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The Wiltern Theatre in Koreatown is hard to miss.
The turquoise building on Wilshire Boulevard glows as people walk the streets under its bright theater marquee on show nights. The block around the jaw-dropping venue fills with people as they wait in line along the busy corridor to go inside one of LA’s oldest reminders of Old Hollywood.
The Wiltern has hosted the likes of vaudeville stars, Madonna, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Bernie Sanders and an untold number of performances.
Originally opening as the Warner Bros. Theater in 1931, the venue played movie screenings and live acts. The movie studio opened the space as part of its theater chain.
While it’s been on the corner of Wilshire and Western for nearly 95 years, many young people today do not know much about the theater, except that it’s a music venue.
The Art Deco beauty offers an intimate venue that can fit 2,300 guests, but 16-year-old Eric Armando encountered some poor visibility, subpar sound quality, and disorganized entry lines when he saw his first concert this December.
“I like [the Wiltern] because it’s very historical, ” Armando said. “I feel like there’s going to need to be some changes in order to [stay relevant].”
The Alliance Ted K. Tajima High School student saw a performance by rapper OsamaSon. He admits that the experience wasn’t all bad.
“I have met very cool people [there], and the employees are very nice,” he added. “As tourists or people going for the first time, they’ll very much enjoy it like I did”
Today, the venue books modern acts, like mxmtoon, and legacy acts like Bikini Kill. Popular shows that draw teens and young adults tend to generate a line outside the venue hours before showtime. While general admission guarantees access, the pit experience or the show floor is usually on a first come, first served basis.
The Wiltern Theatre is what theater researcher Bill Counter likes to call “a survivor.” Counter has worked as an electrical conductor specializing in theater renovations and blogs about the history of LA’s theaters.
Designed by architect Stiles O. Clements and interior designer G. Albert Lansburgh, the venue was opened on Oct. 7, 1931 as a movie and vaudeville venue for Warner Bros. studios, according to Counter. One year later, the studio divested from its operations, and the theater reopened in the mid-1930’s as The Wiltern Theatre, an amalgam for the intersection outside the venue – Wilshire and Western.
The theater struggled in the mid-20th century with multiple owners and closed its doors in 1979.
“It got stripped out, meaning all the seats got removed and all the light fixtures got sold off,” said Counter. “Some of the decorative plaster was removed from the ceiling, resulting in a big hole in the middle of it.”
When owners applied for demolition permits to tear the complex down, the Los Angeles Conservancy and local preservationists fiercely fought to save it, marking a historic turning point for L.A. landmark preservation, according to the organization.
The theater’s unique design on the inside and outside exhibits a Paris Deco style design, the conservancy said. This involves French-inspired architecture with 1920s Art Deco glamour. The flourishes throughout include marble and exotic wood as materials used by the designers.
In addition to its design, the Wiltern stands out in the dense neighborhood because of its size.
“I mean, what else are you going to point to in Koreatown, to tell people where you are?” said Counter. “You can measure your distance from The Wiltern.”
In the early 1980s the theater was purchased and restored, with an extension to the stage to accommodate large-scale theatrical acts, and the venue officially reopened in 1985 as a premier live-music and performance space, the Los Angeles Conservancy said.
Live Nation, which manages the concert programming, ticketing, and day-to-day venue operations, generally hosts 150 – 200 events per year, according to the company’s website.
Some of the most notable artists to perform at the Wiltern include Whitney Houston in 1989, a 2019 residency with Madonna, multiple appearances by Snoop Dogg over the years and countless standup comedy sets, including this year’s Netflix is a Joke and a political rally with Bernie Sanders in February.
