Fans of Pan Pacific Urge Rebuilding of Fire-Gutted Building

Fans of the Pan Pacific Auditorium claimed Tuesday that they have gathered more than 1,000 signatures urging that the fire-gutted structure be rebuilt instead of torn down for parkland, as some neighbors of the historic facility have urged.

“Our cityscape is being destroyed by arsonists and a few homeowners who don’t want certain things in their neighborhood,” said Kathleen Rogers, an entertainment publicist who formed a group, Friends of the Pan Pacific, after the May 24 fire.

Speaking at a press conference outside the ruins of the 54-year-old building, Rogers and others called on County Supervisor Ed Edelman to support restoration of the structure, which was once the site of sports events, ice shows, beauty pageants and other entertainment, including a concert by Elvis Presley.

She said the group collected signatures supporting its position by going door-to-door nights and weekends since the fire, but she did not make available at the press conference copies of the signatures.

Could Be Decisive

Edelman’s position on the matter is likely to be decisive because the Pan Pacific, which had been abandoned since 1972, is located in a county-operated state park in his district.

“I favored preserving the existing building, but unfortunately the tragic fire has destroyed almost the entire structure,” the supervisor said in a statement issued in response to the appeals made at the press conference. “Therefore, we must consider other options.”

He said that reconstruction as called for by organizations including Rogers’ newly formed group is one possibility. Others include clearing the site to expand the adjacent park, as proposed by a neighborhood homeowners’ group, or rebuilding the streamlined western facade of the building, much of which survived the fire, to serve as the entry to a small museum or senior citizen center.

“At this point, no decision has been made on what to do,” Edelman said. He said he will meet with preservationists, homeowners, developers and other public officials before deciding.

‘No Definite Commitment’

Steven S. Karic, executive vice president of the Rancho La Brea Neighborhood Assn., said that representatives of the group spent more than an hour with Edelman earlier this week.

“We got no definite commitment from Edelman,” he said, “but the sense is that it’s a new ball game now. At this point, we are advocating park use. If the structure is no longer there to be saved, you shouldn’t rebuild something in its place, because it’s not the same thing.”

Karic said he deplored Rogers’ reference to arsonists and homeowners, calling it “irresponsible and reckless.”

Others joining the appeal to rebuild the structure included Marc Dragun, a developer with Kornwasser & Friedman, the firm that had an option to put an ice skating rink, movie theaters and gymnasium in the old building. Negotiations were under way on their project when the building went up in flames.

“There is nothing magical about using 1930s building materials. . . . If we are allowed to proceed, we can open within two years,” Dragun said. “The last thing this area needs is for this structure to remain a vacant, burned-out hulk while the county decides what to do.”

Great Deal Is Left

Lou Naidorf, a designer with the Ellerbe-Becket architectural firm, whose founders built the original structure, said there was a great deal of it left despite the conflagration.

“This was a simple building to begin with, wood frame and stucco. For that reason, restoring would be not only physically possible but easy to accomplish,” he said.

The auditorium was built at a cost of $125,000 in 1935, but “costs might have gone up a little bit” since then, Naidorf said. He provided no specific estimate of what it would cost to rebuild. He said plans and photographs exist that would make it easy to restore.

Michael Wolff, music director for the Arsenio Hall television show, said at the press conference that musicians have warm memories of the building because it was the scene of concerts by great performers such as Count Basie and Woody Herman.

Elvis Presley appeared there in 1957, a recollection prompting Wolff to joke that “we can safely say that if we can get it together to rebuild this building in two years, then Elvis will come back and perform here.” Presley died in 1977.