The live room looks amazing in photos, but sound professionals know the Evergreen Stage in Los Angeles, California, is even more impressive in person.
Located on Magnolia Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, the Evergreen Stage is familiar to hundreds of Hollywood musicians and is one of the largest independent sound stages in the Greater Los Angeles area, not to mention one of the most well-equipped and technically-advanced.
Formerly owned by DiaDan Holdings Ltd. of Nova Scotia, the Evergreen Stage has been open since 1979 and features a 3,000 square foot live room which has hosted some of the world’s best performers of the twentieth century and into the new millennium: Frank Sinatra, Radiohead, Beyoncé, Slash, Herbie Hancock, Barbra Streisand, Stephen Sondheim, Christina Aguilera, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Dr. Dre, Ray Charles, Snoop Dogg, Ringo Starr, Kelly Clarkson, Barry Manilow, Quincy Jones, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, George Martin, Britney Spears, Toto, Justin Timberlake, Billy Joel, Usher, Mariah Carey, Ozzy Osbourne, John Barry, Plácido Domingo, Pink, and Paul McCartney.
But not only solo acts can enjoy the space—it can accommodate both live bands and orchestras, with enough room for 80 musicians.
The hub of the control room is its 72-channel Neve 8078 mixing console and is well-equipped with three isolation booths, a projection screen, and a comprehensive array of gear. A wide variety of digital and analog tracking options make high levels of sound performance possible for the most discerning ear.
The Evergreen Stage is also the site of the original Magnolia Theatre (also known as the Eiffel Tower Theatre), built in the 1940s by Jack D. Griffin (1892-1951). A California architect known for his Beaux Arts and Italian Renaissance Revival Architecture, Griffin built the theatre in modified French style, and topped it with a 170-foot pylon inspired by the Eiffel Tower. DiaDan Holdings Ltd. was not the first owner of the storied building—Griffin’s client was Al Minor, who also owned the Major Theatre and briefly, the Burbank Theatre in Los Angeles.
The 800-seat Magnolia was renovated in the sixties by another owner, Jack Grossman, for $60,000.
The renovation included a new 60-foot v-shaped marquee, a state-of-the-art air conditioning installation, a new box office facility, an exterior covered with Italian marble, and new lighting. Shots of the exterior made its way into a few movies, such as Pushover (1954), starring Kim Novak and Fred MacMurray, Night Moves (1975) starring Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, and Susan Clark, and more recently, the Oscar-winning La La Land (2016) starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
After its heyday, composers Artie Butler, Charles Fox and harpist Gayle Levant bought the Magnolia and turned it into the Evergreen scoring stage in 1979, (source: Variety magazine) so its relationship with Hollywood continued. The Evergreen was utilized as a sound stage for television (Friends, Dallas) and classic films including Back to the Future, When Harry Met Sally, Urban Cowboy, The Blues Brothers, Star Trek the Motion Picture, Octopussy, The Simpsons Movie, and many more.
DiaDan Holdings Ltd. purchased the studio in 2010 and sold it again in 2017.