Hollywood Palladium

The Hollywood Palladium has been filling its floor since Halloween night in 1940, when the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra opened the room with a young Frank Sinatra on the bill. Plenty of LA venues have history. What makes this one worth the trip is that the old ballroom still works the way it was built to, as one huge open floor with a crowd on it, whether the night is a touring band or a big dance music show.

What's Worth Seeing

Look at the building before you go in. Gordon Kaufmann, who also designed Greystone Mansion and Santa Anita Park, built the Palladium in the Streamline Moderne style on part of the old Paramount lot. It became a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

Inside, the room is the point. The dance floor covers 11,200 square feet and the venue holds up to 4,000 people, under a big curved ceiling.

The history runs through every era of LA nightlife. The Lawrence Welk Show made it home starting in 1961, presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower appeared here, and rock, punk and hip hop shows followed in the 1980s and 1990s. After a renovation, Live Nation reopened it in 2008 with Jay-Z.

How to Get There

The Palladium is at 6215 Sunset Blvd, at Argyle. The venue points riders to the Metro Hollywood/Vine station, a short walk away, and that is the easy way in on a show night. There is on-site parking, entered at Argyle and Sunset.

Age limits vary by show, and the venue has bag rules. The venue's visit page and our Hollywood Palladium venue page have the details.

Nearby

• The Hollywood Pantages Theatre is a short walk north on Hollywood Boulevard, an Art Deco theater for touring Broadway shows.
• Amoeba Music on Hollywood Boulevard is a good stop for records before a show.
• The Hollywood Walk of Fame runs along Vine Street and Hollywood Boulevard, a few minutes' walk north.