THEATRICALITIES

Thanks a lot for Jack Mathews’ little valentine to the Cineplex Odeon corporation and its restoration of the Fairfax Cinemas (Film Clips, July 9).

I live in one of the neighborhoods that has been graced with a brand-new Cineplex Odeon theater, and my fondest wish is to blow it off the face of the Earth.

Parking, Mr. Mathews. Parking. Our dear Canadian entrepreneurial brothers have provided none. Zilch. Zero. Zip. At two-hour intervals, a fleet of upscale autos descends on this once-quiet residential neighborhood.

Yuppies desperate for entertainment park in red zones, on corners, in front of fire hydrants and in the driveways of homes and apartment houses. There is nowhere to park for people coming into the neighborhood or, more important, for people who pay high rents to live in it.

Lured by the prospects of rich tape-deck pickings, the criminal element has flocked here like vultures to dead meat to steal cars and their contents in record numbers. The entire neigborhood gleams under a patina of smashed windshield glass. It is no longer safe to take a walk at night.

And what have the Cineplex Odeons, whoever they may be, decided to do about this unbearable situation and the numerous complaints consequently engendered? You guessed it--absolutely nothing! Which is exactly what the law in this town requires them to do.

They have been aided and abetted in their rape of the neighborhood by local city councilman, Zev Yaroslavsky, who has been entirely uncooperative in securing resident-only parking for the area and apparently has no time to protect the district he claims to serve in his quest for higher office.

Perhaps the next time Mathews writes about a business venture he might think of the whole impact, not just his own comfort.

MICHAEL LASSELL

Los Angeles