Marsee Auditorium

Marsee Auditorium is the main hall at El Camino College, which fills the northwest corner of Crenshaw and Redondo Beach boulevards in the South Bay. It opened in 1968 and is named for Stuart E. Marsee, the college's president from 1958 to 1982. There are 1,238 seats on the floor and 810 more in the balcony, which makes it a big room by South Bay standards. The seating is continental style, so rows run side to side without a center aisle, and you'll shuffle past a lot of knees if you sit mid-row.

The college's Center for the Arts works out of the building, ticket office included, and presents touring music, dance and theatre here. Its past guests include Dance Theatre of Harlem, LA Opera and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A lot of the year belongs to campus life, though. The ECC symphony, jazz bands and choirs play the hall, the Discovery Film Series screens in it, and the college and several South Bay high schools hold their commencements here.

Sort out parking before you go. Every event on campus requires a permit, and the $3 day pass can be added to your ticket order or bought when you arrive. The arts office sends show traffic to Lots F, H and L. The campus is a short drive from the 405, the 110 and the 91, and the arts office posts turn-by-turn routes from each freeway.

The ticket office keeps short hours: Monday and Wednesday afternoons for walk-up sales, plus the hour before every ticketed performance. Buy online when you can. The office prefers email for questions and asks you to allow a day or two for a reply.