Back in 2012, I didn't have the lay of the land in Los Angeles yet—so, I just tried to take every opportunity to go anywhere that seemed cool, even if I'd never heard of it before.
That's how I ended up at Variety Arts Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, thanks to a haunted house/immersive theater show for Halloween by horror movie producer Jason Blum called Blumhouse of Horrors.
I remember being led through an auditorium with seats—at one point, through one of those squeeze tubes that make it feel like you're traveling through a birth canal. And I remember someone in costume—maybe an usher? or a bellhop?—taking a group of us up the elevator to an upper level that felt more like a hotel than a theater.
But it was so long ago—and I only have one photo of the night, taken outside with a scare actor (jump to the photo ↓)—that I barely can recall any real details.
The Variety Arts Theatre has been open to the public very rarely since then, including for the Delusion haunt in Fall 2025—but it's had construction fencing up out front for years. Thankfully, that finally came down, and the theater doors swung open once again.
The building began in 1923 as the headquarters for The Friday Morning Club women's club, organized in 1891 by suffragette and abolitionist Caroline M. Severance (a.k.a. "Madame Severance") for civic reform and the betterment of society in "all things charity"—homes, schools, the city, the country, and the world.
Designed by David C. Allison of Allison & Allison in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, the Friday Morning Club was built to contain a theater (once known as "The Playhouse") whose stage productions (and, later, film screenings) helped fund the club's activities.
Milt Larsen's Society for the Preservation of Variety Arts took over the clubhouse in 1977, mounting plays, magic shows, musical revues, and radio dramas there (hence its new name at the time, "Variety Arts Center") until closing on New Year's Eve, 1988. Ownership changed a few times in the decades since—and now, the Julia Stoschek Foundation has moved in to open the six-week run of its "What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem" video art installation (free to visit via timed ticket).
What an amazing opportunity to roam freely through the spaces of this multilevel monolith—landmarked on both the national and local levels for its architecture and historical significance in social/humanitarian endeavors and in its use as a theater.
I first made a beeline for the former legit playhouse space, which is currently serving as as a kind of mainstage for the art show, screening films by the likes of Marina Abramović. I was disappointed to see that all the seating had been removed during a 2017-2019 renovation.
I then ambled upstairs to the first mezzanine to get a better view...
...initially looking down upon the red velvet lobby...
...and then passing dark corridors of creepy columns...
...until there it was, the auditorium that was once filled with as many as 1000 theater-goers.
Now, the balcony is also emptied of its seats—which have been replaced by scattered television sets.
The flickering light of another video illuminated the columns and railing of the house right balcony arcade...
...while some light from the façade filtered into the staircase leading to the second floor.
That's where you'll find the former library, anchored by a Tiffany-designed mantel that's adorned with Batchelder tile—donated to The Friday Morning Club in the 1930s.
Walnut moldings surround two alcoves that invite exploring despite the dimming of the room for video projections.
One level up is the third floor theater, the original recital hall for The Friday Morning Club known during the Variety Arts days as the "Tin Pan Alley Little Theatre Cabaret."
The Society for the Preservation of Variety Arts used to also display its radio museum in this space, which is also viewable from above thanks to the third floor mezzanine.
Moving on up to the fourth floor...
...a lobby with illuminated niches leads to the main ballroom, once known as the "Roof Garden" although it's neither a garden nor located on the roof.
The ballroom, which is positioned directly above the main auditorium on the first floor, used to house one of the many artifacts that Milt Larsen salvaged, collected, and displayed here (much like he did at The Magic Castle): Johnny Carson's original set from The Tonight Show.
And the ornamented ceilings? Those are original—and they're actually concrete, hand-painted to look like wood.
They're like that up on the fifth floor, too, which continued to be leased to The Friday Morning Club for their offices, library and clubrooms into the 1990s.
It's sad to see all these spaces emptied of all the art and artifacts they once housed—but exciting to see them activated at least temporarily with an art show.
Especially with an event that gives you almost free rein over the building, allowing you to explore every twist and turn...
...including the unfinished basement...
...which looks like a parking structure but whose columns may have just been painted that way for a film shoot.
Some renovation has happened down there, particularly in terms of "under the hood" building infrastructure and mechanical systems...
...but it's left some walls stripped to their raw materials...
...and some areas underfoot exposed down to dirt.
During the art show, one video projection lit up the room under the stage in hues of magenta and blue. (According to the Los Angeles Theatres blog, those stairs lead to the orchestra pit.)
The former Ed Wynn bar (named after the vaudeville actor and variety show host, from the Variety Arts Center days), however, was fully illuminated and fully functional—ready to serve a libation to you or the Prohibition-era ghosts who might follow you home.
In the 1980s and '90s, there was actually a crazy nightlife scene happening at the Variety Arts Theatre, with too much "loud music" coming out of open windows and doors, the neighbors complained. Music from rock bands like Butthole Surfers, Stiff Little Fingers, Tin Machine (David Bowie's band), and Phish shattered eardrums; and dance club nights surely filled the ladies room (above) and men's room (below) with over-served partiers needing to empty their tanks.
In a major turnaround, the megachurch Hillsong Church almost moved in around 2016—but that deal fell through. And the current art show will only last six weeks, through March 20, making this just a short-term revival. It would take a long-term tenant for the renovation to be completed (and maybe for some seats to go back into the auditorium).
For now, we've got some appearances of the Variety Arts Theatre on film, like when it stood in for Windsor College Theatre in the climax of Scream 2 (watch in the embedded player above).
As for me, I've got my fading memories of the walk-through haunt I survived in 2012, and the one photo that was snapped of my experience (above).
With as much as I saw, I know I missed some areas—so, I'm going back in March towards the end of the run, and earlier in the day, to catch some more views and document some more. Stay tuned!
Related Posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment