Valley Music Theater
Encyclopedia
The Valley Music Theater was a theater-in-the-round performing arts hall located at 20600 Ventura Blvd. just south of the Ventura Freeway
Ventura Freeway
The Ventura Freeway is a freeway in southern California running from Ventura to Pasadena. It is the principal east-west route through Ventura County and in the southern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. From Ventura to its intersection with the Hollywood Freeway in the southeastern San...

 in Woodland Hills, California. The 2865-seat facility opened July 6, 1964 with The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...

 and was demolished in 2007 by JPI Development of Texas who planned to erect 350 condos on the 8.3 acre site.

Backed by entertainers Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

 and Art Linkletter
Art Linkletter
Arthur Gordon "Art" Linkletter was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, on NBC radio-TV for 19 years...

 along with Cy Warner, it was built in 1963 by pouring a concrete dome over a rounded-off hill, then excavating away the soil. The first year saw the theater mount 18 musicals, three comedies, a drama as well as concerts with a combined audience of over 600,000, but by 1966 it fell on hard times. Over the years, the fare changed from legitimate theater, to rock concerts to boxing matches until, in 1980, it became a Jehovah's Witness Regional Assembly Hall. By 2004, the church had outgrown the facility and sold the property which it had bought for $1 million to a developer for $30 million. In April 2009, JPI defaulted on its loan of $41.8 million and the property was seized by Bank of America. The current owner is John Stanek of The Jefferson Project who has received preliminary approval May 27, 2011 for a mixed-use development consisting of retail shops and a maximum of 340 dwelling units.

Among the performers who appeared at the Valley Music Theater were Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Carson, Don Rickles, Woody Allen, Ray Charles, Art Linkletter, Robert Goulet,Mitzi Gaynor, Ike & Tina Turner, Peter, Paul & Mary, B.B. King, Lou Rawls, Three Dog Night, Jim Croce and the Spiral Staircase. The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Doors appeared there together on February 22, 1967.

This site on which the theater was erected was originally called Chalk Hill.
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