Please Get Flash player!

5269 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

History Of The El Portal

El Portal Theatre is a historic landmark in the San Fernando Valley located in the heart of North Hollywood just minutes from Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Disney, ABC, CBS-Radford and NBC Burbank. The theatre, originally built as a vaudeville house in 1926, sits directly across Lankershim Blvd from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The art deco Marquee is visible to thousands of cars who travel on Lankershim Blvd.daily.

In early 2007 the long awaited redevelopment of North Hollywood came to fruition with the grand openings of restaurants, upscale shops and a charming, urbanesque environment. Since its opening in 1926 -- first for Vaudeville, then Silent Movies, and then Academy Award-winning films -- as the primo movie house in the valley, the theatre has weathered the Jazz Age, the Depression, 4 wars, and finally the great earthquake of 1994. The lobbies boast luscious carpeting secured in 2004 from Century City's Shubert Theatre. In 2008 the 3rd phase of redevelopment will be directly across the street from El Portal and will include a 7 screen Laemmele Theatre complex.

Rebuilt in the late 90's and opened in January of 2000, the once 1400-seat movie palace now houses three theatres -- the 42-seat Studio Theatre (the permanent home of Stuart Roger's Theatre Tribe), the 95-seat Forum, and the 360-seat MainStage -- along with the Judith Kaufman Art Gallery, featuring many of Los Angeles visual artists. There is even complimentary parking behind the theatre in the school parking lot.

In the past seven years celebrities have starred in productions and musical reviews including Jimmy Kimmel Live, Sarah Silverman, Debbie Reynolds, John Saxon, Kathryn Crosby, Esther Williams, Ray Cooney, Jason Robert Brown, Susan Sullivan, Rene Taylor and Joe Bologna, Bea Arthur and Billy Goldenberg, Kitty Carlisle Hart's 96th Birthday Tour, Charles Nelson Reilly, Ed Begley, Jr.,Hal Linden, Carol Lawrence, Fred Savage,

Kirkwood Smith, David Faustino, Sally Struthers, Charlotte Rae, Marnie Nixon, Maripat Donovan, JoAnne Worley, Vicki Lewis and Carol Channing to name just a few. Recent hit shows include The Kid From Brooklyn, Beehive, Melody Lingers On, and The Marvelous Wonderettes which achieved a milestone 19 month run at El Portal as the longest running musical in Los Angeles!

El Portal hosted major workshops and readings that will eventually end up on Broadway as hits - the Russian musical THE THIEF, and GRUMPY OLD MEN, which starred George Hearn and Len Cariou, working together for the first time in their careers. Another highlight this year was the Smithsonian Institute presentation of Hollywood stars on stage at El Portal.