New Plan Offered on Pan Pacific Site
Opponents of commercial development of the fire-gutted Pan Pacific Auditorium said Thursday they want to see the building’s streamlined front facade moved so that it faces Beverly Boulevard and becomes a gateway to Pan Pacific Park on the Westside. The rest of the site should be converted to parkland, they said.
“We support public uses for Pan Pacific Park. We do not support it as cheap land for yet another movie complex,” said Laura Lake, president of Friends of Westwood, a slow-growth group.
She said her organization and other groups will urge county Supervisor Ed Edelman to reject a proposal to rebuild the 54-year-old auditorium and use it for an ice skating rink, movie theaters and restaurants.
“We are of the belief that the developer is trying to resurrect a commercial development project that is dead at this point in time,” said Diana Plotkin, president of the Beverly Wilshire Homes Assn.
A spokesman for developer Joseph Kornwasser said earlier this week that the project could be completed in two years despite the damage caused by the May 24 fire.
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