The Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall is a landmark large-event venue in Los Angeles, California. It is also the headquarters of the Al Malaikah Temple, a division of the Shriners. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (No. 139) in 1975, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
Opened on January 23, 1926, the current Shrine Auditorium replaced an earlier 1906 Al Malaikah Temple which had been destroyed by a fire on January 11, 1920. The fire gutted the structure in just 30 minutes, and nearly killed six firefighters in the process.
In the late 1960s, the Shrine was referred to as "The Pinnacle" by the audiences of rock concerts.
In 2002, the auditorium underwent a $15 million renovation that upgraded the stage with state-of-the-art lighting and rigging systems, and included new roofing and air conditioning for both the Auditorium and Expo Center, modernized concession stands, additional restrooms, repainting of the Expo Center, and a new performance plaza and parking garage. The entire complex follows a Moroccan architectural motif.
The new auditorium was designed in the Moorish Revival style by San Francisco-based theater architect G. Albert Lansburgh, with local architects John C. Austin and Abram M. Edelman associated. When built, the auditorium could hold 1,200 people on stage and seat an audience of 6,442.
The Shrine Auditorium seats approximately 6,300 people (reduced during the 2002 renovation from the original 6,700 capacity) and has a stage wide and deep.
The Auditorium features two boxes above the orchestra level holding 40 people each and seven loges on the balcony holding between 36 and 47 seats each (total capacity of the loges: 274). Of the remaining seats, 2,964 are on the orchestra level and 2,982 on the balcony level.
Adjacent to the Auditorium is the Shrine Exposition Hall. This is a multi-purpose event facility. It features of exhibit and meeting spaceâÂÂ34,000 in the main level and 20,000 in an open mezzanine. The Exposition Hall has a capacity of 5,000 patrons. Trade shows, banquets, conventions and electronic music festivals, among other events, have been held there.
The Shrine Auditorium has hosted a number of events, mainly for entertainment: