Theater Operator Blames Authorities for Causing Riot at Aborted Concert

The managers of a North Hollywood theater that was heavily damaged by rioting punk rockers refuted on Monday fire officials’ charges that they lacked a permit for their aborted concert and filled the old movie house beyond its capacity.

The chief operator of the newly named Classic Theater--more commonly known as El Portal--blamed authorities for provoking the riot, in which an estimated 300 youths ripped up chairs and smashed windows after the $17-a-ticket Bad Religion concert was canceled Saturday night because of alleged crowding.

“I feel it was the police or the Fire Department or whoever stopped the show that started the riot,” said Richard Enea, president of Enea Discount Theaters, the facility’s tenant. “It’s my understanding I was within my legal rights” to schedule the concert, he said.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Greg Acevedo said he could not comment without consulting the officials who ordered the concert canceled. They were not available because of the New Year holiday.

“We’ll reserve comment until this has been brought to the people concerned and they can determine who’s at fault,” Acevedo said. He added: “We did nothing to cause a riot.”

No one was seriously injured, but the melee caused an estimated $20,000 in damage to the theater at 5269 Lankershim Blvd. and surrounding businesses, according to police. Four people were arrested on suspicion of vandalism--Scott Allen Troske, 18, of Placentia; Mark Christopher Morris, 18, of Anaheim; John Goodwin, 20, of Buena Park, and a 15-year-old from Huntington Park.

It was the first live event at the classically designed, nearly 60-year-old theater, according to Enea and landlord Guy W. McCreary.

Once one of the San Fernando Valley’s premier movie houses, El Portal in recent years showed Spanish-language films and had been dark in the last several months. Enea, who said he sublet the theater about 18 months ago, failed to attract sufficient business in his attempt to show second-run, discounted movies there. Now he hopes to show classic films during the week and present a live concert at least one weekend a month.

The trouble Saturday started about 8:30 p.m. after fire inspectors ordered the theater emptied even before Bad Religion came on stage. Officials said they had counted 1,860 fans--434 more than the theater’s seating capacity of 1,426. They also challenged whether the theater, traditionally used for films, had a permit for live events and cited Goldenvoice Productions, the concert’s promoter.

Enea and Bryan Meckelborg, Goldenvoice’s production manager, both said they had sold no more than 1,321 tickets to the event, a figure they said could be verified with Ticketmaster.

The operators disputed claims by law enforcement officials that fans were standing in the aisles, posing a fire hazard.

Meckelborg, who was present during the concert, said that when fire officials ordered everyone inside the theater to have a seat, there was a place for everyone and the aisles were clear. He said 100 to 200 youths had gathered outside the theater hoping to buy last-minute tickets and blamed that spillover for drawing the attention of police, who in turn contacted fire officials.

“It was pretty mellow,” Meckelborg said of the sidewalk scene.

Enea said that the theater has a permit for live events under the name of its prior operator, Metropolitan Theaters, and that city officials told him that it was still valid. He also said he accompanied a fire official on a safety inspection of the theater about six months ago “and told him we wanted to do live concerts.”

Officials with the Los Angeles Police Commission, which issues permits for live entertainment, could not be reached Monday.