Latest news with #MayanRevival
Eater
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
Downtown LA Historic Music Venue the Mayan to Close in September
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. Rihanna at Giorgio Baldi Producer, songwriter, Fenty Beauty owner, and very pregnant Rihanna was photographed exiting Giorgio Baldi this week. According to Vogue, Rihanna started visiting the Santa Monica restaurant in 2009 and unofficially turned it into a celebrity hotspot. L.A. Taco continues coverage of ICE raids Since early June, local outlet L.A. Taco has continued its coverage of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles. Throughout the week, one can find updates of what's happening throughout the Southland, including one from Monday, July 14, below: LA to SF restaurant pipeline The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Los Angeles restaurant operators are expanding into Northern California, including Leo's Tacos' first truck in Ocean Beach, along with Broad Street Oyster Company and Chimmelier. Dining on $25 per day in LA Influencer Zay Jackson started a dining series on Instagram and TikTok where she eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner in Los Angeles. The challenge is to spend no more than $25 per day, which she executes successfully in these challenging financial times. In her latest series, she visits Puerto Nuevo and Crustees on Slauson and Overhill Drive.
Los Angeles Times
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The Mayan, a staple of DTLA nightlife, will close its doors this fall
The Mayan, a popular music venue and nightclub in downtown L.A., announced Monday morning that it will be closing under its current management after a 35-year run. '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.' The announcement also called on longtime and potentially new patrons to celebrate the club's final months in fashion, with weekly Saturday dance nights through Sept. 13. It is currently unknown what, if anything, the historic venue will be used for after the Mayan shutters. The Mayan did not immediately respond to The Times' request for information. The Mayan Theater — located at 1038 S. Hill St., next door to the Belasco — first opened Aug. 15, 1927, with a performance of George Gershwin's Broadway musical 'Oh Kay.' As its name alludes to, the theater is one of the best known examples of the Mayan Revival architectural movement that took place in the U.S. during the 1920s and 1930s, which drew inspiration from pre-Columbian Mesoamerican structures. As The Times reported in 1989, the giant bas-relief figures on the venue's exterior are of the Maya god Huitzilopochtli seated on a symbolic earth monster. The three-tiered chandelier in the theater — rigged for red, blue and amber lights — is a replica of the Aztec calendar stone found near Mexico City. The design of tapered pillars was inspired by the Palace of the Governors at Uxmal, a Maya ruin on Yucatán Peninsula dating from AD 800. Mexican anthropologist and sculptor Francisco Cornejo assisted the architects to craft a building that was based on authentic designs of pre-Columbian American societies. During the Great Depression, the theater was rented out to the Works Projects Administration, which operated it as an Actors Workshop theater. In 1944, Black producer, director and entrepreneur Leon Norman Hefflin Sr., staged a production of the popular and well-reviewed musical 'Sweet 'N Hot,' which starred Black film and stage icon Dorothy Dandridge. The Fouce family gained ownership of the theater in 1947 and shifted the venue's programming toward Spanish-language film screenings and performers. By the early 1970s, Peruvian-born filmmaker and actor Carlos Tobalina gained ownership of the theater and changed the programming to focus on pornographic and X-rated films. In 1990, the Mayan was brought under new management and inhabited its current form as a nightclub and music venue. The city has since declared the building as an official L.A. Historic-Cultural Monument. The Mayan has been used as a shooting location for many film productions, including the 1992 box-office smash 'The Bodyguard,' starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston; the 1998 skit-to-feature film 'A Night at the Roxbury;' the 1979 Ramones-led musical comedy 'Rock 'n' Roll High School;' and, most recently, the Netflix wrestling-themed series 'GLOW.' In recent years, the Mayan has played host to the cheeky lucha libre and burlesque show called Lucha VaVoom de La Liz and has held concerts by acts such as Jack White, M.I.A. and Prophets of Rage.
