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Music Center records
LSC.3261
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Music Center records
Creator:
Music Center of Los Angeles County
Source:
Music Center of Los Angeles County
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.3261
Physical Description:
905.4 Linear Feet
(1,609 boxes, 224 flat boxes, 209 shoe boxes, 102 half boxes, 12 phonograph boxes, 8 magazine boxes, 5 map folders, 6 costume
boxes, 6 cartons, 4 custom boxes, 3 telescoping boxes, 3 framed prints, 2 oversize flat boxes, 1 oversize carton, 1 negative
box, and 1 open reel audio container.)
Date (inclusive): 1732-2018
Abstract: The Music Center of Los Angeles County, a seven-acre performing arts complex in downtown Los Angeles, opened when the Dorothy
Chandler Pavilion raised its curtain for the first time on December 6, 1964. The Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum followed
in April 1967. The complex expanded to eleven acres on October 24, 2003, when the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened, which includes
the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater and the W.M. Keck Foundation Children's Amphitheatre. The Music Center records range
from 1732-2018 and contain the files of the Music Center Operating Company, Otto Rothschild, the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl, the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Center Theatre Group,
fundraising organizations, the Music Center Education Division, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Music Center Reference
Library as well as memorabilia and ephemera.
Physical Location: Portions of the collection stored off-site. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. All requests to access
special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Language of Material:
English
.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS DIGITAL, AUDIO, AND AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed digital, audio,
and audiovisual materials. Digital, audio, and audiovisual materials are not currently available for access, unless otherwise
noted in a Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note at the series and file levels. All requests to access
processed digital materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
[Identification of item], Music Center records (Collection 3261). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County, 2018.
Mr. Joel Pritkin joined the staff of The Music Center Operating Company on September 8, 1970 as the Archivist for the Music
Center. He was responsible for collecting, evaluating, systematizing, preserving, and making available for reference Music
Center public records and documents of historical significance. Prior to Pritkin's arrival, Kenn Randall and Norman Macdonald,
two of the Music Center's House Managers initiated the archives out of two small storage rooms in the Ahmanson Theatre. Randall
and Macdonald undertook to collect historical items from the previous five years of the Center's existence. Because up until
that time there was no plan to systematically retain these things, many were lost or scattered throughout the offices and
even outside of the Music Center complex. Music Center chief administrator Bill Severns arranged for the purchase of the Raymond
F. Barnes collection through the estate. This collection forms a nucleus of reference books and biographies, as well as historical
items (mainly programs) covering much of the past of the Music Center and its Resident Groups, along with a wide selection
of other theatres around the world. Shortly after Pritkin's hire, the Archives office was relocated to two rooms in the Ahmanson
Annex where Pritkin was joined by Archives assistants James Davis and Larry Phillips. Pritkin's role as curator of the Music
Center Archives continued until the arrival of Archivist Molly Paradiso circa 1990. Paradiso was joined by Julio Cesar Gonzalez
circa 1993. Gonzalez worked as the Music Center Archivist for over two decades until his retirement on September 1, 2017.
Sources:
Music Center Operating Company Bulletin, September 8, 1970., Paradiso, Molly. Music Center Operating Company memo, April 12,
1990., Paradiso, Molly, and Julio Gonzalez. Music Center Operating Company memo, July 1, 1993., and
The Top O' The Mall IV, no. 1 (January 1971).
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
The Music Center records were transferred to UCLA Library Special Collections in January 2018. Processing began onsite at
the Ahmanson Theatre Archives office in September 2018 by UCLA Library Special Collections staff: Archivist Kelly Besser,
Curator and Manuscripts Librarian Genie Guerard, and Visual Arts Specialist Octavio Olvera, with additional assistance from
Collections Management Student Assistant Tess Livesley-O'Neill in 2020.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
8809390
The Music Center of Los Angeles County, a seven-acre performing arts complex in downtown Los Angeles, opened when the Dorothy
Chandler Pavilion raised its curtain for the first time on December 6, 1964. The Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum followed
in April 1967. The complex expanded to eleven acres on October 24, 2003, when the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened, which includes
the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater and the W.M. Keck Foundation Children's Amphitheatre.
Proposals for a performing arts center in Los Angeles had produced years of unsuccessful discussion and compromise between
private citizens, County government, and downtown business organizations. The Music Center's story began with the Southern
California Symphony Association's search for a permanent home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1955, the Board of Supervisors appointed Dorothy Chandler, wife of
Los Angeles Times publisher Norman Chandler, as chairperson of a civic committee to promote a performing arts facility for the County of Los
Angeles. After many years of negotiation, a County site was designated in downtown's Bunker Hill district with 34.5 million
dollars needed for construction. With Dorothy Chandler leading the drive, the Music Center Building Fund of the Southern California
Symphony Association was established. Operating out of her home with the help of hundreds of volunteers, 20 million dollars
was raised by donations from the business community and private citizens.
A contract between the County and The Music Center Lease Company was then established to build the facility on County-owned
property. The remaining balance of 14.5 million dollars was raised by creating a land leaseback arrangement using mortgage
revenue bonds.
The Music Center Operating Company (MCOC) was formed in 1961 to oversee the construction and to manage the Music Center complex.
The MCOC handled the administration and operation of the Center. Its responsibilities ranged from management of theatre, stage,
and box office operations; supervision of a restaurant and concessions; and providing the information center for the complex.
The MCOC licensed the use of the three theatres to both long- and short term-tenants. Long-term producing organizations, also
known as resident companies, had the first choice of the available time in the theatres. The resident companies included the
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Center Theatre Group, the Los Angeles Opera, the Joffrey Ballet, and the Master Chorale.
Source: The Music Center of Los Angeles County History and Description document, Box 402, Folder 11, Music Center records
(Collection 3261). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
The Music Center records range from 1732-2018 and contain the files of the Music Center Operating Company, photographer Otto
Rothschild, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl, the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, the Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion, the Center Theatre Group, fundraising organizations, the Music Center Education Division, the Walt Disney Concert
Hall, and the Music Center Reference Library, as well as memorabilia and ephemera.
The Music Center records also contain the following collections: the Dorothy Chandler collection of awards and memorabilia,
the Otto Rothschild photographs collection, the Marion Burke collection, the Edwin Lester Los Angeles Civic Light Opera photographic
collection, the Pat Martin Opera collection, the Pilgrimage Play Theatre records, the George Zoritch collection of Playbill
Magazine, the Kenn Randall collection of theatre programs, the Charles Coburn collection of sheet music, the Raymond Barnes
collection of theatre programs, Mrs. Leiland A. Irish collection of Los Angeles theatre history, and the Olga Rosenthal collection
of performing arts ephemera.
This collection has been arranged in the following series based on the existing order of the records:
Series 1: Music Center Operating Company files, 1949-2017
Series 2: Otto Rothschild files, 1930-2004
Series 3: Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra files, 1909-2010
Series 4: Hollywood Bowl files, 1920-2014
Series 5: Los Angeles Civic Light Opera files, 1935-1998
Series 6: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion files, 1858-2017
Series 7: Center Theatre Group files, 1732-2010
Series 8: Fundraising organization files, 1962-2015
Series 9: Music Center Education Division files, 1970-2014
Series 10: Walt Disney Concert Hall files, 1974-2012
Series 11: Music Center Reference Library, 1872-2018
Series 12: Music Center memorabilia and ephemera, 1919-2018
The Master Chorale Chief Executive Officer decided to retain their records. All Master Chorale records were transferred to
Carol Zamora of the Music Center in 2018 for return to the Master Chorale.
Ernest Belcher papers (Collection 0544). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Eli Broad papers (Collection 2235). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Center Theatre Group records (Collection 0316). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Performing Arts Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Dorothy Chandler papers (Collection 1421). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
East West Players records (Collection 0115). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Performing Arts Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Ernest Fleischmann papers (Collection 2293). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
John Houseman papers (Collection 0816). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Otto Rothschild Photographic Archive (Collection 1381). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Lloyd Wright papers (Collection 1561). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Interview of Ernest Fleischmann [oral history transcript] / Alex Cine, interviewer. UCLA Library Special Collections, Center
for Oral History Research interview, 1999-2000.
Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Interview of Edwin Lester [oral history transcript] / Betty L. Richardson, interviewer. UCLA Library Special Collections,
Center for Oral History Research interview, 1982.
Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Interview of Otto Rothschild [oral history transcript] / Jim Stewart, interviewer. UCLA Library Special Collections, Center
for Oral History Research interview.
Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Mark Taper Forum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Ahmanson Theatre (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles
Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Association
Rothschild, Otto
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
Chandler, Dorothy, 1901-1997
Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles, Calif.)
black-and-white photographs
Music Center of Los Angeles County
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Collection Details
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