location shoots. Broadcasts of American Idol and filming of The Last Action Hero and Transformers were hosted here. The Orpheum also appeared as a area in the 2007 Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. The love metal band HIM also played there for their CD/DVD live album Digital Versatile Doom.

The Orpheum theatres are named for the Greek god Orpheus.

www.laorpheum.com/
www.losangelestheatres.googlepages.com/orpheum
www.laconservancy.org/initiatives/orpheum.php4
cinematreasures.org/theater/13/
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   34°2'33"N   118°15'19"W
This article was last modified 13 years ago