[NoHo Arts District, CA] – El Portal Theatre celebrates its 100th birthday on October 5, 2026, marking a century of entertainment in North Hollywood. For nearly 100 years, the historic theatre has witnessed North Hollywood’s transformation from a quiet San Fernando Valley community into an L.A. theatre district – once boasting the largest concentration of theatres outside of New York City. Since opening in 1926, it has survived the Great Depression, four wars, the arrival of talking pictures, and the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Happy 100th Birthday, El Portal Theatre! 

From silent films to live theatre, here are fun facts about El Portal Theatre:

It Opened Before Movies Could Talk

When El Portal Theatre opened on October 5, 1926, audiences watched silent films with dialogue shown on title cards between scenes. The theatre opened with the now-lost silent melodrama Blarney, starring Ralph Graves. Just one year later, the film industry changed forever with the release of The Jazz Singer (1927), ushering in the era of talking pictures. Like movie palaces across America, it quickly adapted to Hollywood’s biggest technological revolution.

El Portal Originally Seated 1,346 People

The single-screen movie palace seated a whopping 1,346 patrons on one level, making it one of the largest entertainment venues in the San Fernando Valley when it opened in 1926.

It Survived the Great Depression and Four Wars

It has outlasted the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, and four wars before the Northridge earthquake nearly took it down. Few buildings in the Valley carry that kind of continuous-use history. El Portal Theatre is the last surviving 1920s movie palace in the San Fernando Valley that’s still entertaining audiences today!

The Northridge Earthquake Nearly Destroyed it

The 1994 Northridge earthquake caused severe structural damage to the theatre. It cracked the side walls and collapsed part of the ceiling, just one year after the city named the building a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. Crews spent the late 1990s rebuilding it. The theatre reopened as a three-theatre performing arts complex in January 2000.

The Lobby Holds a Hidden Piece of New Deal History

Most visitors walk right past one of El Portal’s hidden treasures. The lobby features original Works Progress Administration (WPA) bas-relief panels installed during the 1930s that depict scenes from California’s past, including Gold Rush miners panning for gold and California’s citrus harvests. They remain one of the theatre’s most overlooked historic features.

Three Theatres, Three Stories

The rebuilt theatre complex includes three distinct performance spaces, each with its own connection to Hollywood history.

The Debbie Reynolds MainStage seats 360 and serves as the complex’s flagship space. The theatre named it for Reynolds, who performed there and had ties to the building going back to her teenage years, when she rode her bike to El Portal to catch movies.

The Monroe Forum seats roughly 99 and carries a more personal history than most people realize. The theatre named the space for Marilyn Monroe, who attended sixth grade at Lankershim Elementary School, located directly behind the building, from 1937 to 1938. As a child, she watched movies at El Portal with her guardian. The theatre renamed the space in her honor in 2012, on the 50th anniversary of her death.

The Studio Theatre seats 42 and serves as the permanent home of Theatre Tribe, the award-winning company founded by director Stuart Rogers.

You’ve Probably Seen El Portal Theatre on Screen

The theatre’s iconic marquee and Spanish Revival façade have made it one of Hollywood’s favorite filming locations for decades. Most recently, the theatre was transformed into a 1970s movie palace for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza. Television audiences have also seen it in Glee, Modern Family, Criminal Minds, Desperate Housewives, Lethal Weapon, Parental Control, The Ghost Whisperer, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Last Comic Standing, The Biggest Loser, R&B Divas, and all three CSI series. The theatre has also appeared in films, including White Heat (1949), The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood, Billy Glimmer, and Sarah Silverman’s Jesus Is Magic, along with numerous national commercials and network television productions.

El Portal Predates the NoHo Arts District by 66 Years

The NoHo Arts District was established in 1992, but the theatre had already been entertaining North Hollywood audiences since 1926. Long before dozens of NoHo theatres lined the neighborhood, El Portal served as one of the area’s cultural anchors.

It Became a Historic Landmark Just Before Disaster Struck

In 1993, the City of Los Angeles designated El Portal Theatre as Historic-Cultural Monument No. 573, recognizing its architectural and cultural significance. Just one year later, the 1994 Northridge earthquake severely damaged the building, cracking its walls and collapsing part of the ceiling. The landmark designation helped ensure El Portal Theatre would be restored rather than lost, preserving one of North Hollywood’s most important cultural landmarks for future generations.

---

El Portal Theatre FAQ

Follow El Portal Theatre on Instagram for 100th birthday events, performances, and more.

---

Sources

• El Portal Theatre archives and official history
• Los Angeles Public Library Digital Collections
• Los Angeles Conservancy
• City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument records
• Historic Resources Inventory, City of Los Angeles
• Cinema Treasures
• Research by historian Mary Mallory
• NoHo Arts archives and reporting

This article was researched using historical archives, public records, and official theatre resources to celebrate El Portal Theatre’s 100th birthday and preserve the history of one of North Hollywood’s most iconic landmarks. Last updated: June 2026