L.A. Theatre Works and Beyond Baroque Deadlocked Over Use of Space at the Old Venice City Hall

L.A. Theatre Works and Beyond Baroque, two Westside arts organizations, are in a deadlock over their use of space in the old Venice City Hall, which is owned by the City of Los Angeles.

The nonprofit Beyond Baroque library and bookstore, which renegotiated a 10-year lease with former city councilwoman Pat Russell in October, 1986 (in exchange for maintaining the building and carrying insurance on it), has formally asked L.A. Theatre Works to leave.

The nonprofit Beyond Baroque library and bookstore, which renegotiated a 10-year lease with former city councilwoman Pat Russell in October, 1986 (in exchange for maintaining the building and carrying insurance on it), has formally asked L.A. Theatre Works to leave.

L.A. Theatre Works, which has had an ongoing arrangement tantamount to a sublet since 1980 with Beyond Baroque, wants to stay. The nonprofit production company, contends that the new lease should not have been negotiated with Beyond Baroque alone and wants a re-examination of the city’s intentions for the building.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter’s office, under whose jurisdiction the property falls, is looking into the matter. “We need to keep in mind that this is public property,” said Galanter’s press deputy Rick Ruiz. “It’s not for the use of one organization or another. The (two groups) have to work this out together or nobody will be served.”

“The city has allowed arts organizations to occupy (the old Venice City Hall) since 1979, said L.A. Theatre Works producing director Susan Loewenberg. “Beyond Baroque was the original tenant and had a lease arrangement that lapsed to a month-to-month. But no rent was or is involved. The real payback is the amount of public service the city gets in return.”

Loewenberg insists that when Baroque’s current director, Dennis Phillips, renegotiated the lease last year, it was over her protests and that the needs and contributions of L.A. Theatre Works should have been considered. “If two arts organizations have inhabited a building for approximately the same length of time,” she reasoned, “why should one get preferential treatment over the other?”

Beyond Baroque’s Phillips is just as firmly convinced of his organization’s right to the property.

“Beyond Baroque is the only independent, small-press literary center of its kind from the Mexican border to San Francisco,” he said. “When the city made the lease available to us, it did so in recognition of our importance.” He said that Galanter’s office told him that “there’s no question that it’s our lease.”

“Our library and our bookstore, both open to the public, have completely outgrown their space. I’m a great admirer of (L.A. Theatre Works). We did not send them an eviction notice, we sent them a letter.

“As I expressed to Marcella Howell (assistant to councilwoman Ruth Galanter), we want to be fair. We’re willing to help them find a building. We’re plain out of room. We need more space. We can’t move forward without it. And we’re not required to sublet.”

Each of the contenders argues that it is serving the public well.

Phillips insists that the lease arrangement is proper and that Beyond Baroque provides important literary services to the community, including a typesetting service; weekly poetry and fiction readings and workshops; regular music concerts; lectures and other performance activities, including some theater. Loewenberg cites various L.A. Theatre Works programs dedicated to public service, including artists in social institutions, working with kids in juvenile facilities (workshops in the visual and performing arts); work with teachers and curriculum development, and public readings of new plays.

“Reasonableness and intent are issues here,” Loewenberg said. “Asking us to move is a violation of the city’s every intent. And I maintain that it’s unreasonable for one arts organization to cause hardship to another.”

Attorney Douglas Ring, former president of the board of the Los Angeles Theatre Center and a member of the Center Theatre Group board, who has been retained by L.A. Theatre Works, said, “The case rests on what the city intended when it leased to Beyond Baroque.

“I don’t believe it intended to make Baroque a landlord other than for convenience. It intended to provide a cultural facility for the citizens of the community. Beyond Baroque is receiving a gift from the taxpayers of Los Angeles.

“There’s a termination provision in the current lease and I would urge the city to terminate it and lease to individual arts organizations on the basis of individual merit. I’ve had conversations with Galanter’s office. They are reasonable people who care about the cultural aspects of the community and are willing to come up with a reasonable solution.”

“We’re doing some background work on the lease provisions,” said Galanter’s press deputy Ruiz. “There doesn’t seem to be a reason why it shouldn’t be worked out.”

PIECES AND BITS: The San Diego Old Globe has received a $280,000 multipurpose grant from the Ford Foundation to fund in part a 2 1/2 year arts program for Teatro Meta, its bicultural Hispanic arm . . . Jude Narita has moved her well-received one-woman show, “Coming Into Passion/Song for a Sansei” from the Powerhouse to the Fountain Theatre.