By 1939, playhouse leader Gilmor Brown had staged all 38 of Shakespeare’s plays, won designation as the state’s official theater, and had ventured into edgier contemporary material with a production of “Our Town.”

The theater’s courtyard served as an outdoor lobby, shaded by palm and fig trees. Indoors, above the seats, the ceiling seemed to be adorned with Spanish-style hand-painted tiles.

Now: Outside, the palms and fig stand tall. Inside, that strange ceiling remains — but as Pasadena Playhouse producing artistic director Danny Feldman enjoys revealing, it’s an illusion — lightweight burlap, painted to look like tiles. Someday, Feldman hopes, audiences will again see the stage’s asbestos fire curtain, which features an epic painting of a Spanish galleon by California impressionist Alson Clark. (For now the curtain awaits restoration.) It’s easy, once inside, to forget the venue’s patchy history, including a closure from 1969 to 1986 and a bankruptcy in 2010. In 2023, the Playhouse won the Tony Award as the nation’s top regional theater.

The theater seats about 640. The company’s 2024-25 season begins Sept. 4 with “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Tickets start at $40.

Also in 1925: L.A. County’s Hall of Justice is completed downtown.