Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen

Share This

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Arts and Entertainment

Photos: A Look At the Restored Palace Theatre in DTLA

With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today . 

The Palace Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles is 101 years old, but is trying to make the most of a one-year-old restoration that has brought its glamorous interior--including some hidden-gems--back to life.

Last weekend, the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation led a tour of the historic venue that once regularly featured vaudeville acts, silent movies, and famous entertainers. Re-opened and celebrated in the summer of 2011 for its 100th birthday, the Palace had been undergoing a decade-long restoration that the L.A. Times likened to "detective work" thanks to the theater's "dismal state" of disrepair and piled-on paint and fixtures that obscured the original majesty of the venue.

A bit more about the tour from the Times:

On the tour, the guides showed how the building had evolved in its various iterations: It originally had box seats, but those disappeared with the introduction of talking movies. It had an organ, and then it didn't. There had once been an orchestra chamber, but now it was gone. And the instrument room didn't originally have a functioning toilet right by the door. Other stops included a ladies' lounge with a window overlooking the entrance so that women could spot their dates, outdoor stairs to the upper-level galleries used at a time when the theater was segregated.

Support for LAist comes from
LAist Featured Photos pool contributor current events was there for the tour, and shared a few of his photos with us.

At LAist, we believe in journalism without censorship and the right of a free press to speak truth to those in power. Our hard-hitting watchdog reporting on local government, climate, and the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis is trustworthy, independent and freely accessible to everyone thanks to the support of readers like you.

But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.

We’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission.

Thank you for your generous support and belief in the value of independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist