Paradise Theater
After the Detroit Symphony Orchestra left Orchestra Hall in 1939, the stage was empty for two years, until Christmas Eve 1941, when new owners Ben and Lou Cohen reopened Orchestra Hall as the Paradise Theatre. The very place that Detroit audiences once went to hear Prokofiev, Gershwin and Horowitz began featuring contemporary talent such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne and Pearl Bailey.
The theater’s name was taken from Paradise Valley, the area just east of Woodward Avenue, home to a large percentage of Detroit’s African-American community and to the principal black entertainment district at St. Antoine and Adams streets. The Paradise became a celebrated club, offering the best in jazz, bebop and blues. The theatre was as important to Detroit as the Apollo Theatre was to Harlem.
This golden era came to a close in 1951 when The Paradise closed, another casualty of the waning big band era. Today, the memory of the Paradise Theatre lives on through the LaSalle Paradise Jazz Series and other jazz programs, which continue Orchestra Hall’s distinguished tradition of featuring the best jazz musicians from around the world.