The storied, rebranded Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts celebrated its grand re-opening in January following a two-decade closure.
The Beaux-Arts venue originally opened as the Oakland Civic Auditorium on the shore of Lake Merritt. From the 1915 opening ceremony, a “Dance of a Thousand Colors,” to the present, the venue has lived a thousand lives. Many attendees felt nostalgic about the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts reopening following a $100 million renovation.
“For nearly a century, this has been where Oakland has come to dream,” Mayor Barbara Lee said at a symbolic ribbon cutting on Jan. 24. “Great cities don’t just preserve their history, they preserve their future.” She added that the center would tell Oakland’s stories for the next 100 years.
Henry J. Kaiser’s complicated past
The city-owned facility, renamed for Henry J. Kaiser in 1984, shuttered in 2005. The Peralta Colleges considered purchasing the Kaiser Center to expand nearby Laney College in 2010. Occupy Oakland attempted to reclaim the vacant building in 2012.
Like Oakland, the building has a complex past. During the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, the venue housed makeshift infirmaries. Pan-Africanist leader Marcus Garvey addressed an audience there in 1921. During the Ku Klux Klan’s 1920s reign in Oakland, the KKK burned crosses inside the venue. The auditorium has hosted the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, Roller Derby, and wrestling matches. Musicians ranging from Elvis Presley, Parliament Funkadelic, Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, Megadeth, and Too Short have graced its stages. In Oct. 2005, Dwayne Wiggins co-hosted a Hurricane Katrina Hip Hop and Jazz benefit concert.
Since a soft reopening in 2024, the venue has since hosted a Robert F. Kennedy rally, the Bubble Experience, and the Town Experience’s Sunsets on the Terrace last August.
The opening weekend featured skate night, performances by the Prescott Circus Theater, taiko by Maikaze Daiko, comedian Don Reed, and illusionist Scott Silven.
‘Wonderful to be back’
At the Saturday festival, Nancy Cadigan recalled decades of Oakland student performances. Ballerina and dancer Louise Jorgensen trained children from Oakland schools as elves, toys, and fairies. During the annual Christmas Pageant – later Children’s Holiday Pageant – the children would all perform at the auditorium.
“It’s really wonderful to be back,” Cadigan said. On a display of photos from the event, she could point to a picture of herself as a child and her mother as a fairy.
Erroll Jackson, in-house producer and community liaison, recalled the venue’s historic shows by acts like Run DMC and Too Short.
“The building building brings back Oakland and the best of Oakland and how it meets the past,” Jackson said. “There’s no better place to be.”
The Bay Area Black Comedy Competition and Festival takes place at the Kaiser Center Feb. 10-12. The venue will also host the musical comedy “Disenchanted!” and in March, a Conversation with Kamala Harris, the former U.S. Vice President.
Arts organizations express concern about access
The Kaiser Center features five venues, including a 25,000 sq. foot arena, a theater that seats 1,500, a lounge, two ballrooms, and an outdoor space. There are also rehearsal rooms.
The Oaklandside reported that many arts organizations cannot afford the rehearsal or rental rates at the venue. The Voices of Calvin Simmons Collective continues to push to increase access to the building, according to The Oaklandside. The stagehand union also claims that the Kaiser Center refuses to negotiate a contract, although the Kaiser Center CEO Terri Trotter told The Oaklandside that there are “active discussions.”
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