The Mayan in downtown LA announces it's closing after nearly a century

The company that runs the Mayan in downtown Los Angeles has announced that it will close at the end of September after hosting 35 years of performances.

The audience for a performance at the Mayan theater

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Melissa Castro

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The Mayan

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Owners of the historic venue posted a farewell on Monday: “To our loyal patrons, community, and friends: thank you for your unwavering support, your trust, and the countless memories we've created together. You made every night truly special.”

The theater’s history goes back nearly 100 years.

The Mayan opened on Aug. 15, 1927 and was designed by Morgan, Walls & Clements, the architecture firm that also designed the El Capitan and Wiltern theaters in Los Angeles.

The theater opened on the tail end of downtown L.A.’s theater boom, which saw the opening of ornate, lit-up show palaces like The Palace (1911), and The Million Dollar Theater (1918).

The Mayan Theater in downtown L.A. in the early 2000s.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/LAist

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The Mayan featured musical comedies in the early years and films and then later musical concerts. During the Depression, the Mayan featured plays produced by the Work Progress Administration Federal Theater Project.

Lucha va Voom at the Mayan Theatre.

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Hon Hoang

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EnFlight Design

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Since 1990, the Mayan has been a 1,500-seat concert venue for musical acts, including Panic! At The Disco, Jack White, as well as multi-genre performances such as Lucha VaVoom. It’s also a nightclub with a dress code.

The theater's faux Pre-Columbian design outside and inside the venue impressed some people the first time they walked in.

" I remember the first feeling of walking into the Mayan Theater because it felt like... a magical Hollywood set that had a little bit of indigenous culture," said Lysa Flores.

And those indigenous references were important to her because she's Chicana.

Flores is a singer songwriter and would go on to perform at the Mayan. She sang and played electric guitar when she performed there. The venue's medium size, acoustics, and layout, she said, is one of a kind.

"It was like the perfect blend of being able to rock out and I can hear my voice and hear a pin drop, so the sound quality there was amazing," she said.

She's not alone. Guitarist Jack White performed at The Mayan several times, as recently as last year. He's sold out much larger venues but The Mayan is special.

“When I've seen him play in that room, he transforms even beyond what he normally does because he feels sort of possessed in that room, maybe it's the sight lines, maybe it's the sound,” said Lalo Medina, White's tour manager.

"It breaks my heart... all these things that are closing down, we just heard that Cole's is closing down, and the Pantry closed down, and now the Mayan? No!," said Ric Salinas.

He knows the venue well. He's a member of the comedy group Culture Clash. The group recorded two dozen shows at the Mayan in the 1990s for their Fox TV comedy program.

Other performers at The Mayan in recent years include Lauryn Hill, Daft Punk, and Chicano Batman.

But it was the weekend salsa nights that created some of the most loyal patrons for the Mayan, including Flores and Salinas.

The theater's owners said the venue will host Saturday night dancing every week until Sept. 13, just before it closes its doors.

The Mayan did not announce future plans for the site. The city of L.A. designated the theater a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument. The designation doesn’t protect it from demolition, but does ensure a process to consider preservation of the historic site.