This August I’ll be joining hundreds of activists at UCLA‘s Royce Hall for the Fourth Estate Leadership Summit. As I sit here in my sticky, oversized, leather desk chair a few months removed from the Summit, I can’t help but wonder what kind of chair I’ll be sitting in as I listen to some of the most influential speakers in the world talk passionately about human rights and social justice. So I decided to do a little research.
According to Wikipedia, Royce Hall is “a building on the campus of UCLA” #obviously. And a fine building it is indeed. Completed in 1929 by budding brother architects James Edward Allison and David Clark Allison, the building is named after philosopher Josiah Royce, making it the perfect setting for a social justice summit. The brothers fashioned the building in Lombard Romanesque, with thick columns and wide arches.
After being used as a classroom for several years, music eventually found its way into the building with the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing the venue in 1936. The Budapest String Quartet, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and several other prominent orchestras have graced the historic stage over the building’s grand history.
In addition to symphonies, the venue has hosted some of the brightest and most influential people in history, including Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, Ella Fitzgerald, and Patrick Stewart. In fact, it was during a performance at Royce Hall that television producer Robert Justman noticed the talented actor and was immediately convinced that Stewart was the perfect person to play Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation – oh the things you learn online.
In 1994 the building succumbed to the Northridge earthquake which hit Los Angeles county on January 17th of that year. In the four years following, it underwent a $70.5 million renovation.
It’s safe to say that UCLA’s Royce Hall is a one-of-a-kind venue, and it’s also safe to say that I’ll be enjoying the Summit from one of those historic seats. If you’d like to be a part of the life-changing event that is the Fourth Estate Summit, click the links below to learn more.
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