Historical Society Backs Alex as Performing Arts Center

Reversing their stance to save the landmark Alex Theatre as a movie palace, members of the Glendale Historical Society on Tuesday said they are willing to go along with proposals to turn the cinema into a performing arts center.

In a position paper presented to the Glendale Redevelopment Agency, the society concluded that “the Alex can work very well” as an arts center.

Society members had been at odds for two years with business and cultural arts groups over the fate of the ornate, 62-year-old, neo-Greek-style theater on Brand Boulevard. In a 1986 position paper, the society argued that the cinema, built in 1925, should be preserved as “the most architecturally significant intact theater in the area.”

But in the report this week, society members said they have reevaluated the viability of the Alex as a first-run movie house and concluded that it could best serve as an arts center.

David Smith, a member of the society’s preservation task force, told the redevelopment agency that restoration and conversion of the theater could serve as a “symbolic merging of the Glendale of the past and the Glendale of the future.”

He said that the society has studied more than 40 art centers across the nation, including several dozen vintage cinemas that have been converted, and found that the stage and other attributes of the Alex would be suitable for cultural productions such as dance, music, theater and film.

An earlier study commissioned by the city--called the Mitze Report--concluded that the stage at the Alex is too small for live productions and that the entire theater should be substantially rebuilt at an estimated cost of $15 million.

The Glendale Partners, a group of businessmen, said last year that they agreed with that study and urged the redevelopment agency to acquire the Alex and essentially tear it down.

Smith said society members have since met with business leaders and representatives of cultural arts groups and all have agreed to work on a compromise that would preserve much of the architectural character of the Alex while converting it to a new use as a performing arts center.

The historical society, in its report this week, proposed that the Alex be preserved, restored and converted at an estimated cost of about $2 million. The society’s renovation proposal is far less ambitious than those proposed by the the Mitze Report and the Glendale Partners. Preservationists argue that much of the theater and its stage is adaptable to performing arts program without costly changes.

Dan Leimeter, a member of the historical society and a stage manager, told the redevelopment agency, “That’s a savings in money that could be put into programming.”

Society members said they are meeting with business and arts groups in an attempt to reach a unified proposal for reuse of the Alex, which is in the downtown redevelopment zone.

Mayor Carl Raggio said he welcomes the proposed compromise. “What pleases me the most is that several groups are working toward one end,” he said.

The city has been studying the possibility of developing a performing arts center for more than eight years.