Armenian Cultural Center in Tujunga Opens With Little Fanfare but Big Plans : Institutions: Organizers envision activities such as teacher education and youth gatherings as well as construction of a library and a theater.

The American Armenian College Cultural Center opened quietly this fall in a former Japanese church complex in the Tujunga foothills. But if all goes as planned, a major academic institution will emerge there in the next five years.

The facility, on a nearly five-acre site that occupies the entire 6400 block of Foothill Boulevard just west of Glendale, will be a center for Armenian cultural and community events.

It is also a satellite campus for the American Armenian International College, which is based in La Verne and affiliated with the University of La Verne, said Garbis Der Yeghiayan, president of AAIC.

The AAIC purchased the property last January for $2 million with the help of Alex Manoogian, a wealthy Detroit-based industrialist who started Masco Corp., an automobile parts manufacturer.

Manoogian, who also developed the Delta single-handle faucet and is on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans, has been a benefactor of Armenian communities throughout the world and is life president of the Armenian General Benevolent Union. He also has made donations to Wayne State University in Detroit, the University of Southern California, Stanford University, UCLA and Columbia University.

Although Tujunga does not have a large Armenian community, two Armenian schools are already located there.

The site was chosen after a search in Glendale--where there is a sizable Armenian population--proved fruitless.

Tujunga is accessible to Armenians from central Los Angeles as well as the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys, Der Yeghiayan said.

“The center is at a crossroad of many community areas,” said Gevork Kherlopian, chairman and professor of the Armenian studies department at AAIC, who teaches a class at the community center on Tuesday nights. “It has the potential to become a great center.”

A master plan for the site, recently approved by AAIC’s trustees, calls for construction of a teacher education center, a youth center with athletic facilities and multipurpose rooms, a library with material in both Armenian and English and a theater.

Michigan-based architect Osep Saraf will draw up the development plans, Der Yeghiayan said.

Saraf is senior architect and director of Middle Eastern project development with Yamasaki & Associates, a firm best known for designing the World Trade Center in New York as well as the Century Plaza Towers and the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City.

Saraf, a consultant to Manoogian, the center’s patron, is volunteering his services, Der Yeghiayan said.

At the moment the complex has a meeting hall, two classrooms and six houses, Der Yeghiayan said. Saraf said the center will be built in phases and the houses will be demolished to make room for the new buildings.

He said the meeting hall will be used for academic and cultural functions until it is replaced.

Der Yeghiayan is looking at completion of the project between 1994 and 1995 but said the project’s progress depends on getting governmental permits and on fund raising.

The previous owners of the site, Mahikari of America, assembled the lots over 12 years and used the site primarily as a place for prayer and the practice of martial arts, said Jim Bryant, a member of the group’s board of directors. The group has moved to Pasadena.

About 250 students will eventually be enrolled at the center, he said.

The college intends to open an Armenian music conservatory and an Armenian dance program there, and to also use it for lectures, concerts or other events open to the public.

The AAIC now offers at the center transferable college-credit courses in such areas as Armenian civilization, Armenian-American literature and the Armenian language.

Courses in optical engineering, Armenian music appreciation and education will be added next semester, Der Yeghiayan said.

The satellite campus has an enrollment of about 60 students in four evening classes.

Four morning classes are to be added in the spring and enrollment is expected to increase to about 100 by 1991, he said.

“The courses are very selective and we can’t expect huge, huge interest,” Der Yeghiayan said. “Second, we don’t want to admit more students than we can serve. We’ll only take those we can accommodate.”

When completed, the satellite campus will grant four-year degrees from AAIC, although students will need to complete general education courses at other colleges or at the AAIC campus in La Verne.

The AAIC was established in 1976 and is seeking independent accreditation.

It now has 250 students and will grow to 500 by mid-decade, Der Yeghiayan said.

AAIC’s programs include bachelor of arts degrees in Armenian studies, Armenian religious studies and a diversified major with an Armenian emphasis which prepares students for a teaching career.