Downtown LA Historic Music Venue the Mayan to Close in September

Eater

2 days ago

is an editor at Eater Southern California/Southwest, a regular contributor at KCRW radio, and a 2022 James Beard Award nominee.
In a year that witnessed Downtown Los Angeles's longtime operators like Cole's French Dip and the Original Pantry permanently close, another historic space has become the region's latest loss. In an Instagram post, the current operators of the Mayan said they will cease operations as a venue and nightclub in late September. The city declared the Mayan as an LA Historic-Cultural Monument in 1989. Though the building will remain, the Mayan's future use remains unclear.
As one of Downtown's most striking buildings, the Mayan first opened in 1927. It was designed by Mexican sculptor and anthropologist Francisco Cornejo, reports the Los Angeles Times. The structure is one of the country's most notable examples of the 1920s and 1930s Mayan Revival architectural movement, with its pre-Columbian Mesoamerican style.
Throughout the decades, the Mayan served a number of functions, including an Actors Workshop theater during the Great Depression, as a venue for musicals, as well as Spanish language film screenings and performances. In the 1970s, an operator shifted to screening pornographic films. In 1990, nightlife operator Sammy Chao and entrepreneur Daniel Sullivan took over, converted the building into a nightclub, and initially changed the name to Club Mayan.
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