Latest news with #AlexTheatre
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Help Fight Cancer
Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Help Fight Cancer originally appeared on L.A. Mag. Pee-wee Herman was born at L.A.'s Groundlings theater in the late 1970s. The zany alter ego of Paul Reubens started to emerge through small parts on game shows like The Newlywed Game and a late-night stage shows at the Roxy before becoming one of the biggest pop culture icons of the 1980s. The character inspired TV, movies, toys and even a Halloween costume. On June 14, the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his first feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, which was also the feature debut for director Tim Burton, with a screening, reunion and party featuring many members of the original cast and crew. Comedian Dana Gould will interview E.G. Daily, who played Pee-wee's girlfriend Dottie. Mark Holton who played Pee-wee's nemesis Francis will also hit the stage along with Diane Salinger, remembered for her monologue in the mouth of a giant dinosaur, her dream of Paris, France and her 'big but.' The event benefits Stand Up To Cancer, which is fighting the disease that claimed Reubens in 2023, and is produced by Nostalgic Nebula, who have also rounded up original crew members including producer Rich Abramson, co-writer Michael Varhol, production designer David Snyder and the Chiodo Brothers, who created the terrifying stop-motion Large Marge character for the film. The HBO documentary Pee-wee as Himself, premiered last month and has revived interest in Paul Reubens' life and career. The two-part film allowed the comedy icon to tell his own story, clarify misconceptions around him, and come out as gay. 'My whole career,' he says in the film. 'Everything I did and wrote was based on love.' This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
This must be Glendale
Often overshadowed by its neighbors with glitzier landmarks — namely Burbank and Pasadena — Glendale gets an unfair rap as being suburban and drab. Many Angelenos (especially those on the Westside) know it primarily for its massive malls: the Glendale Galleria and oft-meme'd Americana at Brand. While its retail landscape is certainly impressive, that's just the tip of the iceberg of this 30-square-mile city that traverses two mountain ranges and boasts dozens of historic buildings and more than 50 parks. Visit one small corner of this century-old city and your main takeaway might be the preponderance of Armenian bakeries, kebab joints and hookah bars. For a more bohemian, historic take on Glendale, visit Adams Square, where storybook Tudor houses proliferate and a queer community flourishes. At Adams Square Mini-Park, once a gas station, find a public art gallery inside an old service building and nearby crosswalks that have been painted vibrant colors as a way to increase pedestrian visibility and celebrate the local community. Vintage period revival mansions on enviously large plots of land can be found in Glendale's higher elevation communities, like Chevy Chase Canyon or El Miradero, situated below the 31-acre Brand Park. Plenty of historic Queen Anne-Eastlake Victorian homes dating to the 1870s to 1890s are also still standing. Some of these older buildings — like a turn-of-the-century Moorish mansion and an old winery barn — now serve as museums, public libraries and nature centers. While there is plenty of new development — think high-rise condominiums, strip malls, big-box stores and expanded transportation routes — Glendale actively balances preserving its historic sites while promoting change. Take, for instance, Brand Boulevard, the heart of downtown Glendale. It's a dynamic mix of new retailers, multicultural restaurants and landmark businesses like the 100-year-old Alex Theatre and a corset shop that has been in the same location since 1922. And the transformation of the city goes even further. While Glendale once bore the unfortunate reputation of being a mid-20th-century 'sundown town,' it has since evolved into a vibrant melting pot. Today, it is home to large communities of Armenians, Latinos, Koreans, Filipinos and Persians. In a significant step toward reconciliation, Glendale became the first city in California — and the third in the nation — to formally apologize for its racist past. Whichever analogy you choose — a Rubik's cube, an onion — Glendale is one of the more fickle SoCal destinations that takes time to get to know. There are pockets of funk, beauty and culture — a neon museum, a retro roller rink, a progressive art museum at the top of a cemetery. Glendale also produced numerous Hollywood greats, like John Wayne, Eva Mendes and Paul Walker, and serves as the final resting spot of even larger luminaries, such as Walt Disney, Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson. Here's where to go to get the best representation of this oft-misunderstood place that is actually, to name-drop its century-old moniker, a 'jewel' of a city.
Los Angeles Times
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Mexican Armenian comedian Jack Jr. finds a path to success roasting both his cultures
A birthday, a graduation and a homecoming all rolled into one. That's the feeling comedian Jack Assadourian Jr. — better known as Jack Jr. — gets when he pulls up to the Alex Theatre in Glendale, a landmark awash in renovated Art Deco glitz, its bright marquee popping with neon magic days before he tapes the biggest comedy special of his career. As a local kid growing up near the theater, he would walk by and stare in awe at the 1,400-seat venue that showcased vaudeville performances when it opened in 1925. He never dreamed that one day he'd be able to bring a sold-out crowd of mostly Armenians and Mexicans together to laugh about themselves without a fight breaking out — a feat that could only be accomplished by one of the city's native sons. 'This is my hometown, I went to elementary school here, I was born in Glendale,' he said. 'What better way to come back home full circle and shoot a special at a theater where I used to walk by as a kid and go, 'Wow, what is this?'' After a lifetime working at his parents' comedy club, the HaHa in North Hollywood, and producing comedy shows since 2013, Assadourian said he's finally starting to make good on his pursuit to be heard with a voice that's authentically his. For a long time, he thought being a biracial comic meant he had to choose between his mother's Mexican heritage and his father's Armenian roots in order to find an audience. But on May 17, at his live special taping, Assadourian's hour of comedy will tap into both parts of his background as well as his unique perspective as a kid who grew up immersed in the less glamorous side of the comedy business. 'I want people to know my story,' he said during dinner at Frida in Glendale at (where else?) the Americana. 'I'm not a spoiled little kid whose parents own a comedy club. I was a kid whose dad told me I had to work scrubbing dishes, cleaning floors. So, after the past 16 years of me doing stand-up comedy, this is like my graduation.' Assadourian, who turns 40 just two days before the special taping , said he grew up very Mexican, primarily raised by his grandmother on his mother's side. 'My Armenian side wasn't really present because they were in Lebanon and Beirut, and Armenians are scattered all over different countries because of the genocide,' he said, referring to the Armenian genocide of 1915. His father, Jack Sr., came to the U.S. in 1975 and married his mother, Tere, who was born in Mexico, and his family mainly spoke Spanish at home. When he got older, Jack Sr. enrolled his son in an Armenian private school so he could learn the language and the culture. But when he started doing comedy, Jack Jr. still favored his Mexican side. He was inspired by comics like Gabriel 'Fluffy' Iglesias, Felipe Esparza and many others. 'As a kid, you're always kinda told to pick a side,' he said of his dual ethnicity. 'I always got asked, 'What's your last name?' and I said, 'Assadourian,' and people said, 'Then that means you're Armenian, not Mexican.' So it was hard to be both.' Unable to perform during the COVID-19 pandemic, Assadourian spent time at home writing more Armenian-influenced material. When lockdown lifted, he started hosting a Middle Eastern comedy night that quickly found support from a live audience and on social media. He said he recently learned how to combine the Mexican and Armenian jokes. 'When you go to my shows, now you see Armenians and Mexicans — these are cultures that hated each other when I was in high school. They would beat each other up. They weren't allowed to date each other. I'm making this whole new [angle for my comedy], which is crazy.' Last year, he sold out three headlining gigs at L.A.'s biannual Netflix Is a Joke Festival — two shows at the Belasco Theater and one at the Bourbon Room. He'll be performing on a national, 18-city headlining tour and is even planning a show in Yerevan, Armenia, in July at the Hard Rock Cafe. He now plans to mentor several up-and-coming comics, just like Fluffy guided him when he was younger. 'If I can help other comics get seen by agents or managers, I wanna help. I'm actually managing three other comedians right now,' he said. 'I love the business side of this and helping people, and it's good karma as well.' Though he's now a seasoned road comedian, he gets the biggest laughs at home, performing at local Glendale venues like the Brandy, where he hosts monthly pop-up Armenian Mexican comedy dinners with his chef pal, Armenian food content creator Ara Zada, working out his new material. It's that local audience that's now supporting him by showing up to pack the Glendale landmark he used to walk by in amazement as a kid. 'To have that pressure is a welcomed challenge, I love it,' he said. As for what lies ahead after the special wraps, his dreams remain as big and bright as the Alex marquee. 'This year is gonna open doors,' he said. 'I feel like I'm gonna hook something big.' Jack Jr. performs at the Alex Theatre (special taping) at 8 p.m. on May 17. Tickets and info are available here.
