Raising the Roof : Plan to Add Galleria Floor Sets Off Dispute

At the birthplace of the Valley Girl, the idea is either totally tubular or it’s grody to the max .

People are choosing sides over a plan to raise the roof of the Sherman Oaks Galleria shopping center--first popularized in the song “Valley Girl”--to make room for four new movie theaters.

The Pacific Theatre Corp. wants to add a fourth floor to the trendy mall so it can double the size of the 1,100-seat cinema complex it operates next to the Galleria’s glossy center-court atrium.

The proposal is being applauded by merchants, who think the new theaters will help fill the mall with shoppers during slack evening hours.

But it is angering nearby homeowners who worry that the expansion will fill the San Fernando Valley’s busiest intersection, which is near the mall, with more cars.

“It can only be a blessing,” said Lanny Eule, who runs the 42-seat P. J. Uppercrust restaurant opposite the entrance to the mall’s Pacific 4 movie complex. “They will be able to expand the mix of their movies and attract more young people.”

“It could be a disaster,” said Barbara Kramer, a leader of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. “There’s already gridlock at the intersection of Ventura and Sepulveda.”

The controversy is adding new color to the glitzy mall, which skyrocketed to fame in 1982 when it was featured in the hit song “Valley Girl” by Moon Unit Zappa.

Favorite Teen Hangout

The song named the Galleria as a favorite hangout of Valley girls--hip teen-agers who shopped with their parents’ credit cards and talked with their own lingo.

“Like, ohmigod, like-- totally/ Encino is like so bitchen / There’s like the Galleria/ And like all those like really great shoe stores . . ./ I like buy the neatest mini-skirts and stuff/ It’s so bitchen . . . “ Zappa sang.

Phrases such as fer sure and gag me with a spoon and barf me out supposedly used by real Valley girls quickly became popular throughout the United States. In 1983, the fad continued as a teen-romance movie called “Valley Girl” was filmed at the Galleria. It grossed $1 million in its first weekend of release.

The popularity of the song and movie caused foot traffic in the 120-store mall to skyrocket by 30%, Galleria officials acknowledged in 1983. It also drew journalists from such places as Japan and England to photograph the shopping complex.

These days, Galleria merchants are looking for a fresh boost.

“Eight theaters are substantial,” luggage-shop manager Steve Farmer said Wednesday. “It will give the mental image of a bigger mall.”

Mel Goldsmith, a consultant for Pacific Theatre Corp. who has met with leaders of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. on the proposal, said the company got the rooftop expansion idea from a similar project at the Beverly Center mall in Los Angeles.

“The trend is toward a greater number of screens in locations,” Goldsmith said Wednesday. He said the Sherman Oaks expansion is still in the planning stages and officials are still studying its feasibility.

Besides permission from Los Angeles officials, the expansion would require an engineering study of the mall’s roof, he said.

City officials are reviewing original Galleria construction permits and plot plans retrieved from a storage warehouse to determine what requirements such a project would face, said Penny Simison, an aide to Sherman Oaks-area City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky.

Richard Close, president of the homeowners group, said his association will discuss the proposal at a meeting Wednesday. He said the expansion could face difficulties with city zoning in addition to traffic and parking problems.

“Some of our people are concerned that it will increase the need for more restaurants and stores at the Galleria,” Close explained.

“Theaters act as magnets. You double the number of seats, and you double the magnet.”