The Lobero Theatre is a performing arts theater in Santa Barbara, California. Originally built in 1873, the theater was registered as a California Historical Landmark in 1939. It is now CaliforniaâÂÂs oldest theater in continuous operation and the fourth-oldest performing arts theater in the United States.
The Lobero Theatre opened in 1873. It was originally built as an opera house in a refurbished adobe schoolhouse by Italian immigrant José Lobero. In 1924, architects George Washington Smith and Lutah Maria Riggs rebuilt the theater for the Drama Branch of the Community Arts Association, during a period when civil leaders in Santa Barbara were increasingly focusing on Spanish Colonial Revival architecture.
A California historical landmark, the theater is CaliforniaâÂÂs oldest continuously operating theater and the fourth-oldest performing arts theater in the United States.
Located downtown at the corner of Anacapa and Canon Perdido streets, The theatre continues to host arts and cultural events on 250 or more days per year. Because of its live acoustics and relatively small size it is particularly suited to chamber music. The Music Academy of the West holds many of its summer concerts in the Lobero.