Palace Theatre - 1911

 theatre, place with historical importance

630 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90014
(213) 629-2939

Built in 1911 as the third home of the Orpheum vaudeville circuit in Los Angeles, this theatre is now the oldest remaining original Orpheum theatre in the country. The greatest singers, dancers, comedians, acrobats, and animal acts in vaudeville performed here for fifteen years, until the Orpheum moved to its fourth and final location at Ninth Street and Broadway in 1926.

G. Albert Lansburgh, who designed both the 1911 and 1926 Orpheum Theatres, was one of the principal theatre designers in the west between 1909 and 1930. In addition to commissions in Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis and New Orleans, his works included the Warner Bros. Theatre Building in Hollywood (1927), and the interiors of the local Wiltern and El Capitan theatres.

Loosely styled after a Florentine early Renaissance palazzo, the façade features multicolored terra-cotta swags, flowers, fairies, and theatrical masks illustrating the spirit of entertainment. Four panels depicting the muses of vaudeville - Song, Dance, Music, and Drama - were sculpted by noted Spanish sculptor Domingo Mora. While the structure's exterior displays Italian influences, its interior decoration is distinctly French, with garland-draped columns and a color scheme of pale pastels.

The theatre currently operates as a rental facility for special events and location filming. Filmed in "The Big Lebowski" as Maude Lebowski loft apartment and in Tacky video clip by Weird Al Yankowic

www.losangelestheatre.com/downtownpalace.html
www.laconservancy.org/initiatives/palace.php4
cinematreasures.org/theater/14/
The Palace with her neon on display: www.publicartinla.com/neon_signs/palace_neon.html