Est. 1925 · California State Theatre (designated 1937) · National Register of Historic Places · Spanish Colonial Revival Architecture · Gilmor Brown Players Founding 1916 · Major Regional Theater Training Ground
Gilmor Brown arrived in Pasadena in 1916 with 'The Gilmor Brown Players,' an acting troupe that began producing plays in a renovated burlesque theater. Brown established the Community Playhouse Association of Pasadena in 1917, building community support for a permanent home. By 1924, Pasadena residents had raised the funds, and the current building at 39 South El Molino Avenue was completed in 1925. The architect delivered a Spanish Colonial Revival design with a courtyard entrance, an ornamental facade, and an intimate 686-seat main stage.
The theater quickly established itself as one of America's most significant regional stages. Brown produced more than 2,000 plays over his tenure, developing a national reputation for the quality of training in the Playhouse's associated acting school. Performers who trained or worked at the Playhouse include Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Raymond Burr, and Charles Bukowski — the writer; an unusually diverse roster.
In 1937, the California legislature formally designated the Pasadena Playhouse the State Theatre of California — a title it retains. The theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as part of the Pasadena Playhouse Historic District.
Brown died in 1960 after 44 years at the helm. Financial difficulties led to the theater's closure in 1969, but a community campaign restored operations in 1986. The Playhouse has operated continuously since, presenting a full professional season with national touring productions and world premieres.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasadena_Playhouse
- https://www.pasadenaplayhouse.org/about/
- https://my.pasadenaplayhouse.org/overview/944
- https://www.visitpasadena.com/blog/spooky-buildings-and-homes-tour-of-pasadena/
Stage lighting anomaliesPhantom footstepsMissing propsApparition in projection booth area
The haunting tradition at the Pasadena Playhouse is built around Gilmor Brown specifically, which is relatively unusual — most theater ghost stories involve unnamed presences rather than a documented founder. Brown is characterized in these accounts as a benevolent force, more interested in ensuring performances go well than in frightening anyone. Staff describe him as checking in rather than haunting.
The reported phenomena concentrate in two areas: the stage and backstage corridors, where lighting has been observed changing without a technician at the board, and the projection booth area, where a figure has been described moving or standing. These accounts come from theater staff, not just from paranormal investigators, and they have accumulated across multiple decades of operation.
Footsteps in empty sections of the theater and props that migrate from where they were left are the most frequently reported phenomena. Both are consistent with the lore of a director who spent four decades controlling every aspect of his theater. One account from the Playhouse's own ghost-tour documentation describes stage lighting adjusting itself during a rehearsal; the crew attributed it to Brown expressing an opinion about the staging.
The Pasadena Playhouse has hosted guided ghost tours through the Supernatural Investigation Unit, incorporating Brown's story into the building's public programming. The venue's own page documenting the ghost stories — at my.pasadenaplayhouse.org — treats the subject straightforwardly, which lends the accounts more institutional credibility than ghost stories typically receive.
Notable Entities
Gilmor Brown
