My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, including this one about the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, was launched to examine buildings, spaces, and cultural happenings that have largely been erased, including the forgotten tales attached to existing places and things. This is not a preservationist series but a historical one that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural, and spatial history.
Editor’s note: This series first appeared on Longbeachize in 2017 and 2018; some articles have been republished, updated, and/or altered.
Want to read previous Long Beach Lost articles? Click here for the full archive.
The Long Beach Municipal Auditorium. An 8,000-person exhibit hall that, when set up as a theatre, would hold some 2,843 and, when set up for a concert, would hold some 1,377 people inside. Jutting out some 500 feet into the man-made lagoon, it was the jewel of the crown that was the Rainbow Pier when it opened on Mar. 8, 1932.
In order to prevent damage to the auditorium, designers and architects went with a 3,800-foot, semi-circular pier that prevented rough waves from reaching the auditorium. Head architect J. Harold McDowell joined with associate architect William Horace Austin—the man behind everything from Fire Station #9 to the historic Long Beach Airport—as the creators of the building while the ceiling mural was designed by Martin Sybertson.
And its front-facing façade? It was assembled in 1937 under the direction of Stanton MacDonald-Wright and Albert Henry King from a design by Henry Allen Nord. The largest cut-tile mosaic picture in the country and the single most significant achievement of the Federal Arts Project at the time, it was seen for miles along American Way (or what is now known as Long Beach Boulevard).
It was a stark contrast to the troubling past of the previous pier—the Long Beach Pier that was the state’s first municipal pier—and the first auditorium which had many disasters touch down on it. It was a prized gem until its demolition in 1974 to make way for the then-new Convention Center.
The Long Beach Municipal Auditorium brought American legends to its stage.
The auditorium consisted of two halls sharing a common stage—think Ellis Auditorium in Memphis—where the southern hall was a smaller, semi-circular concert hall and the northern portion was the larger, rectangular-shaped auditorium. This unique stage design and its modern amenities—dimmable lights, a massive 65-foot grid, a 60-foot proscenium,a 50-lineset rigging system…
At the time, it was an impressive artistic venue that attracted the nation’s largest talent: From Judy Garland to Elvis Presley, the Long Beach Auditorium brought the best of the best.
Elvis performed on June 7, 1956. According to historian Scott Moore, the show was opened by the same troupe that had been touring regularly with them since their return from Las Vegas in May, where they had first met Liberace. The show consisted of The Jordanaires, Irish tenor Frank Connors, the Flaim Brothers Orchestra, female singer Jackie Little and magician/comedian Phil Maraquin. Backstage Elvis met with several fans. Tickets sold for $1.50 for general seating and $2.00 for reserved and were available at Humphrey’s Music Store on Pine Ave.
Judy took her concert to Long Beach on July 11, 1955. According to Moore, the show netted at least $15,000 for the Long Beach Exceptional Children’s Foundation.
Judy’s finale, “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” was followed by a standing ovation and four encores. She then asked the audience if they would like to meet some of her friends and brought up Frank Sinatra, who then brought up Humphrey Bogart, who brought up Lauren Bacall. Soon after, they were joined by Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fischer, Betty Hutton, Dick Powell, June Allyson, Sammy Davis Jr. Dean Martin, and several others. Dean and Sammy performed a Martin and Lewis song, and Sammy imitated Jerry. Frank had the show recorded and later gave copies to his friends who attended.
That record was later released in 2022.
And it was later an essential part of the Long Beach Arena.
The Long Beach Arena (now known as The Pacific Ballroom within the larger Convention Center campus in Downtown Long Beach) was an essential part of the Long Beach Auditorium during its beginning phase.
Designed by famed Long Beach architect Kenneth Wing and opening in 1962, the round space exuded the design ideals of the mid-century modern aesthetic: Straight lines, glass, minimal decor… The building cost an at-the-time exorbitant $8M and wasn’t politically pristine after countless arguments in Council chambers occurred over its realization. However, once completed, the Arena would go on to host concerts that are the stuff of music legend. From Led Zepplin to Rick James, Prince to David Bowie, the Arena is not just a Long Beach legend but a rock legend as well.
The Long Beach Municipal Auditorium wasn’t the first one attempted on the waterfront.
There is a storied history of performance pavilions and auditoriums gracing our coastline, both saddening and uplifting in each of their tales.
Firstly, there was the original pavilion, which coincided with the opening of California’s first municipal pier, the Long Beach Pier, on May 27, 1893. A tent-like structure that was at the base of the pier, it lasted for just 11 years before being destroyed by a fire in 1904.
Following the fire, that very wooden pier was replaced with a 40-foot wide, 1,000-foot long cement and steel double-deck pier due to financial restraints with the ever-damaged wooden pier. Created with a $100,000 bond and designed by H.C. Holmes, the original pavilion was destroyed by a fire, which led to the development of the Sun Pavilion in 1905, with the first auditorium also constructed at the front of the pier, joining the pavilion. (The pier didn’t venture well either: a Fourth of July storm in 1910 knocked out an 80-foot section. Storms in 1913 once again caused damage, and the disaster, dubbed “The Empire Day Disaster,” killed 39 and injured 150—more on that in a bit. And, again in 1919, more damage. Come 1934, a storm finally swept the whole damn thing away.)
Moorish in architecture—a style quite popular at the time, like the Ocean Park Bath House built in the same year in Ocean Park—where arched entrances and domed turrets greeted visitors. And this is not to be confused with the Alamitos Bay Pavilion constructed around the same time.
The 1905 auditorium at the front base of the Long Beach Pier. Courtesy of USC Digital Archive / New York Public Library / Long Beach Public Library.
The first Long Beach Auditorium was a mass success—perhaps too much.
The first auditorium, which had a giant “WELCOME” electrical sign greeting patrons, opened in November of 1905 and could host some 6,000 patrons. Costing $38,000, it featured a wrap-around patio on the balcony level that flanked three sides and 40,000 square feet of floor space.
The auditorium couldn’t escape the British Empire Day disaster: On May 24, 1913, some 10,000 people on the upper floor of a double-deck pier in front of the Auditorium caused a section to collapse. Some 400 people fell when those on the top deck fell upon the hundreds crowded on the lower deck which fell to the beach forty feet below. With it, a section of the auditorium came down.
Want to read previous Long Beach Lost articles? Click here for the full archive.
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