Rousing debut for Chandler Pavilion

Dec. 6, 1964: When the Music Center’s Pavilion opened with a concert featuring violinist Jascha Heifetz as soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, “the frozen music of its architecture was flooded for the first time by the warm chords of harmony,” The Times reported.

“A capacity grand opening audience of 3,250 saw and heard the white-columned dream in glass and dark granite at the apex of the Civic Center take its place among the great theaters of the world.”

Conductor Zubin Mehta opened the night by leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic in “The Star-Spangled Banner” followed by Richard Strauss’ “Fanfare.” Then, he turned to the audience and said, “We like the acoustics,” The Times reported.

“This is the most unique city in the 20th century,” Mehta went on to say. “I do not think it is too late now, in midcentury, to begin a new cultural life. This evening, we are going to usher in a new era.”

Mehta praised Dorothy Buffum Chandler, calling her: “The one person who most of all is responsible for the creation of this edifice.” Chandler received the pavilion’s first standing ovation.

The next year, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to name the pavilion after her.