LAZER DREAMS : Future Plans and a Search for Soccer Fans Are Underway in Simi, San Fernando Valleys

The Pickfair Estate in Beverly Hills is no stranger to screenings and previews. Since the 1920s and ‘30s, when Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. lived there, the palatial mansion has served as a popular gathering spot for the film industry.

So, last summer, when former Los Angeles Lazers President John Buss was entertaining ideas on how to boost ticket sales at the Forum, his thoughts wandered home--to Pickfair, the palace his father, Jerry Buss, owns.

Every Monday and Wednesday evening through the end of September, the Lazers’ front office is holding what it calls “private screenings.” The featured film: a five-minute preview of the upcoming Major Indoor Soccer League season and a review of the Lazers’ 1985 campaign.

The Pickfair flicks, designed to give a kick to season-seat sales, are just one part of the Lazers’ push to attract new soccer fans--especially from the Valley.

“Our research has shown that 33% of our fans live in the San Fernando Valley,” said Ron Weinstein, Lazers vice-president of operations. “What we are trying to do now is to reach out and find them.”

The team is so convinced of the Valley’s interest in soccer that it is moving its corporate headquarters from the Forum in Inglewood to the American Savings Plaza Building in Sherman Oaks next month.

The move is symbolic.

“We’ve made a commitment in the Valley,” Weinstein said about his staff of 10. “Our office lease is for three years with a two-year option, beginning in September. The Lazers are in a growth period where we are reaching out to the community, and this move is a part of it. . . . We also wanted to break away from the Forum and become separate from it. Besides, we needed more office space.”

The Lazers’ new Valley address is only the first step in the Busses’ long-range expansion agenda, which includes a Lazers retail store, an indoor soccer camp and the construction of an indoor soccer practice facility--all in the Valley.

One question remains, however. Which Valley?

Although the Lazers will soon be based in the San Fernando Valley, they are also considering plans to construct an indoor soccer stadium in Simi Valley for practices.

There are individuals in both valleys who would like to see the Lazers on their side of the Santa Susanas.

“We’re the next melting pot for soccer,” said Andy Silva, Simi Valley High’s soccer coach. “In the South Bay-Torrance area, soccer is very big, but we have 3,000 to 5,000 kids and parents who play soccer in this area. . . .

“Although we have a population of only 100,000 in the Conejo Valley, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park area, we would support the Lazers better than the (San Fernando) Valley. We have more people who enjoy the sport.”

Silva, who also coaches soccer in the California Youth Soccer Assn., has begun a virtually one-man campaign. His goal: bringing the Lazers to Simi.

“It’s been a dream of mine ever since I heard the Lazers were looking for a place,” Silva said. “I’ve been talking to potential investors and there is a lot of interest in the community. I estimate it would cost about $5 million to build, but I still have to get an architect to draw up plans. I almost feel like I’m going this alone.”

He may well be. Weinstein and other Lazer officials are banking on the idea that someone in the Valley area will finance the building of a soccer stadium. They have adopted a wait-and-see strategy. Basically, they are sitting by the phone, waiting for it to ring.

And it rings.

“As far as building a facility in the Valley is concerned, we really haven’t approached anyone,” Weinstein said. “People are approaching us. “

Indeed, spirited soccer supporters from Simi Valley to Beverly Hills have shown an interest in the Lazers. But Weinstein says it will be first come, first serve; the first one to come up with a concrete construction concept--and some equally concrete cash--will serve the Lazers just fine.

The once and future options:

- Simi Valley--Possible location: Tierra Rejada Basin (off Olsen Road, near the Simi Freeway and Highway 23), which is 2.5 acres of undeveloped property owned by Rancho Simi Valley Parks and Recreation Department.

“I envision a multipurpose facility that could be, say, a roller rink, and when the carpet is rolled over could be used for indoor soccer,” Silva said. “Possibly 20,000 seats, or maybe gear it down to 10,000 to 15,000 seats, and make it a smaller scale facility than the Forum. It’s a great opportunity to put the community on the map.”

- San Fernando Valley--Possible location: northeast corner of Whitsett and Vanowen avenues in North Hollywood. The site, which is currently known as the Roger Dunn Golf Links, is owned by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.

“This site is the closest we’ve gotten to a plot of allocated land,” Weinstein said. “The thing that is holding this up is the money and the question of access. . . . If we fund and build the facility, we want to be able to have a certain amount of access to it. But since it will be in coordination with the Department of Recreation and Parks, they will also require a certain level of public access to the facility.”

Said John Maghakian, a Valley supervisor for the parks department: “We are considering it as a possibility, but it has not gone beyond that point. . . .

“It would take at least a year from start to finish, because we just don’t move that fast. But everything we have now is all verbal. There’s nothing concrete.”

- Beverly Hills--No location specified.

“There was a group from Beverly Hills, headed by this lawyer named Steven Webb,” Weinstein said. “His son played soccer and Webb seemed very interested in building a facility. We talked to him and his associates a lot and we took it all the way to the stage where we talked with the city planners and adidas.

“But then, the whole thing was dropped. The realities of the bottom line--money--squelched it.”

- Pierce College--Woodland Hills.

Weinstein said that Pierce Athletic Director Bob O’Connor approached him a few months ago about putting a soccer stadium on some open land at the rural community college.

“He was looking to build a building with help from the community and Litton, that would also provide us with a major practice facility,” Weinstein said. “But, he had a problem using the facility as a commercial operation and the school wanted total access, although it was going to be a joint venture. They wanted to hold aerobics and gymnastics in it. The whole plan was just kind of dropped a few months ago.”

Despite the raised hopes and dashed plans, Weinstein is confident that a move over the Sepulveda Pass will be a move in the right direction.

“I know that someone will see what a great thing this is and get in on it,” he said. “I think we’ll be very successful in the Valley.”

In two weeks, the Lazers are sponsoring their first annual indoor soccer camp at the Forum in Inglewood, but hope to move it to the Valley soon. The proposed retail store in the Sherman Oaks Galleria, which was supposed to sell Lazer tickets, clothes and soccer equipment, has been postponed indefinitely.

And the practice stadium, in any Valley, is still only an unrealized goal.

It is not exactly an optimistic picture for the Lazers.

But with an average attendance of 5,062 during the week and 6,500 on the weekend, it probably could qualify as a private screening.