BET Awards at the Shrine

During rehearsal for the BET Awards under the Shrine Auditorium’s Moorish Art Deco ceiling, Reginald T. Thornton stands in for host Samuel L. Jackson.  (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Melanie Fiona runs through a number ahead of Sunday’s live telecast.  (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times)

Samuel L. Jackson’s rehearsal stand-in, Reginald T. Thornton, checks the script.  (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Crew members work on the set for the 2012 BET Awards at the Shrine Auditorium. BET executives say that moving the show to L.A. Live next year will allow them to take it to “the next level.”  (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Security guards monitor the lobby of the Shrine Auditorium. The venue, designed by John C. Austin (who also helped design Griffith Observatory and Los Angeles City Hall), opened in 1926. BET Awards executive producer Stephen Hill calls the building “art” but says that the Nokia Theatre is “state of the art.”   (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

In addition to the recent BET Awards shows, the Shrine Auditorium has played host over the years to ceremonies for the Academy Awards, the Grammys, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the NAACP Image Awards and more. Concerts are also held there; Jack White has dates at the venerable venue in August.  (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)