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SOME PLACES SIMPLY HOST PERFORMANCES.
OTHERS BECOME PART OF THE PERFORMANCES ITSELF.
FOR NEARLY A CENTURY, Bridges Auditorium has quietly earned its place among Southern California’s great performance venues. Now, a new era is beginning and it is anything but quiet.
BRIDGES HAS WELCOMED GENERATIONS of audiences through its towering white columns and iconic wooden doors, becoming a place where extraordinary architecture, world-class performances, and unforgettable moments come together under one roof. Located just east of Los Angeles in the heart of Claremont, Bridges stands as one of the region's most stunning and historically significant performing arts venues. Today, as it enters a new era, Bridges Auditorium is building upon its remarkable legacy while embracing an exciting future as a premier destination for live music, performance, and cultural events.
SINCE OPENING IN 1931, Bridges Auditorium has welcomed legendary performers, from jazz icons Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole, to Frank Zappa, Willie Nelson, George Clinton, Jackson Browne and Morrissey, alongside contemporary artists including Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, John Mayer, Fiona Apple, Dave Matthews, Ben Harper, Third Eye Blind, John Legend, Cocteau Twins and countless others. Bridges has also hosted world-renowned orchestras, celebrated dancers, acclaimed actors, comedians, distinguished political leaders, presidents, and cultural icons including President Ronald Reagan, President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and the California gubernatorial debates. Together, these moments have established Bridges Auditorium as one of Southern California's enduring cultural landmarks.
BRIDGES AUDITORIUM WAS BUILT through the generosity of Amelia Timken and her husband, Appleton Shaw Bridges. Amelia was the daughter of industrialist Henry Timken, founder of the Timken Roller Bearing Company. The theater was commissioned as a memorial to Amelia and Appleton’s daughter, Mabel Shaw Bridges, who passed away while attending Pomona College. Completed in 1931, Bridges immediately established itself as one of the finest performance halls in California. The auditorium was dedicated in September of that year, and only weeks later welcomed the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Artur Rodzinski, beginning a relationship that would continue for generations and firmly establish Bridges as an important destination for the performing arts.
DESIGNED BY RENOWNED ARCHITECHT William Templeton Johnson, Bridges Auditorium draws inspiration from the great opera houses and civic theaters of Northern Italy. Before beginning the project, Johnson traveled throughout Europe studying many of its most celebrated performance spaces, bringing those influences back to greater Los Angeles in a design that remains both timeless and unmistakable. Its monumental colonnade, soaring arches, handcrafted wooden doors, Carrara marble columns, and richly detailed interiors create an experience that feels every bit as memorable as the performances themselves.
THE BUILDING QUICKLY EARNED WIDESPREAD ACCLAIM for both its beauty and its exceptional acoustics. In 1933, the Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects honored Bridges Auditorium with a Certificate of Honor recognizing its exceptional architectural merit. Despite seating more than 2,400 guests, Bridges creates a remarkable sense of intimacy between artists and audiences, enhanced by exceptional acoustics and unobstructed sightlines. Nearly one hundred years later, the theater remains one of the defining examples of civic architecture on the West Coast.
ONE OF BRIDGES MOST BREATHTAKING FEATURES is its spectacular, celestial ceiling. The magnificent mural by Italian-American artist Giovanni Smeraldi stretches across more than twenty-two thousand square feet, depicting the constellations of the zodiac in shimmering shades of blue, silver, and gold. Rising fifty-five feet above the audience and spanning one hundred twenty feet without interior supports, the ceiling has inspired generations of both performers and visitors with its scale, craftsmanship and stunning beauty. Combined with the theater's remarkable acoustics, expansive stage, sweeping balcony, and elegant proportions, it creates an atmosphere unlike any other venue in the region.
NEARLY A CENTURY after the auditorium was commissioned, descendants of the Timken and Bridges families have continued that legacy of stewardship with a $1 million gift supporting the restoration of the historic ceiling and other significant architectural elements. The gift represents a remarkable continuation of a family connection to Bridges that stretches back to its very beginning.
WHILE BRIDGES AUDITORIUM HAS DEEP ROOTS in the history of Pomona College and The Claremont Colleges, its story extends far beyond campus. For decades, audiences have traveled from throughout the region and around the world to experience performances inside one of California's most remarkable theaters. It has served as a gathering place where music, ideas, culture, and community intersect, creating memories that span generations.
TODAY, Bridges Auditorium enters an exciting new chapter. A renewed commitment to discovery, live music, contemporary programming, and community engagement is transforming the theater into one of the region’s premier destinations for live performance. As Bridges enters a new era, it continues to honor its extraordinary history while writing the next chapter of a story that is still unfolding.
History
HISTORY
