Stage Presence
Written by Joan Tapper
For a century and a half, a wealth of talent has graced the stage of the Lobero Theatre, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this month. Founded as an opera house in 1873 by Jose Lobero, the venue is the oldest continually operating theater in California and the fourth oldest in the country. The earliest years included appearances by the Tennessee Jubilee Singers; boxer John L. Sullivan, who tried a new career as an actor; and Susan B. Anthony.
In 1924 architect Lutah Maria Riggs, in partnership with George Washington Smith, redesigned the theater in the Spanish Colonial style that would come to epitomize Santa Barbara’s look after an earthquake the following year flattened much of downtown. The theater was undamaged, however, and in the following decades has welcomed classical musicians like Sergei Rachmaninoff and Yehudi Menuhin, actors like Humphrey Bogart and Lucille Ball, jazz greats like Charles Lloyd and Dizzy Gillespie, and folk/rock performers like Tom Waits, Neil Young, and the late David Crosby.
The Lobero interior has retained its graceful elegance with fluted columns that ring the auditorium, a circular chandelier, and an elaborate painted ceiling. And, of course, its support of the arts, which has only gotten stronger over 150 years.
Architect Lutah Maria Riggs put her stamp on the redesign of the Lobero Theatre in 1924, with a Spanish Colonial exterior and graceful interior details. This archival photo shows a couple of the surrounding columns, the painted ceiling modules, and the chandelier, along with stage decor.
