Ambassador Auditorium
Ambassador Auditorium was built on the campus of Ambassador College in Pasadena, California as both a facility to be used by the Worldwide Church of God for religious services and as a concert hall for public perfomances celebrating the performing arts.
Brief history Called by many concert goers "The Carnegie Hall of the West", this relatively small yet beautiful concert hall hosted 20 seasons of the worlds' best musicians and performers from 1974 to 1995. It is estimated that 2.5 million patrons heard and saw over 2,500 concerts at Ambassador Auditorium by Pavarotti, Arthur Rubinstein, Bing Crosby, the Vienna Orchestra and many others. The building is furnished with Iranian onyx, African teak, wool carpet from India, and splendid gold overlay. It seats 1500. On January 26, 1996, National Public Radio staged a battle of the bands between the contending cities in Super Bowl 30. Pittsburgh's River City Brass Band played Semper Fidelis by John Philip Sousa and the Battle Royal March by Fred Jewell in concert at Ambassador Auditorium, followed by a performance from Dallas at the Meyerson Symphony Hall. Since 1986, the Worldwide Church of God who built Ambassador Auditorium, have been scaling back their operations since the death Herbert W. Armstrong who founded the denomination. To that end Ambassador College ceased to be an educational institution and its campus, upon which Ambassador Auditorium was built, is being sold off in sections. On May 14, 2004 the Worldwide Church of God announced its sale of approximately 13 acres (53,000 m²) of their 31 acre (125,000 m²) west campus to Harvest Rock Church and Maranatha High School. The sale of what was once part of the main campus of Ambassador College, included the college’s famed Ambassador Auditorium. As the new owner Ambassador Auditorium, Harvest Rock Church and Maranatha High School will use it for church services and performing and theatre arts productions. See: Herbert W. Armstrong (index) for other articles related to this subject.
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