San Francisco Rental Car and the Shrine Auditorium
Driving up to the Shrine Auditorium in your San Francisco rental car, you will see what is probably a familiar sight. The Shrine Auditorium was built in 1906, and again in 1920 after a fire destroyed it by the Shriners. When it was built, it was the largest indoor auditorium with almost 6500 seats, making it one of the preferred venues for Hollywood's most important events. Today, it is still the largest theater of its kind in America, making it an excellent place to visit with your San Francisco rental car. Located in a rough neighborhood at the north edge of South Central and across the street from the U.S.C campus near Exposition Park, this auditorium is not in Beverly Hills!
Hollywood's most glamorous night
The Academy Awards were first held at the Shrine Auditorium in 1947. In the last decade, some of the shows were held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles. However, this location could only hold about half the amount of people as the Shine, and the size of the old location eventually won out and the awards are now held there again. The annual Emmy Awards show has also moved to the Shrine Auditorium because of the large seating capacity. Other large productions that have been seen here in the past include the Grammies, the MTV Music Awards, the American Music Awards, and HBO Comic Relief.
From outside to inside
Driving up to the Shrine Auditorium in your San Francisco rental car, you will notice something that looks a little like an Arabian mosque from ages ago or a west coast replica of the Taj Mahal. Once you leave your San Francisco rental car and walk inside, the atmosphere is more like an old-fashioned opera house with red velvet seats and tiered balconies. The unusual architecture may look a little familiar if you have seen King Kong (1933), A Star is (1954), or Foul Play (1988). In 2002 there was a $10 million renovation that took place to bring a lot of the old Hollywood grandeur to the auditorium, which was beginning to look a little run down. An interesting thing to note about the auditorium is that it is truly an engineering marvel. The balcony was built without pillars, but it seats more people than on the floor. Plus, it does not obstruct viewing from any seat in the house.
Location
If you are visiting the Shrine Auditorium with your San Francisco rental car, then you can find it at 665 W. Jefferson Blvd. (at Royal St.) and the Expo Center is located at 700 W. 32nd Street in Los Angeles, just north of the University of Southern California campus; and the administrative offices are at 649 W. Jefferson. The auditorium is near many of the freeways and other points of interest in Los Angeles when you visit with your San Francisco rental car.
The Shrine Auditorium is a place that movie lovers will want to make a stop at with your San Francisco rental car because it is where Hollywood has some of its biggest events. The exterior and interior are a thing of beauty that should be seen.
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