L.A. Brings Arts to Community With New Lankershim Center

Aiming to establish more cultural centers in the San Fernando Valley and other surrounding communities, the city of Los Angeles will open the Lankershim Arts Center in North Hollywood later this year.

Housed in the former city Department of Water and Power building at 5108 Lankershim Blvd., the center will feature classes in visual and performing arts, 2,800 square feet of gallery space and a 99-seat theater. The other Valley center is the McGroarty Cultural Arts Center in Tujunga.

Funds for the project, expected to cost about $175,000, will come from the city’s Department of General Services. Substantial remodeling and painting in the building, which has been vacant since 1985, began in July. The center should be ready by late November or early December, said Adolfo Nodal, general manager of the city’s Cultural Affairs Department.

“Over the years, we have put our money into temples for culture in the city,” said Nodal, citing as examples the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Music Center. “But we have done little for the neighborhoods and individual artists. This center is our first attempt at doing more for the communities.”

In recent years, Nodal said, artists have complained about the lack of cultural facilities in the Valley and other communities outside downtown Los Angeles. Nodal said the Cultural Affairs Department will continue to search for more art centers in the Valley, but there are no specific plans yet.

“The Valley hasn’t gotten their share of money, support, services and focus,” Nodal said. “There’s no particular reason for the Valley being slighted. It’s just happened.”

By virtue of its 1930s’ Art Deco architecture, the two-story Lankershim building was declared a cultural monument by the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission in 1980.

In 1987, the Cultural Affairs Department hoped to refurbish the entire structure but realized that the $175,000 allocated would be insufficient. Instead, it has concentrated its efforts on the first floor and the mezzanine level. Eventually, if the center is successful, city officials said, they will try to secure private funds to remodel the second floor and make other improvements.

Mary Presby, a field deputy for Councilman John Ferraro, who helped establish the center, said the building is close to a senior citizens apartment complex and an elementary school, “so the seniors and the kids can come over and take classes.”

Nodal said the gallery space planned for the first floor will be easily converted into a theater. Eventually, the main performing arts shows will be presented on the second floor.

Nodal said the Cultural Affairs Department will search for instructors and office personnel, including a center director and gallery attendant. He said the exact budget for those additions has not yet been finalized.

He admitted that the center is “a long overdue” addition to the community but defended the city’s priorities.

“Los Angeles is typical in this country,” he said. “You need a music center to make the Lankershim center happen. The bigger buildings built up an awareness, an audience of people to support art. And now there are a lot of artists out there.”