Pellissier Building and Wiltern Theatre

Infobox_nrhp
name = Pellissier Building and Wiltern Theatre

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caption = The Wiltern Theatre, located in L.A.'s Koreatown
location = 3780 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, California
lat_degrees = 34
lat_minutes = 3
lat_seconds = 40
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 118
long_minutes = 18
long_seconds = 28
long_direction = W
locmapin = California
area =
architect=Stiles O. Clements
G. Albert Lansburgh
architecture= Art Deco
built = 1931
added = February 23, 1979
refnum=79000488
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
governing_body = The Wiltern Theatre and adjacent 12-story Pellissier Building are an Art Deco landmark located on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The entire complex is commonly referred to as simply the Wiltern. Clad in a blue-green terra-cotta tile and situated on a diagonal to the street corner, the complex is considered one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the United States.

Location

The Wiltern Theatre is located at the western edge of the Los Angeles neighborhood of Koreatown, at the southeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue. The Koreatown district is served by both of Los Angeles' major subway lines, the Red Line and the Purple Line; the Wiltern Theatre sits directly across from the westernmost station on the Purple Line (Wilshire/Western).

Description

Named after the family that owned the land upon which it was developed, The Pellissier Building is a 12-story steel-reinforced concrete office tower. Set upon a two story pedestal that contains ground floor retail and the theater entrance, the tower has narrow vertical windows that sweep the eye upward and create the illusion of a much taller building (buildings in Los Angeles were restricted from being higher than the city hall until the 1960s). The blue-green, terra cotta-covered tower has been described as French Zig-Zag Moderne styling.

The entrance to the Wiltern Theatre is flanked by large vertical neon signs while patrons approach the ticket booth set back among colorful terrazzo paving. The Wiltern Theatre's interior was designed by G. Albert Lansburgh and is renowned for its Art Deco design containing decorative plaster and tile work along with colorful murals painted by Anthony Heinsbergen. The most dramatic element of the design is the sunburst on the ceiling of the auditorium, with each ray its own Art Deco skyscraper — G. Albert Lansburgh's vision of the future of Wilshire Boulevard. When the Wiltern Theatre first opened it also housed the largest theater pipe organ in the western United States.

Both the Wiltern Theatre and the Pellissier Building have been named to the National Register of Historic Places and declared a Historic-Cultural Monument by the City of Los Angeles.

History

Originally built in 1931, the Wiltern was designed by architect Stiles O. Clements of Morgan, Walls & Clements, the city’s oldest architectural firm. The Wiltern Theatre was originally designed as a vaudeville theater and initially opened as the Warner Brothers Western Theater, the flagship for the theater chain. Quickly closing a year later, the theater reopened in the mid-1930s and was renamed the Wiltern Theatre for the major intersection which it faces (WILshire Boulevard and wesTERN Avenue).Fact|date=January 2008

In 1956, the building and theater were sold to the Franklin Life Insurance Company of Springfield, Illinois. However, the company ignored the landmark building and by the late 1970s the Wiltern had fallen into complete disarray. Only the intervention of a group of local preservationists saved the complex from being demolished on two occasions in the late 1970s when the owners filed for demolition permits (the preservation of the Wiltern was one of the Los Angeles Conservancy's first victories in its fight to preserve the architectural heritage of the City). In fact, the Conservancy was so young, it was left to an ad hoc group, The Committee to Save the Wiltern, led by Rick Newberger, to stop the wrecking ball by holding demonstrations and building support within City Hall. Newberger later joined the Board of the Conservancy and let the nascent organization claim full credit.

In 1981, the Wiltern was purchased by developer Wayne Ratkovich who worked with architect Brenda Levin to restore both the theater and the office building to their former glory. The renovation of the office building was complete by 1983, but the Wiltern Theatre presented a much more difficult problem and took another two years to complete. The theater had been poorly maintained — many of the murals and plasterwork were damaged, many of the fixtures had been sold off or pillaged, and portions of the ceiling had crashed onto the ground floor seats. It had also been used as the primary location for the film "Get Crazy", which caused further damage.cite web |first = Alex D |last = Thrawn |url = http://www.geocities.com/malcolmtribute/getcrazy.html |title = Malcolm McDowell Tribute: Get Crazy | publisher = MalcolmMcDowell.net | accessdate = 2007-03-14] To restore the theater to its original state required some expert craftsmanship to repair what was there (including A.T. Heinsbergen, the son of the original painter) and some creativity to replace what had been lost (including salvaging vintage Art Deco seats from the soon to be renovated Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon). Further, while originally a movie theater, Ratkovich wanted to convert the Wiltern into a performing arts center that could host live concerts and Broadway-level stage performances which entailed extending the rear wall of the theater back thirteen feet. After a four-year renovation the Wiltern Theatre finally opened again to the public on May 1, 1985.

The Wiltern Theatre at one time seated 2,344. Subsequent modifications removed 1,200 seats on the ground floor to allow for a variety of configurations from a standing room only crowd to a more intimate arrangement. The venue remains one of the largest theaters in Los Angeles.

Since its renovation, the Wiltern Theatre has hosted a diverse range of performing artists including the Los Angeles Orchestra, the American Ballet Theatre, magician David Copperfield, and popular music acts like Opeth, Rufus Wainwright, Pet Shop Boys, Cat Power, Wonder Girls, Grieve No More, Alice in Chains, Jerry Garcia Band, Ratdog, Bruce Springsteen, Counting Crows, Sting, Shiny Toy Guns, David Bowie, Tom Waits, The Pretenders, Paul Simon, Korn, The All-American Rejects, Jimmy Eat World, Marilyn Manson, Prince, Ray Davies, DragonForce, Dimmu Borgir, Children Of Bodom, Between The Buried And Me, The Black Dahlia Murder, In Flames, Motörhead, Widespread Panic, Pixies, Queens of the Stone Age, Ween, The Mars Volta, Primus, Travis, Death Cab for Cutie, Stevie Nicks, Modest Mouse, Flogging Molly, Dir en grey, Deftones, Zoo10, Paul Weller, Tori Amos, moe. Trey Anastasio, Peaches, Unearth, Eagles of Death Metal, Cold War Kids, Green Day, Incubus, Evanescence, Coheed and Cambria, The Reverend Horton Heat, The Dandy Warhols, Thrice, Brand New, MewithoutYou, the Rolling Stones, James Brown, The Fray, The Killers, Metallica, Danity Kane, Day26, Donnie Klang, Cheri Dennis, and comedian Ron White.

LG, a South Korea-based consumer electronics company, formerly held the naming rights to the theater, which was named the Wiltern LG until early 2007.

ee also

* List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles

References

External links

* [http://www.livenation.com/venue/getVenue/venueId/1237 The Wiltern @ LiveNation.com]
* [http://cinematreasures.org/theater/19/ Cinema Treasures]
* [http://laconservancy.org/index.php4 Los Angeles Conservancy]
* [http://palacehilo.org/Wiltern-Theater.html]