Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium

Shreveport's grand Art Deco hall, opened on November 11, 1929 as a memorial to Louisiana's World War I veterans and designed by architect Samuel Weiner, who gave it the intricate brickwork and lavish interior that still make it the state's finest Art Deco building. From April 1948 it was home to the Louisiana Hayride, the weekly showcase known as the Cradle of the Stars, where a teenage Elvis Presley made his performing debut on October 16, 1954 for $18 a Saturday night, and where James Brown, Aretha Franklin and B.B. King all played. Now a National Historic Landmark and still the city's main room, it seats roughly 3,000 across an arena floor, orchestra and upper and lower balconies, and books touring comedy, concerts, family shows, graduations and civic events. Recent and upcoming bills include John Mulaney, Jeff Dunham, Rickey Smiley with Chico Bean and Mojo Brookzz.