Venue Information

The Phoenix Theater is an all-ages club located in Petaluma, California which has been in existence since 1905, and has been subject to many changes in both structure and purpose, mostly due to severe damage caused by multiple fires.

The Phoenix Theater first opened in 1905 as the Hill Opera House. Although the theater had good business, and many famous acts of the day performed there (Harry Houdini, Enrico Caruso, and Lily Langtree, etc.),it was nearly destroyed by a fire in the early 1900s. Consequently, the theater had to be shut down. By 1935, it had been restored and opened as a movie theater. The building was purchased by California Movie Theater around 1935 and was continued to be used as such. On August 5, 1957, another fire took the roof of the building. The building was restored and renamed the Showcase Theater by the Tocchini family and soon after, the first live concert was put on at the theater by Petaluma native, Jeff Dorenfeld. The Tocchinis employed a boy nam ...