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Renovation Project Hopes To Revive Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — It's already a civic treasure, but a proposed multi-million dollar renovation could return Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium to its glory days.

The building, exuding strength with its bold bricks and stately columns honors Sacramento's service members who died in World War I. It was a monument to showcase the best Sacramento had to offer.

"The Memorial Auditorium was built during a theater boom in Sacramento. The 1920s was huge. There was actually a fad of riverboat movies so Hollywood was in Sacramento," Sacramento historian William Burg said.

Old programs show the range of live events people flocked to see, from opera to boxing.

In the 1960s The Rolling Stones played there and the Beach Boys recorded a live concert there

The 20th Century structure has not kept up with 21st century technology.

So city leaders are proposing a $13 million upgrade to bring would class performers back again.

A lot of the money will be spent backstage on things like lighting and sound, so that big name acts will want to come here, and pack the seats.

Money would also go to new seating, more restrooms and a new loading dock.

Sacramento's preservation director Carson Anderson says there are challenges with the plans, including maintaining the historic integrity of the auditorium that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

"The roofing and the whole massing and the design details on the outside of the building have to be left as they are now," Anderson said.

A time-tested Sacramento treasure. Now an effort to make this old venue new again.

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