Daughter and I spent a night in Prescott, Az. recently and to our delight found that the restored Elks Opera house was offering free tours.
Such rich history within these walls. It originally opened Feb. 22, 1905 featuring
Florence 'ZaZa' Roberts
Picture of the original stage and boxes. The restoration has been magnificent and my phone picture just doesn't capture it...
Hard wood benches.After the death of Vaudeville the Opera House eventually became a movie theatre in the 1940s, and the opera boxes and ornamental finishes were removed to accommodate wide-screen movies. The copper elk statue atop the roof and an inside box office also eventually disappeared as did a second set of balcony stairs.
The copper elk was visible for blocks in every direction and served as a landmark. It is made of copper donated by the United Verde Copper Mine in Jerome, Az and sits proudly atop the building once more.
Along with tours there are many events being held here including this
Much talked about upcoming New Years Eve celebration...for more information go here .
It is so wonderful that the Elks Opera House Foundation fought to hold onto this landmark and didn't allow "progress" to replace it or time to destroy it.
8 comments:
oh, i'd want that elk for my yard! :)
This is a great post.
One of the movie theaters here was also an old Vaudeville theater.
I love historic places like this.
Yeah for the foundation!!!!! I love the copper elk and so happy it has returned to it's original summit. Peace
I agree - very interesting - and you and your daughter do really great things together.
Very interesting!
Love the education I get on your blog. I had never heard of the Elk Opera House.
Marvellous to know that this historic building has been saved from destruction and refurbished to it's forner glory. Often we are too quick to knock down older buildings when they should be saved and loved and used, as a reminder of the past and as heritage for the future.
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