Kevin Bronson on September 13th, 2018

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The Lyric Theatre, the La Brea Avenue multi-purpose venue that has been dark since the summer of 2016, appears poised to resume hosting shows in October, says artistic director Ryan Braun.

On Aug. 31, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the Lyric’s application to sell alcoholic beverages — a major hurdle in the venue’s sometimes-arduous two-year bid to become a fully permitted venue.

“I have gone through multiple emotional whirlwinds, and there were times I lost faith in the project,” Braun said. “But I think the integrity of what we’re doing speaks for itself.”

Located at 520 N. La Brea Ave., the Lyric (capacity about 300 for live music and about 125 seated for comedy) has undergone extensive remodeling and soundproofing to meet city standards and allay neighbors’ concerns about noise. Overall, the process has cost the venue well over $700,000, and Braun has begun a crowd-funding campaign to offset the expense.

The venue was run by a nonprofit theater group from 2006 to ’12 and has been home to community and after-school programs for such entities as the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, the Los Angeles Drama Club (a youth Shakespeare troupe) and Arts for Autism. To make the room financially viable, the Lyric started comedy and music programming in 2012, hosting about 100 events per year, utilizing daily permits to sell drinks.

The venue hosted shows by the likes of Allen Toussaint, Corrine Bailey Rae, Lissie, Anderson .Paak, Kehlani, KING, Moses Sumney, Twin Shadow, Warpaint and Troye Sivan, as well as comedy nights featuring Sarah Silverman, Trevor Noah, Hannibal Buress, Damon Wayans Sr. and Jr., Dane Cook, Reggie Watts, Marc Maron and Mike Posner, among many others. Outside promoters, including Goldenvoice, also occasionally made use of the venue.

In mid-2016, Braun embarked on giving the venue a facelift and getting it fully licensed. After initially encountering no pushback (there were 80 supporters and no opponents at the first hearing), some strident opposition surfaced. “They have painted us as destroyers of society,” Braun said. “The whole process has been derailed several times.

“It’s been difficult because I couldn’t fall back on my previous operation,” added Braun, who expects that the venue’s events calendar will be light at the beginning as he works out logistics. “I can’t help but think this was intended to bleed us out. … To some, nightlife is regarded as a negative influence. But our supporters believe we can be an important platform.”