page_title: Ebell of Los Angeles
section_title: New building on Wilshire Boulevard
hierarchical_section_title: Ebell of Los Angeles / New building on Wilshire Boulevard
caption_attribution_description: English: Mrs. Charles Hulbert Toll, 1922 President of Ebell of Los Angeles, Who's who among the women of California
context_page_description: The Ebell of Los Angeles is a women's club housed in a complex in the Mid-Wilshire section of Los Angeles, California. It includes a clubhouse building and the 1,270-seat Wilshire Ebell Theatre.
  The complex has been owned and operated since 1927 by the Ebell of Los Angeles women's club, which was formed in Los Angeles in 1894 or 1897. Since 1927, the Wilshire Ebell Theatre has hosted musical performances and lectures by world leaders and top artists. Among other events, the Ebell was the site of aviator Amelia Earhart's last public appearance before attempting the 1937 around-the-world flight during which she disappeared. It is also the place where Judy Garland was discovered while performing as Baby Frances Gumm in the 1930s.
context_section_description: In 1923, the group announced plans to build a new clubhouse and theater west of downtown on Wilshire Boulevard.  Before construction began, the lot at Wilshire Boulevard and Shatto Place had appreciated in value and was sold for a profit; a new lot at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Lucerne was purchased in 1925.
  The group commissioned architect Sumner P. Hunt of Hunt & Burns to design the new facility, which was designed in an Italian style with plaster facing and Italian clay tile roofing. The new facilities consisted of multiple structures covering a site 160 by 450 feet (49 m × 137 m), surrounding a 65-by-120-foot (20 m × 37 m) patio area. The new facilities included a new 1,300-seat auditorium at the rear of the property facing 8th Street. The two-story structure facing Wilshire Boulevard houses the group's clubhouse, including a large lounge, art salon, and dining room. The dining room opens to a tile-roofed colonnade walkway and fountain.
  
  The clubhouse opened with a musicale tea in October 1927, and the Wilshire Ebell Theater, originally known as the Windsor Square Playhouse, opened to the public in December 1927 with the west coast premiere of Sigmund Romberg's musical The Desert Song. When the buildings opened, the group's president wrote in the club's newsletter:
  The result of their tireless and unceasing labor may be seen at 4400 Wilshire Boulevard where a stately group of buildings now adorns a sightly eminence.  The separated units have been so carefully designed as to form a magnificent mass, a colossal edifice, severely simple, classically correct, pleasing in its very ruggedness, elegant in its ornate adornment, suited to the purpose for which it was built.
   The total cost was $200,000 for the site, $650,000 for the entire structure, and $120,000 for the furnishings. Another writer observed: "Nowhere in America is there a more magnificent women's club house than the new home of Ebell. ... Every modern convenience and appliance, together with furnishings of the finest quality, are within its walls.  It is lavish, but not flamboyantly so. It is practical and it has beauty and inspiring charm."
  The 1,300-seat theater is known for its acoustics and its Barton pipe organ. The Los Angeles Times in 2003 described the theater as "the grande dame of genteel grace," "a cultural centerpiece for Los Angeles," and "one of the area's most striking" auditoriums.
caption: Mrs. Charles Hulbert Toll, 1922 President of Ebell of Los Angeles, Who's who among the women of California
exif: {"Image Artist": "Elisa Rolle", "Image ExifOffset": "2134", "Image XPAuthor": "Elisa Rolle", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:08:10 20:54:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:08:10 20:54:49", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "96", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "96", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}