Reseda Theatre (1948, S. Charles Lee) CRA seeks proposals

[nichols]

1948 S. Charles Lee theatre available

From LA Okay


http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2337/

From the website of City Councilman Dennis Zine. Click onthe March, 2005 ZINE LINE to download.
http://www.lacity.org/council/cd3/cd3lett1.htm

2005 promises to be an eventful
year for Reseda due to the ongoing
efforts of the Reseda community
and the Community Redevelopment
Agency (CRA). The CRA
is now the proud and official
owner of the 350-seat Reseda
Theater, located on Sherman Way
and Reseda Blvd. The Reseda
Theater, which had remained vacant
since 1988, now belongs to
the City of Los Angeles. The revitalization
of this theater is one
of the number one priorities for
the CRA and Councilman Dennis
P. Zine. The City is working to
improve the community by focusing
on the economic revitalization on the economic revitalization
of the Reseda business corridor.
The Reseda Theater opened in
1948 and was designed by renowned
movie-house architect S.
Charles Lee, but was closed in
1988 after fifty years of operation.


The community is working block
by block to improve the area, and
this is one example of Reseda
moving forward in this direction.
In addition to the refurbishment of
the Reseda Theater, The CRA has
many priorities, which include the
facade and signage program,
where several storefronts in the
Reseda business area are getting a
facelift this year. In addition, the
CRA is ready to move forward on
the Reseda Parking Lot Improvement
Project, which would refurbish
the parking lot South of
Sherman Way, between Etiwanda
Avenue and Lindley Avenue.
The realization of this project is
one giant step in the right direction.
Thanks to the efforts of the
CRA and the community groups
in Reseda, we will soon be able to
see this area revitalized. For anyone
who is interested in viewing
both RFPs in their entirety, please
check the CRA’s website at
www.crala.org
The theater has been sitting vacant
for more than 16 years, and has
contributed to the deterioration of
the area. Over the last several
years, the property was not maintained,
nor properly secured, turning
it into a magnet for transients.
After violating numerous Building
and Safety codes over the years,
the building was declared a public
nuisance by the Building and
Safety Commission in 2004. By
that time, the CRA had already
put in the offer to purchase the
building, and the owner accepted.
The theater is 9,500 square feet,
and the search is now on for an
owner who will adapt the building
to suit the community’s needs.
Earlier this year the CRA put out
a request for proposals for interested
parties to buy the property
from the CRA, and to propose a
plan for the site. On January
25th, the CRA held a nonmandatory
pre-proposal conference
for interested buyers to walk
through the theater and to discuss
the request for proposals. Currently,
the CRA has put out two
requests for proposals, one for
adaptive reuse as a performing
arts space and the other for a retail
establishment. The CRA is going
through the competitive process to
find the best possible use for the
building.

[nichols]

Looks like the CIM group, owners of the Sunset Vine Tower, are looking at this theatre in Reseda.

CRA Meeting Notice
July 14, 2005

APPROVAL OF EXCLUSIVE NEGOTIATION AGREEMENT WITH CIM GROUP
FOR THE RESEDA THEATER ADAPTIVE REUSE PROJECT, LOCATED AT
18447 SHERMAN WAY, RESEDA IN THE EARTHQUAKE DISASTER
ASSISTANCE PROJECT FOR PORTIONS OF COUNCIL DISTRICT 3, WEST
VALLEY REGION

[nichols]

[Lynxwiler]

[nredom]

The theater, at least in that picture, appears completely dwarfed by that billboard. Getting rid of that should be high on the agenda, if they're really serious about "improvement" and "revitalization" etc..

[nichols]

LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
Feb. 5, 2006

Reseda officials aim to reinvent community
Theater to lead downtown face-lift
By Brad A. Greenberg, Staff Writer

RESEDA - In the ruins of the Reseda Theater, residents and public officials see the embers of hope. If things are going to improve on Sherman Way, they believe it has to begin there.

This community has fastened its future on a building that's been shuttered for almost two decades.

"That has been a gaping hole, and it has really hurt our efforts," said Leslie Lambert, regional director for the Community Redevelopment Agency, which bought the theater and is selling it to a developer. "That is the linchpin of downtown Reseda. Unless you do something on that site, you are really spinning your wheels."

Within about a year, the crumbling former stagehouse is to be transformed into a trendy nightclub, the likes of which Reseda hasn't seen since the closure of The Country Club - where in 1981 U2 held its first Los Angeles concert.

Officials hope a hot spot will spur more private investments and accelerate a downtown face-lift. Some observers, however, aren't convinced Reseda will be able to shake its reputation.

"Reseda Boulevard is still a shabby, ugly, broken-down street. The good thing is that cheap restaurants, bicycle stores, taco stands, vacuum repair outlets and pawn shops are also useful to earning a living," Andrew Hurvitz wrote recently on his Web site, hereinvannuys.com.

"People want to be where the action is," said Jacklyn Ovsepyan, 27, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Studio City, "and I can't see Reseda having much to do."

Shaped like a square in the center of the West Valley, Reseda is a working-class bedroom community where the median-priced home in December cost about the same as that for all Los Angeles County - $525,000. Compare that to Reseda's neighbor to the south, Tarzana, where the median-priced home was $1.04 million.

Once the "hub of the Valley," 91335 is now an incredibly diverse 6.5 square miles where 62,000 people speaking more than 110 languages and dialects dwell. Banks, supermarkets and the Los Angeles Unified School District are the major employers. There are few major attractions.

"We were told that if we ever got a Starbucks in Reseda we'd be on the map," said Garth Carlson, vice chairman of the neighborhood council. "Well, we've got two now and we're still not on the map."

Actually, because it is in Los Angeles, Reseda was put on the map decades ago by the entertainment industry. In 1984, Mr. Miyagi took a Reseda teen and turned him into the Karate Kid. Five years later, with his hit "Free Fallin'," Tom Petty told the world, "It's a long day livin' in Reseda."

In a song by the quasi-pop band Soul Coughing, Mike Doughty sings the line, "We are all in some way or another going to Reseda someday to die."

In 1994, the area between Victory Boulevard and Oxnard Street fled purgatory and joined Encino and Tarzana.

"It never occurred to us until it changed over," said Terry Rainey, 57, an architect who owns a house one block south of Victory, in what is now Encino. "When it did, of course we were happy because the property values jumped."

Like the rest of the San Fernando Valley, Reseda came to life after World War II, when military veterans were in search of a quiet suburban life. Sherman Way and Reseda Boulevard became the community's heart. Its soul - the Reseda Theater - is at their intersection.

Each day, about 85,000 people drive past the theater and see its marquee, according to the Reseda Chamber of Commerce.

"Each one sees a big sign that says Reseda is a piece of crap," said James Hames, a resident eagerly awaiting the renovation.

Built in 1948, the theater was a popular moviehouse until it closed in 1988. The city's redevelopment agency bought it in 2004 for about $2 million. It plans to spend another $1.3 million to buy a building behind it needed for parking. The agency is negotiating a contract to sell the properties to the CIM Group, the developers of downtown Brea and several Hollywood clubs.

The agency also plans to spend about $700,000 to improve 31 building facades on Reseda Boulevard and recently completed an $850,000 streetscape project, for which the federal government ponied up $700,000.

Revitalization plans took root shortly after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, which actually had its epicenter in Reseda. (Northridge Hospital Medical Center also is in Reseda, according to the city, though this is widely disputed and even denied by hospital officials.)

At the direction of then-Mayor Richard Riordan and then-City Councilwoman Laura Chick, redevelopment in the West Valley began in Canoga Park with the $3-million Madrid Theater renovation. At the time, Canoga Park was plagued by crime and despair. Last year, however, it was one of 10 areas nationwide honored as an "All-America City."

The same formula for success is being applied to Reseda...
(more)
http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_3476484

[nichols]

[Lynxwiler]

So when was that renovation planned to commence?

[nichols]

LOS ANGELES TIMES

A revival in Reseda


Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times
CIM Group, a firm that operates the Hollywood & Highland complex in Hollywood, has entered into an agreement with the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles to renovate the 60-year-old Reseda Theater. The $8.7-million project should be completed this fall.
An abandoned theater under renovation in the San Fernando Valley suburb is seen as a centerpiece of the area's renewal.

By Amanda Covarrubias, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 16, 2008

The double feature advertised on the Reseda Theater marquee made Pat Towers' father laugh out loud when they drove by some 50 years ago: "Friendly Persuasion" and "At Gunpoint."

But the days of double features, or any features at all, at the Reseda Theater have long since faded away, replaced by a graffiti-covered facade that belies Towers' childhood memories of lazy Saturday afternoons spent inside the darkened theater, enjoying such sci-fi classics as "Godzilla," "House of Wax" and "It Came From Outer Space."


Back then, the theater was the centerpiece of a thriving community of 30,000, living high off the post-World War II suburban boom. Back then, Reseda's main street, Sherman Way, had a J.C. Penney department store and a J.J. Newberry's five and dime, as well as an ice skating rink. Into the 1980s, it was home to the Country Club, a legendary concert venue that showcased punk rock and New Wave bands.

But something happened to Reseda. Middle-class families began moving to newer suburbs, and lower-income immigrants moved in. Moviegoers flocked to multiplexes rather than to single-screen theaters, and main streets gave way to mega-malls. The big shops shut down. Sherman Way was left deserted.
...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 1928.story

[sonic]

...there is always another photo on you-are-here.com

[schafphoto]

The demolition of the Mayfair Theater in Ventura was a giant step backward in Ventura's preservation and cultural scene... now 3 years later, the entire area is being re-envisioned for cultural and arts programming – but sadly without the Mayfair... Congratulations on keeping your S. Charles Lee theater, we wish we still had one... good luck!!!

-Schaf

[Adriene]

Thanks, Schaf. Restoring the Reseda will hopefully get some positive momentum going in this area.

I miss the Mayfair, it was stunning. A major loss for Ventura. Years ago we too lost our S. Charles Lee theater, in my hometown of Tujunga. The front half was literally sliced off and grafted onto a ridiculous Caesar's Palace banquet hall facade. A miserable loss the community is coming to regret (as preservation awareness is slowly being generated along the Foothill Boulevard corridor and Sunland-Tujunga area).

Catch a glimpse of the Tujunga Theatre and Edwards Drive-In (also gone) here. Great vintage images from CSUN's Digital Library. Sunland-Tujunga, always such an underrated, beautiful place:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcl98Jxq ... re=related

[nichols]

What a difference a nice paint job makes!

[nichols]

CURBED

Reseda Theater Site Up for Grabs

Monday, August 2, 2010, by Dakota

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/08/r ... _grabs.php