Yet another legendary downtown Los Angeles landmark is shuttering.
In a post to Instagram Monday morning, management at The Mayan Theater, located at 1038 S. Hill St., announced plans to close beloved nightclub and music venue after a 35-year run in its current iteration.
“It is with heavy yet grateful hearts that we announce The Mayan will be closing its doors at the end of September, after 35 unforgettable years,” read a statement from the venue’s Instagram page. “To our loyal patrons, community and friends: thank you for your unwavering support, your trust and the countless memories we’ve created together. You made every night truly special.”
Opened in Aug. 1927, Francisco Cornejo, a Mexican sculptor and anthropologist, helped the building’s architects deliver designs based on pre-Columbian American societies, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The venue’s exterior is adorned with huge bas-relief depictions of the Maya god Huitzilopochtli atop earth monsters. A Mayan ruin on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula from AD 800 serves as the inspiration for the tapered pillars, while the theater’s chandelier is a replica of the Aztec calendar stone located near Mexico City.
The theater’s first performance featured the Broadway musical “Oh Kay” by George Gershwin, according to The Times. Amid the Great Depression, the venue operated as an Actor’s Workshop theater under the Works Projects Administration.
Under new management in the late 1940s, The Mayan offered up Spanish-language performers and film screenings but had changed hands again by the 1970s and was serving pornographic movies.
In 1989, The Mayan was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.
Just a year later, it came under its current management who transformed the theater into an incredibly popular music venue drawing artists like Jack White and bands like Panic! At the Disco and Muse among many others.
The theater also kept in touch with tawdry history, offering themed events like the Bondage Ball, burlesque nights and Lucha Libre shows. It has also been the backdrop for several films.
In the farewell post on Instagram, the venue’s management encouraged patrons to enjoy the theater’s dance floor every Saturday night through Sept. 13 before its “final curtain call” later that month.
After that, the historic location’s future is currently unknown.
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