Shrine Auditorium
For more than seven decades, the Shrine Auditorium was Hollywood’s grandest stage — home to the Academy Awards, the Grammy Awards, and every major entertainment event that required a room large enough to hold Los Angeles’s dreams.
At a glance
The Shrine Auditorium at 655 West Jefferson Boulevard in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles was built in 1926 by the Al Malaikah Shrine Temple, the Los Angeles chapter of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (the Shriners). “Al Malaikah” is Arabic for “The Angels” — a play on the city’s name that the organization’s founders evidently found irresistible. The building’s Moorish Revival exterior, with its pointed arches, minarets, and Islamic-derived ornament, was the Shriners’ characteristic aesthetic. Inside, one of the largest theater stages in the United States hosts a room that has seen more major entertainment events over the course of the twentieth century than almost any other venue in the country.
Key facts
- Address: 655 West Jefferson Boulevard, University Park, Los Angeles, California
- Completed: 1926
- Style: Moorish Revival
- Original client: Al Malaikah Shrine Temple (Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine)
- Capacity: Approximately 6,300 seats
- Current status: Active venue
- Historic designation: National Register of Historic Places
History
The Shriners, formally the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, were founded in 1870 as an adjunct to Freemasonry, oriented toward fellowship, philanthropy, and ceremonial spectacle. Their lodges (called “temples”) typically adopted an Islamic or Moorish aesthetic as part of the order’s pseudo-Arabian identity. In Los Angeles, the Al Malaikah Temple chapter was ambitious enough to build one of the largest auditoriums in the country, and the 1926 completion of the Shrine Auditorium gave the city a venue on a scale it had not seen before.
The building’s history as an entertainment venue began almost immediately. Hollywood was consolidating its identity as the global center of the film industry in the 1920s, and the Shrine Auditorium’s scale made it natural for large-scale events. The Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Shrine multiple times over several decades, bringing the full weight of Hollywood glamour to Jefferson Boulevard. The Grammy Awards and Emmy Awards also used the venue, as did touring Broadway productions, political conventions, and civic ceremonies that required a room as large as the Shrine’s main hall.
The Shriners operated the building as a temple and event space for most of the twentieth century before eventually transitioning to a model focused on entertainment bookings. The building received National Register of Historic Places designation, recognizing its significance both as an architectural landmark and as a venue that shaped the history of American popular culture. It continues to host major events today, including live concerts and large-scale productions, and remains one of the defining buildings of the University Park neighborhood adjacent to the University of Southern California campus.
What you see
The Shrine Auditorium presents a Moorish Revival facade of considerable scale to Jefferson Boulevard: pointed arches at the entrance, decorative minarets at the roofline, and a program of ornamental detail drawn from Islamic architectural precedent. The building’s twin towers and central dome create a skyline profile that is instantly recognizable from the surrounding streets of University Park. The exterior materials — stucco, tile, and cast ornament — carry the warm colors typical of Southern California’s Spanish and Moorish Revival architecture from the 1920s.
The interior is organized around the main auditorium, with a stage and orchestra pit designed to accommodate theatrical and operatic productions at a scale that few American venues of the era could match. The ceiling height and volume of the main hall were specifically engineered to make the space usable for events ranging from political gatherings to Hollywood premieres. The ornamental program of the interior continues the Moorish vocabulary of the exterior, with pointed arches, geometric tilework, and decorative plasterwork throughout the public spaces.
Practical information
- Status: Active event venue; interior accessible during events
- Events: Check the venue’s calendar for current programming (concerts, theatrical productions, special events)
- Exterior: Freely visible from Jefferson Boulevard and surrounding streets
- Historic designation: National Register of Historic Places
- Parking: On-site parking available; the venue is adjacent to the University of Southern California campus
Getting there
The Shrine Auditorium is at 655 West Jefferson Boulevard in the University Park neighborhood, adjacent to the University of Southern California. By Metro, the E Line (Expo Line) serves the USC campus area, with stops within walking distance of the Shrine. Check the Metro system map for the current station nearest to Jefferson Boulevard. By car, the venue is approximately three miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles, accessible via the I-110 (Harbor Freeway) and surface streets. Jefferson Boulevard is also served by several LA Metro bus lines. The address “655 West Jefferson” is easy to find on any map service, and the building’s distinctive Moorish towers are visible from several blocks away.
Nearby
- University of Southern California (USC) — the private research university whose campus immediately borders the Shrine Auditorium to the north, with its own collection of historic campus architecture from the 1920s and 1930s
- California Science Center — the state science museum at Exposition Park, one block south, housing the Space Shuttle Endeavour
- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County — the natural history collection at Exposition Park, in a 1913 Spanish Renaissance building, one block south
- Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — the 1923 Olympic stadium at Exposition Park, one of the country’s major sports and civic venues, two blocks south
Sources
- Wikipedia: Shrine Auditorium
- National Register of Historic Places nomination documentation
- Los Angeles Conservancy historic property records
- Gebhard, David & Winter, Robert, An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles (Gibbs Smith, 2003)
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