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 only had one photo of the night, and I could barely recall any real details, so I was thrilled to be able to return for Julia Stoschek Foundation's six-week run of "What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem" video art installation during its opening weekend last month.
Only thing was, it was pretty dark in there. I didn't feel like I could really see the building (which was the main reason I went in the first place).
So I scheduled myself on another day, after Spring Forward, right when the place opens at 5 p.m., so I could partake in the playhouse under some daylight illumination.
I'm rarely in the neighborhood outside of nighttime visits to LA Live or the Grammy Museum anyway, so I was happy to see the original inscription above the front entrance to the former Friday Morning Club headquarters: "In Essentials Unity • In Nonessentials Liberty • In All Things Charity."
The Friday Morning Club was a women's club organized in 1891 by suffragette and abolitionist Caroline M. Severance (a.k.a. "Madame Severance"). This Italian Renaissance Revival style clubhouse, completed in 1923, was the second of their homes to be built in the very same spot.
The club funded its activities in civic welfare and the betterment of society through stage productions, so they had architect David C. Allison of Allison & Allison design their building to contain a theater (once known as "The Playhouse"). Film screenings would later follow.
Now, video art has taken over the storied spaces of the national historic landmark—like the Margaret Rishel Sartori Library on the second floor, named after one of the club's founding members, who served multiple terms as its club president.
The centerpiece of the library is the Tiffany-designed mantel...
...with the Friday Morning Club's name inscribed in Batchelder tile.
A plaque on its side pays tribute to the many years of service and devotion of former treasurer Mrs. N.K. Potter—born Mary E. Bohrer, wife of Newton Karr Potter.
We got there just in time to see the last light dance through the windows and kiss the walls.
The smaller theater on the third floor was a bit more illuminated, with its big bay windows that face Figueroa Street, but security personnel kept me from slipping behind the LED light panels to get closer to the little stage behind it.
According to an old brochure, the ballroom/restaurant used to seat up to 300 for regular lunches and dinners and special banquet events when it functioned as the Variety Arts Center's "Roof Garden Theatre & Restaurant." Weekly entertainment included big band orchestras and other live shows, which required a strict dress code for the gents (jacket and tie) and ladies (dress or pants suit).
The former commercial kitchen, just behind a wooden screen at the back of the ballroom, has been gutted—but I was still glad to get back there to take a gander. (I missed it during my first visit.) 
As for the top floor, The Friday Morning Club continued to lease it into the 1990s—coexisting in their former headquarters with the Variety Arts Center, after Milt Larsen's Society for the Preservation of Variety Arts took it over in 1977.
In fact, the Friday Morning Club stayed even after the Variety Arts Center closed up shop in 1988.
But the Friday Morning Club organization couldn't hang on past 2012, when it dissolved.
It's hard to tell now which room was used for what—and there have been some renovations over the years, as the building has changed hands and new uses have been planned.
It's available for film shoots as well.
Tonight is closing night for the Julia Stoschek Foundation show—and for now, free reservations are still available.
Hard to know when this building will ever be open to the public again, so you know my philosophy: Get there while you can.
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