Before it was known as the Peabody Opera House, the venue on Market Street lent its stage to history. Harry S. Truman delivered the final speech of his 1948 campaign there, sealing his presidential reelection; the Rat Pack played a benefit for a halfway house there in 1965; and, throughout the '70s and '80s, such legends as David Bowie and Billy Joel appeared under its intricate canopy. But, come 1991, the opera house almost became history itself when its doors closed. Two decades would pass before it would reopen, rechristened as the Peabody Opera House.
Even after such an extended dormancy, the venue maintains the grandeur that attracted so many stars and prompted exclamations such as "Wowzers!" and "This place flips my lid!" Intricate, gilded carvings ring the stage and balconies, accenting the openings that run along the theater's sides. Meanwhile, a great blue dome bubbles up from the ceiling's center, etched with the outline of the house's patron bear.