Project Puts Golden Gate Theatre in Jeopardy, Says Conservancy
L.A. Conservancy wants suggestions to be mandatory conditions to preserve National Registry Status.
By Gloria Angelina Castillo, EGP Staff Report
Editor’s Note: Corrects quote/spelling (see bold) from Supervisor Gloria Molina’s spokesperson, Roxane Marquez.
The Los Angeles Conservancy has submitted a letter to the LA County Regional Planning Commission requesting that “goals” for historic preservation be changed to requirements for the Golden Gate Theatre reuse project in East Los Angeles.
“Right now I feel that there’s the potential that the National Register listing could be jeopardized if no additional conditions are imposed,” Mike Buhler, Director of Advocacy at the Los Angeles Conservancy, told EGP on Friday, Feb. 19.
The Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the preservation and revitalization of historic architectural and cultural resources in Greater Los Angeles, has been involved in the Golden Gate reuse project for almost a year, scrutinizing plans to ensure the building is sensitively converted, according to Buhler.
“This is a National Register building, it deserves that amount of consideration and scrutiny, and the bar needs to be set higher to ensure that its key features are maintained, whatever it’s use may be,” he said.
The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission on Feb. 17 approved the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Golden Gate Theatre. Charles Company, M&A Gabaee, LP, owners of the property that includes Jim’s Burger on the same parcel, have proposed adapting the theatre to accommodate a CVS pharmacy or similar tenant. The commission is also currently considering Conditional Use Permits for a drive-thru and alcohol sales at the site.
While the current plan is an improvement over the original “box inside a box” proposed almost a year ago, Buhler says the Conservancy wants greater assurances that maximum preservation is realized.
“We are concerned that the latitude afforded in the treatment plan under the current Final EIR does leave the theatre vulnerable for loosing it’s National Register status, that’s why we are asking the County Planning Commission to provide greater protection through additional conditions,” Buhler said. “…We feel that [it] is inadequate and provides opportunity for CVS or whoever is the tenant in that space, to basically do the minimum required without any recourse for the County to require them to go further.”
The LA Conservancy has specified eight conditions that would help maintain the theatre on the National Register of Historic Places and allow it to be converted back to a theater in the future.
Among their conditions is a requirement to repair and expose the entire auditorium ceiling. The Conservancy cited successful examples of historic theatres converted to retail use, such as the Fox Theater in Studio City that was converted into a Bookstar (Barns & Noble) and the Rivoli Theater in Berkeley, California that was converted into a Smart N’ Final, then Longs Drugs, and now a 99Cent Store.
The other conditions include: repairing and keeping the balcony’s underside and lobby ceiling exposed; reusing historic light fixtures and existing light fixture locations to minimize new openings in the ceiling and walls; setting a 10-foot height limit for new display walls; keeping gold ornamentation, column capitals, molding, frieze and other decorative details exposed and spot repairing them; keeping the clamshell concession stand as part of the proposed retail use; storing on site any removed historic elements and creating an inventory list to track the articles, and keeping the upper floors and balcony (that will be temporarily sealed-off) accessible for regular inspection, protected from moisture and other deterioration.
Buhler says he told the Commission during last week’s hearing that despite significant improvements, the LA Conservancy still has major concerns about the project.
“Charles Company has every right to propose use as drug store, but they don’t have the right to destroy the theatre in the process,” Buhler said, explaining that the Conservancy does not own the building, it can only advocate for protection under the laws that protect historic resources.
Repeated calls to the Charles Company seeking comment were not returned. EGP was informed by the company, however, that their representative on the project, Stacey Brenner is no longer with the company.
Following the hearing last week, some in attendance expressed concern that not enough is being done by the County or the Conservancy to ensure the Golden Gate Theatre is protected.
County Supervisor Gloria Molina represents unincorporated East L.A. where the theatre is located. Her spokesperson Roxanne Marquez told EGP that the supervisor is satisfied with the LA Conservancy’s participation and feels they will help ensure the historic elements are preserved.
Because the local authority in historic preservation is involved, the project “does pass muster,” Marquez said Feb. 19, but added she was unaware the Conservancy still has reservations.
“I just find it hard to believe that someone would be working on a project from the start to make sure the historic parts are kept and then the historic parts aren’t kept. I’m confident that they will be, in part because the Conservancy is involved, because there are people like Mike Buhler looking out for things like that,” she told EGP.
While Marquez would not speculate on the missing historic marquee that was reportedly put in storage but now seems to be missing, she did say the Charles Company has a track record of being responsible.
“The Golden Gate Theatre has been empty for a long time, for decades, and we have a developer now who wants to keep the best parts of it while at the same time giving the community something they have wanted,” she said. “East Los Angeles residents have told us time and again that they don’t like to go outside of their community to get basic things—like drug store needs.”
In past testimony, however, some residents have said there are already enough drugstores near the intersection in East L.A. A quick Internet search by EGP found a Rite Aid Pharmacy and a Target Pharmacy less than half a mile away on Whittier Boulevard in the city of Commerce. The nearest CVS Pharmacy is about three miles away on East Olympic Boulevard, but six other pharmacies are within a one-mile radius of the Golden Gate site.
“People have always told us that they want more, that what they currently have is not enough, and at the same time they don’t want to destroy the character of the community. This is a win-win situation,” said Marquez when asked if another retail pharmacy is needed in the area.
According to the Final EIR, a retail pharmacy at the site is expected to generate $6 million dollars a year in taxable sales. Unlike the Rite Aid and Target down the street, a portion of the sales revenues would go to the County of Los Angeles’ general fund.
Marquez mentioned that historic buildings in Old Town Pasadena have been successfully adapted for modern needs, and the Golden Gate is a similar project.
While opposition to this project has not perhaps been as vocal as past redevelopment projects when protesters took their rancor to the streets, there is still community opposition to the site housing a retail pharmacy. The Mothers of East L.A. are still advocating it be used for cultural enrichment and Barrio Planners has proposed rebuilding the Vega Building for retail use while preserving the theatre to foster the arts. Neither group, however, has identified an interested funding source for their plans.
Resurrection Church’s Rev. Msgr. John Moretta told EGP that while he is not versed on all the details of the project, he is not pleased that local leadership—cultural institutions and politicians—have not stood up against the proposed use for the building.
“I’m a priest and I’m not privy to the ins-and-outs of the historicity of the building, but I do know that it would be a shame for our leaders to not raise hell about trying to preserve integrity of that building.
Putting in a CVS Pharmacy that will have a drive-in liquor store, or drive-by liquor store, is not my way of thinking of trying to preserve the historicity of building,” he said. “In all of East Los Angeles that is, to my knowledge, the last major theatre that is left from that era of the big theatres, and the style of architecture that is on inside was and still can be considered a jewel. And to let a pharmacy with a liquor store be open there, I don’t know how the preservationists can allow that…” noting that there is a charter school less than a block away.
Marquez said she could not comment on whether Molina approves of an alcohol sales permit for the location, but said she is confident the Planning Commission would adhere to alcohol sale guidelines and restrictions.
Moretta compared the Golden Gate Theater to the Vladek Center, an apartment complex that was to be demolished to make room for the new Hollenbeck Police Station. He said the building had less historical significance, but because of an uproar from the Jewish community and preservationist, a compromise was reached.
“It’s one of the true gems we have left and it’s the only type of architecture that we have of that style that we really have a chance to save on the eastside,” Moretta said about the theatre. “I respect the historical community and I’m just asking them to come to the defense of this place and not let it become a corner place where you go buy liquor—it’s just a sad thing.”
The project with a list of conditions is expected to be approved at the next hearing on March 10.
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February 25, 2010 Copyright © 2010 Eastern Group Publications, Inc.
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