STAGE

A city panel, aided by the pleas of actress Cybill Shepherd, voted Wednesday to recommend to the Los Angeles City Council that it designate two downtown Los Angeles theaters as historical monuments. The Cultural Heritage Commission also endorsed a plan to preserve 15 aging theaters in the downtown Broadway theater district. Shepherd spoke before the commission during public hearings on the Palace Theater and Tower Theater on Broadway, but she also expressed concern about the fate of other, nearby venues, whose owners have sought support to demolish them. The matter will go before a City Council sub-committee next week and, finally, before the full Council for a vote which could prevent the demolition for a year.