Avalon (or Avalon Hollywood) is a historic nightclub in Hollywood, California, located near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, at 1735 N. Vine Street.

Venue: Avalon Hollywood
Address: 1735 Vine St
Town: Hollywood, US

Avalon (or Avalon Hollywood) is a historic nightclub in Hollywood, California, located near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, at 1735 N. Vine Street. It has previously been known as The Hollywood Playhouse, The WPA Federal Theatre, El Capitan Theatre, The Jerry Lewis Theatre, The Hollywood Palace and The Palace. It has a capacity of 1,500, and is located across the street from the Capitol Records Building. Originally known as The Hollywood Playhouse, the theater at 1735 N. Vine opened for the first time on January 24, 1927. It was designed in the Spanish Baroque style by the architectural team of Henry L. Gogerty (1894-1990) and Carl Jules Weyl (1890-1948) in 1926-1927. There was an unrelated, later theater Hollywood Playhouse at 1445 North Las Palmas Avenue. During the Great Depression, the Hollywood Theatre operated under the Federal Theatre Project of the Works Progress Administration, and was a venue for government-sponsored theatrical events. In the 1940s, the theatre was renamed The El Capitan Theatre and was used for a long-running live burlesque variety show called Ken Murray's Blackouts. In the 1940s, Bob Hope's NBC radio show originated from the El Capitan. In the 1950s, the theatre was converted by NBC into a television studio. It was from a set on this stage that Richard Nixon delivered his famous "Checkers speech" on September 23, 1952. This event is often mistakenly said to have taken place at the El Capitan Theatre on nearby Hollywood Boulevard, though that theater was never a television studio and in 1952 was operating as a movie house called the Paramount Theatre. Also in 1952, the first nationally televised telethon, in support of the United States Olympic Team and featuring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra, was held here. The theatre was home to the NBC shows The Colgate Comedy Hour, Truth or Consequences and This Is Your Life. Upon completion of the NBC "Color City" studios in Burbank, NBC vacated the theater and ABC moved in, with