Theater Chain Acts to Placate Swap Meet Foes
In an effort to defuse a controversy that might cause revocation of a permit allowing swap meets at its Edwards Drive-in Theater near Arcadia, Edwards Cinemas has purchased property for off-street parking.
Residents of the unincorporated county area and parishioners from a nearby church have registered numerous complaints about traffic and parking problems stemming from the meet, which is open from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
The meet attracts about 10,000 shoppers in about 1,000 cars each day it operates.
Last week Edwards closed escrow on a nine-acre lot across the street from the theater at Live Oak Avenue and Peck Road, said James Edwards, an owner of Edwards Cinemas, a Newport Beach-based theater chain that operates the drive-in. He said the property would accommodate 1,000 cars, which should solve the parking problem.
Meanwhile, the county Regional Planning Commission has scheduled a public hearing at 9 a.m. July 30 at the Hall of Records in Los Angeles to review the permit.
John Gilles, the leader of a campaign aimed at closing the meet, sent Supervisor Pete Schabarum a petition with 740 signatures asking that the swap meet permit be revoked.
The focus of the hearing will be a zoning permit that expires in 1988. There are no conditions in the present permit regulating traffic or parking.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
