SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Theaters Picketed at Sneak Preview

Sign-carrying protesters staged an orderly demonstration Thursday while more than 500 people attended the grand opening of five Edwards theaters in downtown’s new Franciscan Plaza.

“To get ‘Back To the Future,’ we’ve paved over the past,” said a hand- lettered sign held by one of a dozen people who stood quietly on the sidewalk across the street from the cinemas, where party-goers sipped champagne and later watched newly released films.

Another sign proclaimed that this 213-year-old community surrounding the famous Spanish mission had become “Anytown, USA.” The protest was organized by Friends of Historic Capistrano.

In preparation for today’s opening to the public, workers on the much-delayed project hosed down pavement in front of the theater lobby, laid carpeting and touched up the paint, while the sneak-preview party swirled noisily around them.

“Right now, I’m numb because we cut it so close,” said developer Paul Farber, who broke ground on the project in early 1988. Farber estimated losses at more than $1 million when construction of the theaters, shops and restaurants was delayed by several months of archeological exploration on the site last year.

Some foundations of 19th-Century adobe structures uncovered by that search will be displayed under glass in the two-level shopping area.

“We need these theaters because they save us time, energy and mileage,” said city resident Georgia Burgess. But some of his relatives--descendants of the 19th-Century Avila family--were among the protesters.

Before today, the nearest theaters to the city were five miles away on Crown Valley Parkway. “It seems that anybody who has lived here more than 10 years is celebrating, and those who have lived here two years are out picketing,” observed lifetime city resident Tony Forster, whose ancestors purchased and lived in Mission San Juan Capistrano in the 1840s.