Agency OKs Buying Theater’s Frontage
The Glendale Redevelopment Agency on Tuesday authorized spending $185,000 to purchase property fronting the historic Alex Theatre, which the city also plans to buy and convert into a cultural arts facility.
The theater frontage, which contains ornate neo-Greek columns, a box office and a 100-foot-high obelisk, is owned by the First Church of Christ, Scientist of Glendale, which was bequeathed the property in 1986.
The front two lots at 216 N. Brand Blvd. were purchased in 1920 by a Glendale couple who agreed in 1924 to lease the land for 99 years, provided that it be used solely for a theater.
Mann Theatres, which owns the 1925 movie house, has been paying $350 a month rent to the church for use of the frontage.
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