Nova Scotia’s DiaDan Holdings Ltd. is a private holding company and former owner of the Evergreen Stage, a recording and post-production facility in Los Angeles. The Evergreen Stage has been a well-renowned recording location for 40 years, and has hosted some of music’s biggest stars, including Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow, Beyonce, Billy Joel, Placido Domingo and Justin Timberlake, among others.
Before it was a recording studio, the building hosted a movie theatre: The Magnolia Theatre. It opened in the 1940s, and was built for Al Minor, who also operated the Major Theatre in Los Angeles. The theater was designed by Jacques DeForest Griffin. Its signature feature was the Magnolia’s marquee, which was topped with a 170 foot pylon said to be inspired by the Eiffel Tower. The Magnolia’s exteriors were featured in the 1954 film Pushover, in 1975’s Night Moves, and in 2016’s La La Land, as well as other movies.
Magnolia Theatre was extensively remodeled, under owner Jack Grossman, in 1964 to include a new marquee, air conditioning, a new box office, and a new, remodeled front facade fashioned in Italian marble. The renovation costs were reported at the time to be $60,000. Years ago, the Magnolia featured an 800 seat auditorium and a 300 car parking lot.
The Magnolia closed as a theatre in 1979, and eventually re-opened as a recording studio. DiaDan Holdings Ltd., a Nova Scotia based private holding company, bought the recording studio in 2010 and sold it in 2016.
Over the years, The Evergreen Stage has also been used as a soundstage for several movie projects, including but not limited to Back to the Future, When Harry Met Sally, Urban Cowboy, The Blues Brothers, Star Trek The Motion Picture, and Octopussy. It was used for television projects as well, including Friends and Dallas.
The Evergreen Stage features one of the largest independent soundstages in the greater Los Angeles area. It has a 3,000 square foot live room, which is able to accommodate up to 80 musicians. It’s so large, it’s suitable for bands and orchestras in addition to solo artists. The live room includes three isolation booths, plus a large projection screen. The studio is also anchored by a 72 channel Neve mixing console. Overall, the Evergreen Stage has an extensive array of equipment and recording gear, and an impressive variety of digital and analog tracking options.
