Curtains for Pasadena Landmark? : Offices Proposed to Replace Theater

There may be no business like show business, but as far as the owners of the old Raymond Theater are concerned, show business is no business.

After 67 years of showcasing acts such as 1930s star Jan Rubini and His Orchestra, and more recently Oingo Boingo, the Plasmatics and the pornographic movie “Deep Throat,” the theater’s days of fame and infamy may soon come to an end.

The theater’s owners, developers Gene Buchanan and Marc Perkins, plan to turn the Old Pasadena landmark at Raymond Avenue and Holly Street into a modern brick-and-glass office building.

The marquee would be removed and the theater’s gold-and-crimson interior gutted to make way for four stories of offices. A second four-story office and retail building would be built on the parking lot next door.

‘Doesn’t Pencil Out’

“We’ve been extremely patient and tried very, very hard to make it as a theater, but it’s just not working anymore,” Buchanan said. “I love the ballet and opera as much as anyone, but I’ve got a business deal here that just doesn’t pencil out.”

Perkins said of the theater building: “We’re talking about a senior citizen. You can’t ask an old lady to boogie.”

The threatened loss of the Raymond has sparked a movement by local theater lovers and business people to save what they call one of the last and greatest of the area’s ornate vaudeville theaters.

“It’s absolutely gorgeous,” said Tracy Wallace, the owner of L’Attitude, an Old Pasadena clothing store. “I’ve only been in it once, and I’m in love with it.”

Russ Raftis , who owns Adventure Bound, a travel-accessory store on Colorado Boulevard, added: “It’s a true jewel.”

But some members of the fledgling Friends of the Raymond Theater concede that they are short of ideas on how to save it.

Zoned for Offices

In contrast with the controversial campaign to save the 80-year-old Huntington Sheraton Hotel, there are few means of mounting a legislative drive against the Raymond project.

In the Huntington campaign, preservationists unsuccessfully tried in a citywide referendum to overturn the zoning change that will allow the demolition of the hotel’s main building. But the theater property is already zoned to allow an office building. As city Senior Planner William Cross said: “They could walk in and get demolition permits if they wanted.”

However, Bruce Irwin, who heads Friends of the Raymond Theater, said his group believes that it can find the financial or political means to halt the project and turn the theater into a cultural showcase.

“We’re going to put up a hell of a fight,” he said. “We’re not going to lose it to office space.”

No one disputes that the Raymond Theater, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is a bona fide Pasadena landmark.

Built in 1921 at the height of the city’s golden era, the Raymond began life as a theater for stage productions and was later converted for musicals, movies, and most recently, rock concerts.

The list of acts that have passed across its stage reads like a roll call of American pop culture.

In its first decade, the theater was packing them in with stage productions such as “Miracle Man” and “Peg o’ My Heart.” By the 1930s, groups such as Howell & Aretha’s 25 Piece Accordion Band were delighting audiences.

From the mid-1930s through the 1970s, movies began stealing the spotlight. At one point, the theater became a local porno hot spot.

During the 1980s, the theater has presented a number of rock shows, from mainstream attractions such as the Pretenders and Phil Collins to more esoteric bands such as XTC and Black Flag.

The theater was designed by J. Cyril Bennett, who left his mark on the city as the architect of many of the store facades along Colorado Boulevard, the Civic Auditorium and an addition to the Pasadena Playhouse.

From the outside, the theater has a simple facade of brick and stone in the Beaux Arts classical style, marked by a plain marquee and three large brick archways.

Vintage Grandeur

But behind this exterior is an ornate 1,800-seat theater reflecting the grandeur of early moviedom. Spreading out from the stage are row after row of burgundy-red seats, under a ceiling covered with carved reliefs. A pair of wide spiral ramps lead to a 900-seat balcony. There is still an orchestra pit in front of the 100-foot-wide stage.

Buchanan and Perkins have just begun the city review process for their $3-million to $4-million project. They plan to replace the theater and parking lot with about 132,000 square feet of office and retail space. They would save the facade of the theater and design a similar facade for the new building next door.

Both have developed other properties in Old Pasadena, including well-regarded restoration work such as the Arroyo Seco Building on Colorado Boulevard and the Parkway Grill on Arroyo Parkway.

“I’ve lived here 15 years, and I’m sensitive to restoration,” Perkins said. “We’re going to do a hell of a nice job with this one.”

Strictly Business

Buchanan, who has been a partner with Perkins in the project since 1985, said converting the theater, which hosts one or two shows a month, is strictly a business decision.

“Frankly, the revenue we get now doesn’t pay the light bill,” he said.

Buchanan would not say how much it costs to maintain the theater, but he said it has never been a moneymaker.

“We’ve been hoping for two years for someone to do something with the theater,” he said. “Everybody has got ideas, but they haven’t helped us any.”

Perkins took over the building in 1978, and a Los Angeles promotion company, Avalon Attractions, ran it as a rock concert venue until 1984.

Hosted Pop Acts

Renamed the Crown Perkins Palace, the theater played host to top-name pop acts, including Roberta Flack, Air Supply and Missing Persons.

In an interview in 1981, Perkins spoke optimistically of the theater’s future. “We’ve begun to build an identity here,” he said.

But the revival was short-lived, and by 1983 Perkins was singing a more pessimistic song.

“There’s only so much money in the marketplace,” he said at the time. “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens once the novelty of these new theaters (smaller rock concert halls) wears off.”

The music stopped a year later after Avalon Attractions pulled out and the rock concerts had prompted complaints about rowdiness from nearby property owners.

The theater was dark for three years before Pacificoncerts, run by a former Avalon partner, Roger Shepherd, began putting on a variety of shows last July, including a run by Los Angeles’ Bethune Ballet for two weeks.

Shepherd said that Perkins Palace can survive as a theater but that reviving its reputation in the area would be an uphill battle.

Quick to Forget

“Whenever a theater sits that long, people start forgetting about it,” he said.

Shepherd said, however, that the theater has been profitable for him.

But Perkins said Shepherd has a “sweetheart deal” that does not cover the actual expenses of the theater, which needs substantial renovation to attract the upscale crowds that are its lifeblood.

Perkins said that in addition to the expense, running a rock concert hall has been a headache.

“It’s a gruesome business,” he said. “People litter; they get drunk. I’ve run the place for 10 years, and I think I’m taking the best possible course for us and the city.”

Preservationist Irwin agreed that the theater has been through tough times but said Perkins and Buchanan have not done enough to make it a success.

A recent meeting attended by about 20 people indicated support for live entertainment in the theater, Irwin said. He contended that the theater could be a cultural focus for Old Pasadena, which has become a trendy restaurant and retail center.

Over the last seven years, property owners in Old Pasadena have rehabilitated scores of turn-of-the-century buildings, transforming the area into what some have called a San Gabriel Valley version of Westwood or of Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.

The theater, Irwin said, is strategically located next to the old California National Guard Armory building, the new home of the nonprofit Armory Center for the Arts, which will house a collection of local art groups.

“What you’ve got there now could become a real cultural center,” he said. “There is no night life in that section of the city. What better way than to have a grand legitimate theater?”

Asking $2.3 Million

But short of leasing or buying the theater from Buchanan and Perkins, who have put a price tag of about $2.3 million on the property, there are few alternatives.

The city could step in and purchase the theater, as it did in 1975 with the 62-year-old Pasadena Playhouse. After the 700-seat theater went bankrupt, the city bought it for $325,000 and later sold it to developer David Houk, who leases it back to a city commission.

But City Manager Don McIntyre is skeptical about that idea.

“We took the playhouse out of bankruptcy and spent years trying to find someone to invest in it as a theater,” he said.

One voice that has been quiet on the issue is that of Pasadena Heritage, the usually outspoken historical preservation group.

Program Director Sue Mossman said the group supports the effort to save the theater but has not taken an active role because of the lack of alternatives.

Theaters ‘Not Thriving’

“We are aware of the economic realities,” she said. “Full-scale theaters are not thriving, and we haven’t seen any evidence of a tremendous outpouring for another legitimate theater in this city.”

While she decried the prospect of losing the theater to more office space, she said Pasadena Heritage is too busy monitoring projects such as the restoration of the Colorado Street Bridge and the Old Pasadena Marketplace to develop an alternative to Buchanan and Perkins’ plan.

“With such limited resources, you always have to choose where you can make a difference,” she said. “If a viable plan could be developed, we would support it wholeheartedly. But at the moment, there isn’t one.”