Simpson's Auditorium

730 S. Hope St. Los Angeles, CA 90017 | map |

Opened: December 1889. The initial building was a church, known as Simpson's Tabernacle but heavily used as an auditorium for many musical performances as well. A later addition produced the separate Simpson's Auditorium just south of the main building. It's off to the right in this 1970 photo by Palmer Connor from in the Huntington Digital Library collection.

The location is on the east side of the street mid-block between 7th and 8th. The Christian Scientists got the complex sometime around 1911. 

Architect: Charles Edward Apponyi, also known as C.E. Apponyi. Thanks to Melani Motzkus Carty for the data.

Status: The two main buildings have not survived but a small part is still in use as a church, the Third Church of Christ, Scientist. Most of the complex was demolished after damage from the 1971 Sylmar earthquake.

An undated look inside the main building. It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo. Also see a view toward the rear of the space. There seem to be no surviving photos of the interior of the adjacent auditorium.

More exterior views: 

An early view of the complex from the Los Angeles Public Library collection.  

A perhaps c.1915 look at Simpson's. It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo. That's the newer Simpson's Auditorium building to the right of the tower. 

A c.1922 photo from the Los Angeles Public Library. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Gaylord Wilshire for finding this and several other views from the LAPL collection for inclusion in his Noirish post # 2887.

 

An image purporting to be from the mid-30s from the video game "L.A. Noire." We're looking south on Hope St. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Gaylord Wilshire for including it in his Noirish post #2883. He comments: "The ABSOLUTELY FIREPROOF building... at 746 S. Hope, opened in September 1925 as the Auto Center Garage. It is considered by some as the oldest parking garage downtown."  

A c.1965 photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

A 1970 view by Palmer Connor from the Huntington Digital Library collection.

Demolition underway. It's a c.1973 photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

A look at the facade of the small building remaining on the site. Photo: Bill Counter - 2010  

A wider view. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018 

More Information: Another early view of the building appears on Brent Dickerson's Tour of Hope and Flower Streets, part of his great "A Visit to Old Los Angeles" site.

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