A desert theater's comeback: Palm Springs historic treasure reopens after $34-million renovation

Hollywood loves a bully comeback story, and Palm Springs has 1 for the books.

In 1936, the dusty godforsaken town’s Plaza Theatre staged its expansive opening with the premiere of George Cukor’s romanticist calamity “Camille,” starring Greta Garbo astatine the tallness of her powers. Spotlights beamed into the nighttime sky, a reddish carpet lined the entranceway to the 800-seat Spanish Colonial Revival theatre and flashbulbs burst connected celebrated faces, including Frank Capra, Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, Tyrone Power and Shirley Temple.

The splashy matter helped cement the estimation of the burgeoning assemblage of astir 1,000 full-time residents arsenic a abrogation retreat for Hollywood’s movers and shakers. Over the adjacent 90 years, Palm Springs grew to go a world-famous edifice town, with a colonisation of astir 45,000 that tin swell to astir doubly that fig with seasonal visitors, particularly during its mild winters.

The Plaza Theatre, however, fell connected hard times.

Despite serving arsenic a gravitational halfway for the city’s amusement country for decades, it was shuttered successful 2014. It sat run-down and vacant until 2019, erstwhile a run to revitalize it gained steam. On Dec. 1, aft a $34-million renovation, the city’s taste crown jewel reopened with a performance featuring superstar Cynthia Erivo astatine the tallness of her powers, backed by a jubilant Palm Springs Pops Orchestra. Spotlights beamed into the nighttime sky, a reddish carpet lined the entranceway and cameras flashed. The historical venue had travel afloat circle.

Cynthia Erivo played a sold-out amusement connected opening nighttime with the Palm Springs Pops Orchestra, featuring a assortment of covers including songs from Aretha Franklin and Sinead O’Connor.

“This is not a remodel,” said J.R. Roberts, president of the Palm Springs Plaza Theatre Foundation, which spearheaded the effort. “If we walked successful present successful 1936, this is precisely what it looked like, down to each color, each detail, each light.”

The lone 2 aesthetic exceptions are an LED surface down the signifier and the theatre seats, which were achromatic leather and are present plush red. Gone are the swaths of burnt orangish overgarment and neon flair that were portion of the theater’s last incarnation arsenic the location of the Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, a fashionable vaudeville amusement that ran for 23 seasons until the venue’s adjacent successful 2014.

The astir important caller changes to the Plaza are successful the guts of the place, unrecognizable to the bare eye: the heating, cooling and electrical systems person been redone, and the airy and dependable systems modernized.

The Plaza was built arsenic an atmospheric theatre — an immersive benignant pioneered by designer John Eberson successful the 1920s. The hallmarks of these evocative, dreamlike spaces are architectural elements that evoke idyllic outdoor settings successful far-off places. The Plaza features quaint Spanish colony scenery built retired of its broadside walls with inheritance illumination that glows pinkish and past heavy purple, emulating a mounting prima arsenic the lights spell down. The domed bluish ceiling is mottled with pinpricks of shining light, similar stars emerging successful the darkness.

Many of these archetypal elements had been covered with drywall, partially destroyed, rebuilt with caller elements oregon different obscured, said Jason Currie, an designer and elder subordinate from Architectural Resources Group, which was contracted by the instauration to bash the painstakingly elaborate restoration. Equipped with the archetypal blueprints, ARG embarked connected a full-scale rehabilitation.

“The proscenium — this truly decorative factual that has stencil coating connected it — was successful place, but it had been covered implicit with a plaster partition to fell it and parts of it had been painted black,” Currie said. “The tile extortion up supra it had been wholly removed and different 1 had been enactment on. So we took disconnected each of the elements that had been built connected apical of it and restored it backmost to the original.”

The archetypal was a unsocial stunner successful its day, said historiographer Jim Cook, who precocious published a publication astir the theatre with Catherine Graham, “Desert Dream to Silver Screen: The Story of the Historic Palm Springs Plaza Theatre.”

The task was commissioned arsenic portion of the La Plaza buying analyzable by Julia Carnell, the heiress to a nationalist currency registry empire based successful Dayton, Ohio.

“In the midst of the Great Depression, she had oodles of cash,” said Cook. “And she loved to travel retired present and would enactment conscionable crossed the thoroughfare astatine the Desert Inn, which was tally by Nellie Coffman.”

Coffman didn’t conscionable tally the legendary resort, she imagined it erstwhile Palm Springs was inactive an Old West outpost connected the mode to L.A.

“Our municipality was built by these gutsy, almighty women — truthful antithetic successful this harsh godforsaken environment,” Cook said, reclining successful a spot connected the theater’s mezzanine aft a ribbon-cutting ceremonial featuring Palm Spring Mayor Ron deHarte. “And those 2 names are astatine the halfway of the pistillate question that made this full municipality what it is today.”

Historian Jim Cook, left, wide manager John Bolton and committee president J.R. Roberts beryllium wrong the Plaza Theatre. Roberts, a erstwhile City Council member, helped spearhead enthusiasm and backing for the restoration campaign.

Carnell hired designer Harry Williams to physique the La Plaza complex, which successful summation to the movie theater, included a then-revolutionary mixed-use buying center, which was centered astir the emergence of the automobile. There was a two-story parking store wherever patrons could person their limousines serviced arsenic good arsenic casitas to rent for the play and a dormitory for moving women supra the shops.

“Julia was besides precise overmuch astir empowering women. She was a suffragist, and she wanted to marque definite women had their spot successful this due to the fact that it was an epoch wherever they often were forgotten,” Cook said.

History marched on, and the Plaza with it — segueing from an independently operated movie theatre to a assemblage arts halfway with unrecorded performances, including vaudeville and a sold-out Louis Armstrong show. In the aboriginal 1940s, the Plaza became a large hub for unrecorded vigor broadcasts, opening with Jack Benny, who was the archetypal vigor big to broadcast nationwide with his Sunday nighttime amusement “Live From the Plaza Theatre successful Palm Springs.” Toward the extremity of World War II, Frank Sinatra transferred his play vigor programme to the Plaza for a constricted run.

In the 1970s, the Plaza was leased to a institution that divided the theatre into 2 with a flimsy partition down the halfway and tore down the historical tiled container bureau retired beforehand — a much-lamented determination that yet sparked the modern Palm Springs preservation movement, Cook noted.

Now that the Plaza is afloat restored, the instauration brought connected John Bolton from unrecorded lawsuit hospitality steadfast Oak View Group to service arsenic wide manager. His archetypal bid of concern was to invitation a veritable who’s who of section arts groups and events to telephone the venue home. These see the Palm Springs Symphony, the Palm Springs Gay Men’s Chorus, Modernism Week, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Jazz Festival and the soon-to-be-announced Classical Coachella euphony series.

The recently restored Palm Springs Plaza Theatre is simply a linchpin successful the city’s downtown revitalization plan. General manager John Bolton has already booked much than 100 shows, and tickets person been purchased by much than 10,000 patrons. The economical interaction is expected to beryllium astatine slightest $21 cardinal a twelvemonth successful tiny concern support.

“From a programming perspective, that besides gives stableness to the theatre due to the fact that nationalist touring acts spell successful cycles,” said Bolton, adding that helium is hoping to make yearly traditions that last, including a sing-along Christmas Eve astatine the Plaza. “Another portion of our ngo is to propulsion economical improvement downtown.”

The restored Plaza Theatre is expected to beryllium a linchpin successful the city’s downtown revitalization efforts, attracting radical from acold and wide to the area’s galore hotels, restaurants and shops.

To date, Bolton has lined up much than 100 shows, which person attracted much than 10,000 summons buyers from each 50 states. According to assembly subordinate Jeffrey Bernstein, the venue is expected to accommodate astir 135,000 patrons per twelvemonth who volition perchance make much than $40 cardinal successful spending. The metropolis expects the economical impact, including income and edifice taxes, volition beryllium astatine slightest $21 cardinal a twelvemonth successful tiny concern support.

When Erivo’s performance ended connected opening night, a cheerful assemblage of much than 800 radical rushed into the darkened streets looking for a nightcap and a wound to eat.