{"id":145449,"date":"2026-01-23T00:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T00:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/145449\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T00:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T00:09:15","slug":"oakland-celebrates-reopening-of-historic-henry-j-kaiser-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/145449\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland celebrates reopening of historic Henry J. Kaiser building\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, Oakland is celebrating the reopening of the historic Henry J. Kaiser building, following a $100 million renovation and two-decade closure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Performances and a free community party on Saturday are scheduled for\u00a0The Henry\u00a0J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, the\u00a0115-year-old\u00a0Beaux-Arts\u00a0structure\u00a0on Tenth Street\u00a0at the foot of Lake Merritt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOakland is on the move, and partners are stepping up to be part of our future, investing\u00a0boldly in this city and bringing a beautiful cultural destination back to life for\u00a0all of\u00a0Oakland and the Bay Area to\u00a0enjoy,\u201d said Mayor Barbara Lee.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Opening week activities include performances of \u201cTina: The Tina Turner Musical\u201d at 7:30 p.m. today; Skate The Town, a participatory roller dancing party (taking advantage of the historic wooden arena floor) from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday; and the free opening festival from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, including performances by Children\u2019s Fairyland puppets, the dance crew Turf\u00a0Feinz, Prescott Circus\u00a0stilt walkers\u00a0and Oakland Taiko artists.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
\u201cScott Silven-The Lost Things,\u201d a magic and illusion performance, is on the opening night bill at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts. (Daniel Boud\/Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts via Bay City News)<\/p>\n

On Saturday night, there\u2019s Scott Silven\u2019s The Lost Things, a magic and illusion act, along with storytelling by Oakland\u2019s hilarious Don Reed, as well as dance and dessert party. Tickets are $54-$75 for the event, which starts at 7:30 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other upcoming events include concerts by Brian McKnight on Jan. 30 and Mandy Patinkin\u00a0on\u00a0Feb. 5.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0historic landmark\u00a0building has five\u00a0restored\u00a0event and performance\u00a0spaces, including a 45,000 square-foot arena that\u00a0can accommodate\u00a06,000 people,\u00a0the Calvin Simmons Theater,\u00a0with seating\u00a0for about\u00a01,400; as well as\u00a0three ballrooms ideal for smaller performances, rehearsals,\u00a0meetings\u00a0and community events.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" Now the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Art,s the former Oakland Civic Auditorium, which opened in 1915, is an excellent example of Beaux-Arts architecture. (Scott Hargis\/Henry J, Kaiser Center for the Arts via Bay City News) <\/p>\n

The restoration is a partnership between the city\u00a0of\u00a0Oakland and Orton Development, a Bay\u00a0Area company\u00a0known for historic\u00a0restoration, working with\u00a0Heller Manus Architects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Limited paid parking near the building is available; officials note that the building is a short walk from the Lake Merritt BART station and easily accessible by AC Transit.<\/p>\n

The Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts is at 10 \u00a0Tenth St., Oakland.\u00a0Visit\u00a0jhkarts.org. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week, Oakland is celebrating the reopening of the historic Henry J. Kaiser building, following a $100 million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2351,72611,72612,72613,72614,72615,72616,143,145,144,72617],"class_list":{"0":"post-145449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-barbara-lee","9":"tag-brian-mcknight","10":"tag-calvin-simmons-theater","11":"tag-don-reed","12":"tag-heller-manus-architects","13":"tag-henry-j-kaiser-center-for-the-arts","14":"tag-mandy-patinkin","15":"tag-oakland","16":"tag-oakland-headlines","17":"tag-oakland-news","18":"tag-orton-development"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}