It’s Show Time in Hollywood : Hollywood & Vine on a Roll--for Now--as Patrons Flock to Recharged Theater District

Suddenly, the theater district at Hollywood and Vine is booming again.

With three major theaters currently packing in crowds, plus a number of smaller theaters and nightclubs operating within a few blocks of the world-famous intersection, the evening hours are buzzing. Hollywood’s streets are crowded with traffic, pedestrians gather in front of theaters on the star-lined sidewalks, restaurants report improved business and parking lots--charging prices that make you blink--are filled.

“Our neighborhood has become a little Broadway,” said Joe D’Ambrosio, the director of press and marketing for the China Club, a popular rock ‘n’ roll hangout, one block from Hollywood and Vine. “From my office door, I can see the Pantages Theatre, the Palladium and the Doolittle Theatre, and that’s not to mention the Cinerama Dome or any of the other movie houses nearby. And they’re all doing business, too.”

While it isn’t as dense or crazed as New York’s Times Square at show time, the activity in the Hollywood district is a marked increase over two weeks ago when only the UCLA James A. Doolittle Theatre was booked and the two other large theaters--the Pantages and the Henry Fonda--were dark. The last time all three theaters had plays booked simultaneously was in 1989. Together, all three large houses have a potential of pulling in 4,500 theatergoers nightly.

“It’s contagious. If you’re doing business, everybody benefits,” said Stan Seiden, the president of the James Nederlander Companies, which owns the Pantages and Henry Fonda theaters on Hollywood Boulevard.

Currently, the international musical hit “Les Miserables” is playing the Pantages through mid-March, Noel Coward’s “The Vortex” is lighting up the Doolittle through the end of March, and the Tony Award-winning “Tru,” starring Robert Morse as Truman Capote, is at the Henry Fonda through March 17.

In addition, at least four other smaller theaters are within two blocks of Hollywood and Vine: the Stella Adler Theatre, where the West Coast premiere of David Rabe’s “Goose & Tomtom” just opened to strong reviews; the newly revived 262-seat Ivar Theatre, where a production of “The Shadow of a Gunman” opens on Friday; the small Theatre/Theater on Cahuenga Boulevard, which currently has five plays rotating in two spaces, including “American Splendor”; and the West Coast Ensemble, currently playing “A High Strung Quartet for Unstrung Voices” on one of its two stages.

“The scene is wonderful,” said Jayson Kane, one of the owners of the nearby Columbia Bar & Grill, where lunch crowds are usually heavy because of the nearby entertainment industry, but generally the dinner hour tends to be less busy.

“There’s a major difference between when the theaters are operating and when they are dark,” Kane said. He estimated a 30% increase in dinner business currently; the restaurant is now opening its patio to increase capacity.

Any permanent improvement in the business climate of Hollywood and Vine should be credited to the Doolittle on Vine Street, in the view of Ron Berinstein, owner of the 9-year-old jazz club/restaurant the Vine Street Bar & Grill.

Berinstein said because the Doolittle has had a “consistent” booking policy and brings in “first-run” productions, it has played a strong role in the resurgence of the neighborhood. “The Pantages and Fonda are open so infrequently,” he said, “they have not been as important.”

Berinstein said he has actively courted business from all the theaters, but especially from the Doolittle, which is across the street from his club. He advertises after-theater drinks, food and entertainment.

The owner of Futurama, an offbeat furniture shop specializing in ‘50s and ‘60s designs, just north of the Doolittle, also has made adjustments for the theater crowd. Jeffrey Perry said the shop stays open late because of the pedestrian traffic the theater generates.

“Business depends on the play,” Perry speculated. “The Amy Irving play (“The Heidi Chronicles” by Wendy Wasserstein) drew people who weren’t very curious. But for some reason the crowd for ‘The Vortex’ seems more tuned in, or more aware. They stop by.”

“The walkability factor is a plus in Hollywood,” added Doolittle spokesman Tony Sherwood. “It creates a whole atmosphere of theater. All the theaters feed off each other. Especially when the quality is all high, like they are now.”

The Doolittle is in regular use because the producing entity, the Center Theatre Group--Ahmanson, usually based at the Music Center, has been displaced for two seasons by the popular “The Phantom of the Opera.” While “Phantom” is approaching its two-year mark, the Ahmanson is proceeding with plans for its next fall-to-spring season at the Doolittle, Sherwood said.

“We’re spending another year for sure,” said Sherwood. But after that, plans are unclear.

On Cahuenga, two blocks west of Hollywood and Vine, such restaurants as Gorky’s and the restaurant-jazz club Catalina Bar & Grill feel a spillover of theatergoers as well.

At Gorky’s Cafe and Russian Brewery, executive officer Ravi Kristin said, “When the theaters let out, we get a noticeable surge of people.” Gorky’s is one of the few spots staying open and serving food in Hollywood until 2 a.m. (24 hours a day on weekends).

“We make a point of maintaining the pace of business. When we know the theaters are going to be dark, we plan other ways to fill our space,” he said. One of those ways is an ongoing policy of live music nightly and booking small performances and plays in its Red Square Room.

Catalina owner Catalina Popescu said the real value of the theaters being filled is to “see that people are coming to Hollywood. People are afraid to come, but they will find out there are nice places,” she said. Catalina’s kitchen stays open till 11:30 p.m.

Over the years the neighborhood has battled the image of being the faded glamour capital where movie stars once frequented such famed spots as the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the Musso & Frank Grill or the Brown Derby.

The Hollywood Roosevelt has been remodeled and its Cinegrill night spot has been relighted; Musso & Frank continues to draw a show-business crowd and tourists, but the Derby is long gone. A recent attempt to revive the Derby at a new location on the northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine failed. A new restaurant, Premieres, is trying its luck at the site now.

Another beneficiary of the theater scene has been Off Vine, a restaurant on Leland Way, a block south of Sunset Boulevard and a two-block walk to the Doolittle. Co-owner Michael McDonald describes his late-night restaurant as a “hangout for the theater crowd . . . sort of a Joe Allen of Hollywood”--a reference to the popular show-business cafe in New York’s theater district. “So far, it’s working,” he said, noting people come before the shows and cast members drop by after performances.

How long can Hollywood keep hopping?

“We’d like to keep the Pantages and Fonda booked 52 weeks a year,” said Nederlander’s Seiden. “But that hasn’t been in the cards lately. If Broadway has a good season, we have a good season . . . (that’s) because we get the touring companies.”

“Les Miz” is on a national tour and will be followed by a five-week run of “Meet Me in St. Louis,” a national tour of the Broadway musical based on the Judy Garland film. After that, the schedule is irregular, he said.

To fill the inevitable gaps, Seiden said Nederlander is attempting to revive the former powerhouse Los Angeles Civic Light Opera organization, previously headquartered at the Music Center downtown, to produce musicals for the Pantages and then take them on tour. “Cinderella,” which was presented in December at the Pantages, was one of the group’s efforts; it got mixed reviews, didn’t sell well and hasn’t gone on tour.

Over the years, the Nederlander organization has talked about building a theater center at Hollywood and Vine. Seiden said Nederlander has acquired the Hollywood Boulevard frontage across the street from the Pantages--about 5 1/2 acres and is preparing plans to build “a West Coast Times Square Theater district.” The projected development would add three new theaters to the existing trio of major houses in five years and would include a central plaza, a hotel and restaurants. In the meantime, much of the Nederlander holdings are now parking lots, and one corner of the main parcel includes the Stella Adler Theatre.

Seiden said that none of the lots on Nederlander property are permitted to charge more than $5 for parking. “We do that out of self-protection for the theaters,” he said.

But elsewhere in the area, parking lots charge theatergoers anywhere from $3 to $8.

John Peterson of Encino, who came to Hollywood to see “The Vortex,” said he paid $4.50 for parking and didn’t think it was a problem. As for Hollywood as a theater district, he said he’s noticed, “It’s gotten a lot better.”

Gary and Joni Munger of Long Beach had arrived early on their way to see “Tru,” and passed the time by reading the star names on the sidewalk with friend Paula Wagy of Downey. To the three, the trip to Hollywood was of no big deal. “The biggest deterrent to theatergoing is the difficulty of getting good seats,” said Gary Munger.