Hollywood California
Avalon Hollywood
Personal heartache and grief are causes of some hauntings…
Security guards are easy targets for resident spirit’s chuckles.
DESCRIPTION
The three-floored Avalon Hollywood Theater has a “gorgeous classic Old Hollywood feel, and the acoustics are well designed, so the sound didn’t get too loud or distorted during [shows].”
The recent renovations have greatly improved the class factor, and improved guest access to more bathrooms, dance floors and bars.
On each of the three floors are theatres and lobbies of some sort. The third floor has a smaller room used for comedy acts. It has a piano in it, which is usually kept covered when not in use.
There is another theatre on the second floor, which also has a lobby, an “outdoorsy smoking area”, a landing with stairs to the first floor, and the main theatre. The main room has a lobby, a large stage, a dance floor, a table area, bars located around the main dance floor, and a kitchen in the back.
One of the bars off the main floor has glass doors and is a quiet place to talk with friends without all the noise of the floor show.
The table area is called the V.I.P. section and you must pay extra to sit there. If the tables are not sold to V.I.P ticket holders, others may sit there on a first come, first serve basis.
Looking at their upcoming live musical shows, I would say that the dance club and concert venue are aimed at the younger generation, offering rock and heavy metal groups. This age group likes to go clubbing. Though one reviewer said that the group she went to see had a multi-generational audience. “Crowd-wise I would say it’s a large mixture of everyone, young and old, quite a few weird people.” But weird people can and have been found at any music dance club, since the beginning of such places.
However, Avalon Hollywood does host themed nights that attract different age groups, including a theatre show. Plus, there are dance opportunities, with big-name DJ’s spinning house/trance music. Friday nights they have an 18 and over show. Avalon Hollywood offers something for everyone.
It is a popular place for fun events like fashion shows, Magic and Wine shows, and small conventions.
HISTORY
This three-story building was built in 1927, one of the four professional theaters in Hollywood. It originally was called The Hollywood Playhouse and later renamed The Palace Theatre.
In its long successful history, spanning seventy-five years, this classy theatre has provided a showcase for many stars to shine, more than any other theatre in Hollywood, and created many fine memories for countless people who came for first class entertainment.
Fanny Brice’s Radio Program, The Baby Snooks Radio Show, and Ken Murray’s popular Blackouts Theater Revue (1942-49) made their broadcasting home here, with live audiences watching.
As times changed, so did the theatre. It became one of television’s first studios. Television shows such as This Is Your Life (Groucho Marx), The Hollywood Palace (variety show), The Lawrence Welk Show, and many Bob Hope specials were filmed here.
The Avalon Hollywood was then remodeled into a high-class night club, that was not only a great place to come and dance, but continued to be a place to film television specials, and hold film premiere parties, a place to use as a film location, and a place for top music artists and comedy performers to shine in front of appreciative audiences.
HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS
People who have had marvelous, memorable times going to places of entertainment, often like to continue to do so when they pass from this world into their spirit form. Couples in spirit form love to come and remember their special times, sometimes to the annoyance of living patrons who are trying to enjoy the concert.
People who have enjoyed events, duties, or jobs at a particular place while among the living, sometimes like to continue to do so in the hereafter, or remember the highlights from their earthly lives.
Witnesses have seen a male spirit dressed in a Tux, who appears in the main theatre, and other central places in the building. He may be a former Master of Ceremonies for events in the past. He could’ve been a stage manager.
Female entities in high heels could’ve worked for this theatre or enjoyed interacting as hostesses or waitresses.
Performing artists who loved to be on stage while alive, still yearn to do so as spirits, so they come back and try to participate and be a part of the world of entertainment.
The male spirit in a tux mentioned above, may have been such a performer.
Some of the female entities may have been actresses or chorus girls who loved to perform here.
There is also a piano player who still comes to play.
Heartache and bereavement from loss or from a broken relationship can cause drastic reactions that hurt the other party. Both parties can become restless spirits. Suicide and acts of revenge don’t bring peace. A person traumatized by an awful event can still be affected by it when they pass into the spirit world, unless they get help in this world.
A chorus girl got into a heated argument with her technician boyfriend, and broke up with him on the backstage stairs just before she went on stage to dance with her group. During her dance routine, the technician went up to the cat walk and jumped over, falling to his death on the stage, landing right in front of her.
MANIFESTATIONS
As spirits are most active in the wee hours of the morning, the security guards have found themselves being the recipient of the full paranormal sports package.
In the 1990s, before the club installed its sophisticated security system, a large, burly night guard, Dwayne Soto, was hired. He had some interesting experiences, that made him want to keep watch outside the building.
He had a variety of paranormal experiences, meeting six of the spirits who frequent or reside in the club.
The Entity – Jazz Piano Player
Assumed to be male
One early morning, while making his security rounds, Dwayne heard some beautiful, jazzy piano music coming from the third floor comedy room, that was already locked for the night. While enjoying the concert, he wanted to find out who was there (technically, unlawfully). He noticed an unexplainable, strange light emanating from the top and bottom cracks in the door. As he listened to the music, he silently slipped the key into the door.
When Dwayne opened the door, the music suddenly stopped and the light disappeared. He found that the piano was uncovered, the bench was pulled out, and no one was there. There was no other way for a living person to exit the room except through the door that the guard had just opened.
An Amiable Female Presence
After the last patron had left the second floor for the night, Dwayne was locking up the second floor lobby. He suddenly had a strange sensation, and felt an unseen presence. He felt a cold wind gently blow on him, and smelled the scent of a sweet perfume. As he headed for the stairs, someone tapped him gently on the shoulder. He turned around and no one was there. Dwayne rather enjoyed this experience. “It was really neat.”
Aroma of a variety of perfumes and the sound of high heels have been reported by the living in the building.
The Man in a Tux
Dwayne was sitting at one of the tables located in the main theatre room on the first floor, reading the paper. Sitting at his feet was his cousin’s German Shepherd, Sarge, that he had brought with him for moral support.
The dog suddenly looked intently at the left part of the stage in front of him. Both went over to the left curtain, where they saw a man in a tuxedo watching him, he had no feet and a transparent face. Dwayne let Sarge take off after him. The spirit disappeared before Sarge reached him. The dog sniffed the floor where the apparition stood, puzzled.
After the man disappeared from the stage, Dwayne set a trap in the kitchen area by putting a plate on the floor, with a wine glass on top of it. If someone or something walked through the kitchen, they or it probably wouldn’t see this on the floor. Sure enough, both the guard and the dog heard a noise coming from the kitchen. The dog bounded ahead into the kitchen, but quickly came back, whining like a puppy, slinking behind Dwayne.
A little spooked, he cautiously opened the door. While no one was present, the plate had been placed on top of the wine glass.
An older pair of entities, male and female, very much in love
Dressed in 1930s attire.
One early morning, Dwayne was standing on the main dance floor, alone in the theatre. Something made him look up to the balcony, and when he did he saw an older couple in solid form, talking with each other. Thinking that they were alive and breathing, but also non-compliant, free-spirit type guests, he shouted up to them that they couldn’t be up there. After the couple completely ignored him, the guard charged up the stairs to the balcony to confront them, but they simply vanished before his eyes.
This couple apparently like to sit in this favorite spot. Patrons who were trying to enjoy the show on stage, have long complained about this couple in the balcony who have talked and laughed through many performances. They have been heard talking even when the theatre is closed.
Entity of former technician who suicided
Described as a fun-loving, friendly jokester, who is a little envious of the living technicians doing his old job.
The operations manager in the 1990s also had some strange experiences, probably the antics of this entity technician. One night after the place had been closed up and all the lights shut off, the operations manager came back into the club, finding that all the white stage lights had been turned on. Suddenly the lights were shut off again, and the stage was dimly lit because only the blue lights up in the cat walk above the stage were on. He then saw a shimmering, wavy 5 foot square mass float across the stage and then float back again before it disappeared.
Present-day technicians find that cables are tied in knots and that their tools go missing.
The Entity of the technician’s distraught girl friend
Women have reported the uncontrollable sobs of a woman coming from one of the locked stalls in the main floor bathroom. No one living has ever been found there.
During the day when the club is closed to the public, a woman’s horrified, blood-curdling scream has been heard by staff.
Electrical Toys
Like spirits everywhere, these entities can’t resist playing with electrical gadgets!
The operations manager also has found that the club’s adding machines and cash registers, were printing out strange messages during the night; sentences of words made out of numbers, instead of letters.
STILL HAUNTED?
Most Probably So. Private investigations may have caught real evidence, mediums may have talked to some, but nothing has been made public. Most likely, unless the building has been blessed or help has been given to go to the light, spirits are still enjoying the theatre by watching others perform, remembering their own performances, or remembering all the good times they had in this special place.
The traumatized dancer is still reliving the last horrific episode of her life, and probably feeling responsible for her boyfriend’s death. The technician may have regrets about killing himself and wants to continue on in his old job, trying to fit in this world despite being in spirit-form.
LOCATION
1735 Vine Street
Hollywood, California 90028
(323) 462-8900
SOURCES INCLUDE
- Hollywood Haunted: A Ghostly Tour of Filmland
by Laurie Jacobson
Angel City Press
Paperback edition
(September 1999) - Avalon Hollywood listing on Yelp
- Avalon Hollywood listing on TripAdvisor
Our Haunted Paranormal Stories are Written by Julie Car
