About the Venues
Originally home to Masonic Lodge 382, Checker Hall is located in a renaissance revival building built in 1922. It was renovated in 2017 and also houses a music venue, the Lodge Room.
Hotel Figueroa opened in 1926 as a safe haven for solo female travelers, who were prohibited at the time from checking into hotels without a male chaperone. At the hotel, women could “live uninhibited lives among other like-minded women.” This photo, taken in 1940, shows the hotel in an era in which it was a hub for political and social activism.