The Yost Theater is a concert and events venue in Santa Ana, California. It is a National Register of Historic Places-listed building located in Santa Ana's Downtown Historic District. The theater first opened as the Auditorium Theater in 1913 and was renamed Clune's Santa Ana Theater the same year. It eventually became the Yost Theater after Ed Yost purchased the building.
In 1950, the theater was leased to Luis Olivos. Under the Olivos Family, it served as a movie house for the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. Louie Olivos Jr. brought Mexican cinema talent like Antonio Aguilar and Vicente Fernández to the theater. It also hosted performances by Ike and Tina Turner and Sonny and Cher. The theater originally housed vaudeville, silent films, and talkies.
The Chase Family purchased the theater from the City of Santa Ana in 1986. While it was used as a church, the building's interior suffered defacing and alteration. In 2007, architect Thomas Berkes carried out a restoration and conversion to a live theatre. The venue reopened that same year and began hosting concerts, Ted Talks, school dances, and weddings.
Following the reopening, the Centro Cultural de México programmed events at the theater, including an appearance by Dolores Huerta and a lecture on Frida Kahlo by Gregorio Luke. On August 23, 2010, the City of Santa Ana Planning Commission approved permits for the venue to operate after-hours and as a banquet facility.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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