Theater Considered for Historic Status

Responding to a campaign to save La Reina movie theater in Sherman Oaks from demolition, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Board agreed Wednesday to study the 46-year-old structure’s suitability for being declared a historical monument.

The five-member board will inspect the 875-seat theater, research its history and solicit comments from the public and the developer before advising the City Council whether it merits preservation.

If the council voted to include La Reina among the city’s historical landmarks, the Art Deco building could not be altered or razed without the heritage board’s approval.

The board’s decision to consider La Reina’s preservation came on an application submitted by Sherman Oaks resident Lee David, who organized a “Save the La Reina” group and who has begun circulating petitions to prevent demolition of the building. David said he has collected nearly 400 signatures supporting the drive.

“It’s one of the few nice theaters left in the Valley,” said Sue Groves of Van Nuys, co-chairwoman of the preservation drive. “You get tired of going into Westwood and fighting the crowds and paying the fees.

“The La Reina is so close and convenient. If you go to a shoe-box theater, you can sometimes hear the sound bleed through the walls from the adjacent theater.”

Beverly Hills developer Dennis Bass is negotiating to buy the movie house on Ventura Boulevard at Cedros Avenue from Mann Theatre Corp. and wants to build a two-story complex of restaurants and retail shops in its place.

Save the La Reina believes the structure has significant historical and architectural value to the Valley and should be preserved.

David said the group’s priority is to see the building maintained as a movie theater. If that proves financially unrealistic for the owner, David said an acceptable alternative would be development of the interior as a performing arts theater, restaurant or retail complex while leaving the outside intact.

Although Mann’s records show that La Reina was built in 1939 by Fox West Coast, the now-defunct Van Nuys News reported that it opened on Nov. 23, 1938, with a double feature and a cartoon and newsreel. The main attraction was “The Arkansas Traveler,” with Bob Burns. General admission was 35 cents, with select lounges going for 55 cents.

The theater was designed by S. Charles Lee, an eminent Los Angeles architect who designed more than 400 theaters in the United States and Mexico. According to trade magazine articles from the late 1930s, La Reina featured state-of-the-art acoustics and was hailed for the unusual use of neon lighting on its marquee.

The Save the La Reina drive has won the support of the Los Angeles Conservancy, a nonprofit preservation group that has been influential in several campaigns to save old structures.

David Cameron, a director of the conservancy, told the heritage board: “There were relatively few buildings of this style constructed in that era. The economic climate of the late 1930s was not as good as the 1920s. There aren’t many to choose from and there will be even fewer if the trend continues.”

If approved for preservation, La Reina would be the first movie theater in the Valley, and the seventh in the city, to join the historical monument registry, according to Ileana Welch, cultural board coordinator.

Bass said two weeks ago that he hoped to complete negotiations with Mann in March and begin construction by May. However, the preservation drive, which could take several months to resolve, will likely stall his plans.

Jackie Brainard, a spokeswoman for the developer, said Wednesday that Bass would entertain community suggestions for ways to preserve part of the building in his development, provided it still would be profitable for him to build there.

Brainard stressed, however, that Bass is not interested in operating the facility as a movie theater. “He’s not in the theater business,” she said.

Mann officials would like to abandon the operation because, they say, a single-screen theater can no longer remain profitable against the competition of multiplex developments where several small theaters are clustered at one location.

“You need a minimum of six screens to compete in today’s marketplace,” said Ben Littlefield, director of real estate for Mann.

Save the La Reina will meet at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31 at Central Savings, 4464 Van Nuys Blvd., to solicit comments on the building’s preservation and use.