La Scala into a costume. As with most of the theatres at that time, La Scala was also a casino, with gamblers sitting in the foyer. Conditions in the auditorium, too, could be frustrating for the opera lover, as Mary Shelley discovered in September 1840: At the Opera they were giving Otto Nicolai's "Templario". Unfortunately, as is well known, the theatre of La Scala serves, not only as the universal drawing-room for all the society of Milan, but every sort of trading transaction, from horse-dealing to stock-jobbing, is carried on in the pit; so that brief and far between are the snatches
City Opera House (Traverse City, Michigan) City Opera House (Traverse City, Michigan) The City Opera House is located at 106-112 Front Street in Traverse City, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1971 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. In 1891, entrepreneurs Perry Hannah, Charles Wilhelm, Tony Bartok, and Frank Votruba owned the property where the opera house now stands. They hired architect E. R. Prall of Pontiac, Michigan to design this structure, and builder John Wilhelm to construct it. At the time of construction, it was the first building in Traverse City to use electric lights. The