Shrine Auditorium Burns to the Ground

“Ain’t It a Grand and Glorious Feeling?” by Clare Briggs. An undated postcard of the old Shrine Auditorium. Another postcard of the original Shrine Auditorium.

Jan. 12, 1920: "Shrine Auditorium, for more than 12 years an architectural and historical landmark and the largest hall in Los Angeles, was burned to the ground by a fire that started a few minutes before 3 p.m.," The Times says. The auditorium opened in 1907, but not in time for the city’s famous Shriners’ convention of that year. The second Shrine Auditorium opened in 1926.