Terrace Theater

The Terrace Theater is the big proscenium hall inside the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, on Ocean Boulevard in downtown Long Beach. The building's sign still reads Long Beach Performing Arts Center. You walk in across the main plaza, past a fountain of colored water jets, into a three-story glass lobby with staircases hanging in the middle of it.

There are more than 3,000 seats, set in a late-1970s shell of concrete and glass. It's home base for the Long Beach Symphony and for Long Beach Ballet's Nutcracker every December. Between those, it books a speaker series, touring country singers, church conferences and the odd comedy tour. The Long Beach Arena and the smaller Beverly O'Neill Theater share the complex, so check which room your ticket is for before you park.

Use the Terrace Theater garage, off Collins Way, which is generally open on theater nights and holds about 700 cars. It's $15 for the day, and there's no in and out, so don't plan a dinner run between the doors and the show. Pine Avenue's restaurants are a few blocks away if you want to eat first.

Bags are capped small, around the size of a clutch, and they all get searched. The exact rule can change from show to show. Outside food is not allowed, not even candy, and neither is alcohol you brought in yourself.