Curtain Goes Up on New Life for Theater
The neighbors talk about fights on the corner, businesses going belly up, “seedy” types strolling into the theater called the Capri. Some of them, like barber Charles Fox, saw it as a sign of decadence. To take a theater that had once shown “Ben Hur” and make it a “porno house” was to Fox a tragedy of modern times.
Fox has run his barber shop near the corner of Park Boulevard and University Avenue for seven years. Like Fox, the parakeet in the corner chirps more happily these days. Once again, Fox said--this time with a smile--change is on the way.
Tonight, a new theater opens--or rather reopens. What was once known as the Egyptian in the 1920s, and became the Capri in the 1960s, is ushering in its third life as the Park. From the mid-1970s until it closed its doors a year ago, the Capri showed only pornographic films.
Fox is no connoisseur of the cinematic arts, but even he says to go from “Great Sexpectations” to “Great Expectations” is a major victory.
‘Tore Down Neighborhood’
“You know what the porno place did?” he said. “It tore down the neighborhood, almost ruined it. Businesses were scared to open up. Folks felt icky about the place. This deal can’t help but be an improvement.”
The Park’s new owner is Great American First Savings Bank, which has a branch next door. Great American is leasing the 600-seat theater to the Los Angeles-based Landmark chain, which specializes in classic and foreign films and first-run offerings that major chains never seem to catch. Landmark operates the Guild in Hillcrest, the Cove in La Jolla and the Ken in Kensington.
Paul Richardson, vice president of operations for Landmark, stood near a ladder and rolls of carpet--tools of a major remodeling--and said the Park will be the chain’s “flagship” in San Diego. It replaces the Fine Arts, which closed when a local developer wanted its Pacific Beach location for a shopping center. Landmark owns none of its local theaters; it merely rents them.
In this case, Landmark has done something that goes against the trend in contemporary theater management: It has opened, rather than closed, a large, one-screen movie house. The news in recent weeks has followed the trend--it was disclosed that the Loma Theatre in Loma Portal will soon give way to a shopping development, and the Cinerama in East San Diego will be divided into “multiplex” theaters.
Unstoppable Trend
Richardson said that many of Landmark’s theaters around the country are moving in the multiplex direction. He calls it a trend that can’t be stopped. He credited Great American--specifically its chief of operations, Gordon Luce, an acknowledged film buff--with keeping the one-screen principle intact.
“They (Great American) wanted to be a neighbor to the neighborhood in more ways than one,” Richardson said. “They wanted one screen--a vintage movie house--plus respectable fare. They were tired of being next door to a porno operation.”
Richardson said the Park will be not just vintage but “state of the art.” He said the new screen is capable of showing extra-wide Cinemascope productions and that the Dolby Surround sound system “can’t be beat.” The Park’s very first offering--”Kangaroo,” an Australian film starring Judy Davis and Colin Friels--will carry both the Cinemascope and Dolby technologies.
Many films nowadays are released in formats other than Cinemascope, because of the difficulty in transferring such technology to a television screen. The home-video revolution has demanded a more conventional approach. Home video has had a strong, strangely ironic impact on the Park.
Richardson said that video is now the primary carrier of pornographic films--porno fans can experience the likes of “Debbie Does Dallas” in the privacy of their own homes, and seem to prefer it that way. At the same time, video has contributed to the rise of multiplexes, Richardson said, by making one-screen houses an economic dare.
Neighbors Happy
Whatever, the neighbors are ecstatic. They see the Park’s emergence as part of a renaissance in their little corner of North Park.
“The customers coming in are just overjoyed--wildly enthusiastic,” said Alex Puente, an employee of the Great American branch next door. (The branch is making its parking lot available to the Park, in a neighborhood where parking is at a premium.)
“Since the theater has been empty, it’s been really weird, even dangerous,” said bank employee Janet Grabes. “It’s been like a nesting ground for vagrants. There’s been a lot of broken bottles and fights. But since the announcement of the opening, things have picked up. A kind of neighborhood clean-up is going on.”
Other Businesses
Puente said several new businesses--including a deli-ice cream parlor and several boutique shops--have opened up or will in the next few weeks. A new record store and a shopping center are about to be built on nearby corners.
Ann Mulvey is co-owner of The Ritz, the new ice cream-and-deli outlet blinking its neon cone across the street from the Park. She and partner Dennis Soto bought the location after they heard about and because of the Park. They plan to open at 11 in the morning and stay open until 11:30 p.m. to better serve movie-going crowds. She said they hope to become to the Park what Quel Fromage, a coffee house, and the Blue Door Bookstore are to the Guild.
“On Fridays,” she said, “we’ll even have the critics’ special--chocolate cake with mounds of vanilla ice cream. Yum-my!”
Bill Richardson--no relation to Paul--manages Landmark’s four San Diego theaters. He grew up in San Diego and recalled nostalgically the times he saw “Ben Hur,” and a trailer full of other movies, from a seat in the Capri.
“That’s what’s great about this,” he said. “We’re bringing something good back to life.”
