# Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall

The Shrine Auditorium 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.

## History

Opened in 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 old Shrine Auditorium, 1905.
* The old Shrine Auditorium, 1910.
* The Shrine Auditorium in 1990, before the 2002 renovations.

## Building

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 A. M. Edelman associated. When built, the auditorium could hold 1,200 people on stage and seat an audience of 6,442. An engineer who consulted on the project said that the steel truss supporting the balcony was the largest ever constructed.
The Shrine Auditorium seats approximately 6,300 people (reduced during the 2002 renovation from the original 6,700 capacity) and has a stage 194 ft (59 m) wide and 69 ft (21 m) 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 54,000 square feet (5,000 m$^2$) of exhibit and meeting space—34,000 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.
* View of the building from University Park.
* Southwest facade
* South Spire
* Royal Street vestibule
* vestibule different angle
* Detail of stained glass window

## Notable events

The Shrine Auditorium has hosted a number of events, mainly for entertainment:
Awards ceremony events :
| Event | Date |
| Academy Awards | 1947–48, 1988–1989, 1991, 1995, 1997–1998, 2000–2001 |
| Academy of Country Music Awards | 1978, 1981 |
| American Music Awards | 1982–2006 |
| BET Awards | 2006–2012 |
| Grammy Awards | 1978–1980, 1982–1987, 1989–1990, 1993, 1995–1996, 1999 |
| iHeartRadio Music Awards | 2014–2015, 2022 |
| Miss Universe | 2006 |
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | 2001–2003, 2005, 2017 |
| My VH1 Music Awards | 2000–2001 |
| NAACP Image Awards | 2006–2013 |
| People's Choice Awards | 2001–2003, 2006–2009 |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 1998–2000, 2002–2007 |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | 1998–2020, 2024, 2025 |
| Soul Train Music Awards | 1989–2001 |
| Teen Choice Awards | 2014 |
Other media events :
| Date | Description |
| 4 December 1953 | Annual Los Angeles Examiner Christmas Show. |
| 1 July 1995 | Paris by Night 32: 20 Years At A Glance – Timeless Memories (Vietnamese music show) |
Sports events :
| Date | Event |
| For 33 years | Home court for the USC's Trojans basketball team |
| Briefly | Some playoff games of the Los Angeles Lakers |
| 7 January 2025 | NXT: New Year's Evil |
Movie shootings and premieres :
| Date | Movie | Description |
| 1933 | King Kong | Scenes where Kong was displayed manacled on stage. |
| 1954 | A Star Is Born | Some scenes. |
| 9 December 2017 | Star Wars: The Last Jedi | World premiere. |
| 2018 | A Star Is Born | The final scene was filmed at the Shrine as an homage to the earlier 1954 film. |
| 9 July 2023 | Barbie | World premiere. |
Other shootings :
| Date | Film | Description |
| 27 January 1984 | Pepsi commercial | Michael Jackson's hair was accidentally set on fire by the pyrotechnics. He suffered second-degree burns on his scalp as a result. |
Music events and recordings :
| Date | Artist or event | Description |
| May 1949 | Art Tatum | Solo piano performance was released by Columbia Records in 1952 as Gene Norman Presents an Art Tatum Concert |
| 1955 | The Great Shrine Auditorium Concert | Considered a major event in the histories of both American gospel and secular music. The event featured Dorothy Love Coates & The Original Gospel Harmonettes, Brother Joe May, The Caravans, James Cleveland, a young Sam Cooke performing with The Soul Stirrers. |
| 8 June 1956 | Elvis Presley | Elvis Presley's first concert at the Shrine. |
| 3 August 1958 | The Fourteenth Cavalcade of Jazz | Produced by Leon Hefflin Sr., featuring Ray Charles with The Cookies, Ann Fisher, Sam Cooke, William Everett Preston, Little Willie John, Bo Rhambo, and The Clark Kids. Sammy Davis Jr. crowned the Queen, Miss Jackie Joyce Simpson. Charles Trammel, Huggy Boy, Jim Randolph, and Hunter Hancock were the MCs for the starred event. |
| 1964 | Ray Charles | Recorded Live in Concert at the Shrine. |
| 24 August 1968 | The Grateful Dead | Recorded the live album Two from the Vault at the Shrine. |
| 24 January 1975 | Genesis | Live performance of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway released in 1998. |
| 1976 | The Tubes | 3-night concert |
| 8/9 November 1995 | Fugazi | Concert |
| 16 December 2000 19 December 2001 6 December 2005 | KIIS-FM Jingle Ball | |
| 1998 Since 2013 | KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas concert | |
| 4 & 8 August 2016 | Radiohead | Live performance of A Moon Shaped Pool released in 2016. |
| 20 December 2019 | My Chemical Romance | Reunion concert after a seven-year hiatus |
| 21 & 22 December 2022 | The Smile | Live performance of A Light For Attracting Attention released in 2022. |
Video games :
| Date | Game | Description |
| | Midnight Club: Los Angeles | Part of the South Central Map Expansion. |
| 2023 | Valorant | 2023 Valorant Champions (Group Stage + Playoffs) |