Grammys Venues

Rooted in L.A.
Los Angeles was the birthplace of the music industry's Grammy Awards in 1959. For the first decade, the Grammy Awards ceremony took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel (1), a 500-room facility with the International Ballroom, billed as the largest in Beverly Hills.

In 1970, the ceremony moved to the then 4-year-old Century Plaza Hotel (2) with its larger Los Angeles ballroom, where it remained for three years before moving to the Hollywood Palladium (3).

In 1972, the awards ceremony moved for the first time to New York. After that the Grammy ceremony became bicoastal, with event switching coasts almost regularly as some performers changed costume.

The Palla-dium served host to the televised ceremony in 1974, 1976 and 1977. From 1978 until 1999, the Grammys, when they were not being given out in New York, were presented at the Moorish-styled Shrine auditorium (4).

Once the headquarters of a Shriner's Order, the Shrine was Los Angeles' major theatrical and concert venue and home to other awards ceremonies, including the Academy Awards.

But the Shrine was unseated - or upseated - by the $375 million Staples Center (5). The first Latin Grammy awards were handed out in September 2000 at the center, home to five sports franchises. The venue was chosen as the site of the 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005 ceremonies.


A Visit to Nashville
In 1973, the Grammy ceremony was held in the heart of country music territory. Awards for the previous year's performances were handed out at the Tennessee Theatre in Nashville, Tenn. This was the only time the ceremony did not take place in Los Angeles or New York.

The Sudekum Building, which, housed the Tennessee Theatre, was built in 1932 at 535 Church Street and was demolished on Nov. 29, 1992.


At Home In New York
A Los Angeles fixture for more than a dozen years, the Grammy Awards ceremony took place in New York for the first time in 1972. Its first venue in the Big Apple was the Felt Forum (1), a concert hall that was part of the new Madison Square Garden complex, built in 1968 atop Pennsylvania Station.

After that, the Grammy ceremony became a bicoastal event, switching coasts almost as regularly as some of its performers changed costume.

On its return to New York two years later, the Grammy ceremony was held at the Uris Theater (2), in Broadway's theater district. Opened in 1972, the Uris was renamed in 1983 as the George Gershwin Theater.

On five occasions, from 1981 to 1994, the Grammys were presented at Radio City Music Hall (3), the art deco midtown facility that bills itself as the largest indoor theater in the world with a block-long marquee.

In 1997 and 1998, Madison Square Garden (4) itself, a $116 million sports and concert arena that seats more than 20,000 fans, served as home to the Grammys. After a much-publicized spat between New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Grammy officials, the ceremony moved the next year to Los Angeles. After a four-year hiatus and the election of a new mayor, the Grammy Awards became bicoastal again, with Madison Square Garden serving as the venue for the 45th annual ceremony in 2003.