Originally designed as the Veterans Auditorium, the theatre was refurbished and renamed Herbst Theatre in 1977 in honor of brothers Herman and Maurice Herbst, whose foundation underwrote the renovations. It is entered through a foyer off of the building's main lobby. Eight large beaux-arts murals, created by Frank Brangwyn for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition, adorn the walls while overhead five chandeliers hang from the blue and gold-leaf ceiling.
