Balboa Theatre

Nice, comfortable theatre. Was especially pleased to find safe, convenient parking in the NBC building.
Note that for our performance, the theatre did not open until 30 minutes before the show, so we had to find restrooms to use at Horton Plaza. (Starbucks does not have a public rr).

I’m kind of embarrassed that I’ve lived in San Diego for so long but knew almost nothing about the Balboa Theater until dropping by to partake in the Monterey Jazz Festival tour.
The theater is attached to Horton Plaza, but (thankfully) the entrance is on 4^th Ave and not inside the mall. The theater itself is quite beautiful, but lacks that awe-​inspiring grandeur of an East Coast theater. Nevertheless, it has all the amenities you’d ever want, including comfier-​than-​normal seats.
Most importantly, the Balboa Theater is right smack in the middle of the Gaslamp, so it’s easy to turn a show into dinner *and* a show. Isn’t a jazz festival that much better if your belly is full and you have a nice craft cocktail-​induced buzz going?
Random tip to close out this review: If you live in the area, purchase tickets at the box office and avoid those nasty Ticketmaster fees.

Great seating, great sound, and very good customer service. I’ll be back — looking up shows now.
I, and a few friends went to a concert last night… we all parked in Horton plaza (validate your ticket before 9:00pm), enjoyed this theatre and all it’s charm.

Been here a few times for concerts now. and at least for concerts I think this place is pretty good. It’s been remodeled to be a bit more modern so it has a good sound system, fairly comfy seats, and some great acts coming through all the time. While still keeping an intersting air of history and charm.
While I haven’t seen a production or anything here yet. For concerts it’s great cause it’s small and even in the worst seats you’re STILL not that far away. Though I would say favorite area to sit is the lodge upstairs. It’s cheaper than sitting in the front downstairs, but you still have a fairly good view of the performers and everything.
The only downsides I can think of are ONE since it’s so old it doesn’t really have a concessions stand or anything. Though you can bring food/​drink in as long as you don’t leave it behind, and there is a CVS LITERALLY round the corner on the edge of horton plaza so the only gouging you’ll get is if you want wine or a beer (since I don’t know think they let you bring alcohol in). So it’s not that bad, though they do have to keep everything in styrafoam coolers. So maybe bring your drinks with you or buy them at CVS if you want them ice cold.
Downside #2 would be the lobby inside is VERY small so if you get there early and go inside you might be in trouble if they’re not letting people go to their seats for some reason (like with tommy emmanuel last week). Plus I don’t think they let you go back out if they’ve scanned your ticket all ready (but I might be wrong on that).
But other than that pretty cool place, and being right next to the gaslamp it’s great if you want to get something to eat beforehand AND if you catch an early show you can get horton plaza’s grace period parking w/​the validation from the mall. I mean I did that with tommy’s show parking from 5PM to about 9 was $ 8 which is probably cheaper than most other parking garages near there too. So it’s really hard to beat this place.

We love when we hear one of our favorite performers are playing at the Balboa Theatre! The fact that it’s next to all the nice places to eat in the Gaslamp, great parking around the corner at the NBC Studios building on Broadway Circle, and the fact that it looks very nice since it’s remodel several years ago. Now I can’t vouch for the acoustics sitting anywhere else but in the first 5 rows because that’s the furthest back we’ve sat but the sightlines to the stage and the sound are superb from those rows. Lobby area can get pretty packed during a show intermission. The box office staff and ushers have always been friendly, helpful, and accommodating. Restrooms are clean. TIP: During intermissions, the downstairs restrooms can be 20+ deep in line. Take the elevator up to the balcony restroom. Our favorite theater downtown!

Saw David Sedaris here and loved it! I wish they had a big screen on the stage behind David since he was just reading at a podium it was hard to see him. The seating is very tight and steep so be prepared to hike! The theater is beautiful though and has a Moorish design to it. Very cool!

What a great venue. Cant say there is a bad seat in the house. Went here the past weekend to see the Last Comic Standing and had seats in the back. Even there i thought they were great seats. Only thing i would recommend is dont park at horton plaza if you dont get validation. The theatre does not validate there. Must go somewhere else. Got stuck with a 38 dollar parking bill. Signs are misleading for parking there too.

In this theater, every seat is a good seat. No obstructions. I suppose it’s conceivable that some productions could create their own obstructions, but for my concert, Matisyahu, the sound board and such was out of view. The only obstructions were a few strange women vying for attention in the front row! (Late November and a halter with no back, uplifted arms with the occasional departure of her small breasts out the sides, hair being tossed in circles often, upraised arms flailing about and a little hip gyrating made for an interesting side show into the psyche of the female groupie, and somehow had me feeling embarrassed by-​proxy, but I digress…) The theater has it’s beauty. The tones/​lighting speak of a desert at sunset; orange clay and browns. It’s ornate by today’s standards, but much more low key as compared to many Palace Versailles-​like bedazzled theaters I’ve been blessed to experience. It didn’t quite have that reaching-​for-​heaven feel of cathedrals and palaces as some manage to pull off. The friendly usher explained everything is restored to it’s original… colors, murals, lamps… that was cool to know.

Was here to watch Joe Rogan. Nice theater, expensive drinks. I liked the fact they have speakers in the restroom so you don’t miss much of the show. Parked in the NBC building and only paid $ 10.

Last year, CNN came out with the article «15 of the World’s Most Spectacular Theatres» with cities featured such as Paris, Sydney, Cornwall and Tokyo. Guess what number 7 was. Yes girl yaazzz! Your very own charming, intimate little Balboa Theatre! Traditionally, theatres were the center point of a city. A place where culture, art and pride swirl together to give testament to the values of its city. And we have one of the world’s most notable 15? If that doesn’t make a born and raised so’cal girl beam with pride for her city, idk what will [:
Although I don’t go to this theatre quite as often as others in the city. I’ve been to this theatre to see Jake Shimabukuro a couple times and! They recently started showing movies here! What a smart adaptation for them to undertake that’ll bring even more ppl to experience this 1920’s born SD icon. I took my mom on their opening day to cinema at the balboa a couple wkends ago and we watched Lawrence of Arabia. With a discount code, the tickets cost me less than $ 15 for the two of us. Before the show started, the CEO of the theatre came onstage to introduce herself and share a condensed history of the balboa. It actually started as a movie theatre then evolved to live performances and how great that now it’s back to its original concept.
I’m looking forward to seeing more movies, concerts, musicals, etc in the future here. It’s a beautiful theatre with golden walls and red velvet chairs. The chairs are a bit small and low to the ground so I would imagine the elderly having kind of a difficult time getting in and out of them. And I mean Lawrence of Arabia is no joke that movie is like 3 ½ hours long lol I feel like in any chair you’d start to get kind of ansy. Also, the bathrooms are on the bottom level so for the elderly again they might be difficult to access, unless there’s a elevator which I didn’t see. And it would be nice if they validated parking for the Horton bc for the like 4 hours or so we were there I paid I think like $ 14 for parking at the mall. But other than those things lol the theatre is beautiful, the staff is super accommodating and friendly. Definitely a gem that adds to the many reasons why SD is the best!

Comic-​Con and host Chris Hardwick was there for his FUNcomfortable tour. Though are seats were like the 5^th to the last row, it was pretty comfortable and the view wasn’t obstructed. Thank goodness a tall person didn’t sit in front of me.
Cant say much about it since I was more concentrated on staring at my nerd crush. Oh, them Elite security folks are hella strick on photos and video. At first this person was gustapo crazy on any phone activity… but as the night went on and Chris Hardwick was taking selfies with folks and such the security calmed down. I mean if the host of the show is playing and taking photos with his phone than why can’t the rest. It didn’t help when half the crowd started taking photos when Chris was getting a piggy back ride from a fan waving around a blue light saber. Yea… rules?

Weird that I haven’t wrote a review for this. I usually come here each year for W00tstock. It’s nice that they have 3 hours of validated parking. The acoustics are pretty nice in here and the balcony seat was somewhat uncomfortable. I prefer to sit in the orchestra.
I should of just bought the ticket for W00tstock in advance. I just always have a hard time deciding what side event to go to during Comic-​Con. I’ve also seen Suzanne Vega and Bo Burnham.
It was torture to hear Shake it Off over and over again while waiting for W00tstock lol. It was cool to see Alton Brown though. Also Adam Savage and Wil Wheaton are cool. The shrimp cocktail song was hilarious! The great thing is that any seat here seems to have a great view.

Such a cute theatre. Came here to support and watch my dear friend sing her heart out with the SD Woman’s Choir.
The event itself was very entertaining with a special guest appearance by Frenchie Davis.
The venue is a lot bigger in the inside. Reminds me so much of the olden days. All i need was one of those glasses thingy wearing a fancy gown.
All seats in the house are great seats… everything is visible.
I would love to watch more shows here.

«Great Historic Theater to Watch Plays or Concerts «
Theater made the concert show feel so realistic, everyone thought they were back in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s as the Bee Gees went through there three decades of famous tunes. I have never seen people in there 60’s, 70’s and 80’s so involved into a concert, ever !. The sell out crowd of people were standing, dancing, clapping, and singing along with the entertainers on every song. It was one of the best concert shows I have ever seen. The entertainers not only sounded exactly like the original Bee Gees, but they looked incredibly the same. My wife and I had 2^nd row center seats so we could see and hear everything so well. The seating in the Balboa Theater is very comfortable with nice leg room, and the parking at the NBC building across the street for $ 10 was convenient, clean, and the attendants were very nice.

Had a great time at Hannibal Buress on NYE! They even let us print our tickets there when the fiancé forgot to print them! Beer and wine allowed in the theater, very relaxed vibe. Gorgeous inside of a theater that you never see in SD, only in places like New York. I think Balboa is much nicer than the Civic Theater although it’s smaller. Check it out, they have great shows!

Okay, I will admit it, I am a bit overindulged by the Copley Symphony Hall and the Civic Theater… so the Balboa Theatre, can’t compare, but it has a whole different feel.
The Balboa Theatre is a quaint little place, smack dab in the Gas Lamp or «Gas Light» as tourists call it. but it is Gas Lamp…
Anyways, saw a recent youth showing of Peter and The Wolf, located on the bottom level of Horton Plaza, entrance right near the Starbucks, NBC News Station, by the ice skating rink…
Best idea would be park in Horton Plaza Level Parking… and walk over to the theatre… Horton Plaza validates three hours of parking…

This is such a beautiful historical theater. I’m with friends who remember coming here years ago. Today is my first time; waiting for Susan Boyle.
If you come to an event and park in Horton Plaza’s parking structure, be sure to buy the parking ticket inside the theater. The savings could get you an after party snack. ;-)

Came down to see Hugh Laurie and the Copper Bottom Band.
Entrance was easy and seating was spacious and comfortable. Orientation allowed for clear viewing and even if you‘re in the way back, you‘d still be able to see the stage pretty well.
Bathrooms were clean and well maintained. Floors and carpets were also very clean and kept pretty well.
Ushers were very friendly and helpful to those looking for their seats. They even offered friendly chat while we waited for the show to start.
The theater is small, which is nice. The stage is pretty large given the size of the floor, and the sound quality is very good.
I‘m not a concert/​live show person so I don‘t know how to review a place like this, but I enjoyed myself and if I had a reason to come back for a show, I‘d be happy to return.
Clean, comfortable, not cramped at all, and attractive. What I enjoyed most about this theater was probably the feeling of history and tradition. The building itself has a lot of character to it and that definitely contributed a great deal to my first visit.
Overall, a nice venue.
And that‘s what a review of a concert space from a non-​concert goer looks like. -
=)

I come here to watch/​hear the San Diego Symphony play. We parked at the mall and got the ticket validated at one of the validation kiosks and ended up paying like $ 4 because the shows end up going a little over 9:30pm. I think this is the best way to park if you are attending a show here because the mall offers 3 hours of free parking with validation.
This theatre feels old but I like the «authenticity» of that feeling. If you’re worried about whether you have a good seat, I believe that even the nose-​bleed seats have a good view of the stage! I highly recommend!

What can I say about this theatre that’s not expected?
This small theatre is clean, friendly staffed and a perfectly located.
Wonderful to experience!