Mayan Theater

The Mayan Theater in Los Angeles, California, is a landmark former movie palace and former nightclub and music venue.

The Mayan Theater opened in August 1927 as a performance arts theater specializing in musical comedy. Hadley Waters and Charles Beahan's Little Orchid Annie was given its world premiere at the theater on April 4, 1929 with Ruth Taylor in the title role.

Leon Hefflin Sr. rented out the Mayan Theater downtown Los Angeles to produce the Sweet N' Hot, "Greatest Negro All Star Musical to Hit Coast." His business partner was Curtis Mosby, and the featured performer was Dorothy Dandridge. The show had a run of eleven weeks and was reported as going to New York. It closed to rave reviews and was covered by 20 different newspapers all over the country.

From 1971 to 1989, the theater was owned by pornographic filmmaker Carlos Tobalina. In the 1980s, the theater showed pornographic films.

The theater has been a location in many films, including Playing by Heart, Sally of the Scandals, The Bodyguard, Save the Tiger, Unlawful Entry, Rock 'n' Roll High School, and A Night at the Roxbury. The Mayan was the filming location of the music video for The Pointer Sisters hit Neutron Dance. It was also featured in the eighth episode of the first season of GLOW, and a Hangin' Tough concert performed by New Kids on the Block filmed on June 5th, 1989 as "Hangin Tough Live" on VHS.

In 1990, the Mayan Theater, with most of its lavish ornament intact, became a nightclub and music venue. It is designated as a Historic Cultural Monument.

In 2022, Daft Punk also streamed a video recording of a show at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles from their 1997 Daftendirektour.^{[citation needed]}

On July 14, 2025, it was announced that the current tenant will permanently close by the end of September of 2025 after serving 35 years as a nightclub.