The next picture show: A former X-rated theater cleans up its act.

NOTHING NOW SHOWING: The X-rated Pussycat Theatre just didn’t sit well with developers spending $44 million to turn downtown Torrance into something that will rival Pasadena’s trendy Old Town or the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego.

So 18 months ago they paid the theater owner $50,000 to stop showing the adult movies and clean up its exterior.

Owner Barry Hartsfield soon may reopen the Cravens Avenue theater as a second-run movie house, showing films--not X-rated--at a discount.

Developer Gascon Mar Ltd. suggested that an art-house chain lease the theater and show foreign and independent films such as “The Piano” and “Farewell My Concubine.”

“There’s a draw for the art films in the South Bay,” said Damon Gascon of Gascon Mar. “The Westside theaters (now) get customers from Redondo Beach and Rancho Palos Verdes.”

But the Pussycat does have some use in its dormancy.

Filmmaker Tim Burton (“Batman,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas”) shot a scene there for his new movie about Ed Wood, the 1950s director whose credits include what is widely regarded as the worst movie ever made: “Plan Nine from Outer Space.”

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NO ROOM AT THE INN: The mere suggestion that the Sheraton Los Angeles Harbor Hotel would make a nice dorm for Marymount Palos Verdes College has riled harbor area Councilman Rudy Svorinich.

Officials at the college say they are not ready to make an offer for the struggling hotel, and haven’t even decided if they want it. The $12-million to

$15-million price tag seems to be a turnoff.

But when Svorinich heard the talk last week, he cringed at the thought of a dorm imposing on what he believes is a hot tourist spot waiting to happen (he has proposed an aquarium and other attractions for the San Pedro area).

“We heard it’s a possibility, and, of course, between the idea for it and that actually happening is a 190-pound councilman who is not going to allow it,” Svorinich declared.

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GOURMET SMOKES: When pizza and then coffee went designer, could cigars have been far behind?

Nope. And the “First Annual Celebrity Cigar Smoker” at Hollywood Park Race Track in Inglewood today should provide evidence that a hot trend is lighting up.

Cigar smoking, we hear, is the hot new activity in such rarefied locales as Beverly Hills. Like wine-tasting parties of the past, the glitterati get together to sample a variety of cigars. After all, who wants to be caught dead puffing away on last year’s brand?

At Hollywood Park, among those expected to eschew the common stogie for such offerings as the “morning” cigar and the “afternoon” cigar will be actors Johnny Depp, Dennis Hopper and Joe Pantoliano, whose most recent role was in the movie “The Fugitive.”

Lest you think it’s an all-male affair, we hear that Lauren Holly of television’s “Picket Fences” will be there, along with supermodel Carol Alt and Kristy Swanson of the movie “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

The smoker is a fund-raiser for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Wonder if the American Cancer Society would approve.

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A SURE BET: Looks like Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick owes harbor-area Councilman Rudy Svorinich a basket of San Fernando Valley fresh fruit and vegetables.

That’s what she put up in a wager on the Friday night football game between the Valley’s Reseda High Regents and San Pedro High Pirates. San Pedro won the game, 17-0, and will go on to the city championship this week.

Chick described the gamble as a “friendly cross-town wager” initiated by Svorinich during a City Council meeting last week.

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GUN CLUB MAY WASH: Inglewood businessman Sam Kash believes a gun club would go nicely next to his Jet Car Wash on Manchester Boulevard near the San Diego Freeway.

And he may have found a way to get the City Council behind him: He promises to let Inglewood police officers take target practice for free. At the gun club, that is.

City planners recently approved the plan, and the City Council will hold a public hearing on it Tuesday.

Kash plans to spend about $250,000 to renovate a former tropical fish shop into a firing range.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We see ourselves as the beginning of the renaissance.”

--Developer Damon Gascon, a partner in the recently completed first phase of the downtown Torrance redevelopment project.

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Inglewood: The Inglewood-Airport Area Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday will hold a “Day at the Races” at Hollywood Park Race Track. Lunch will be served at noon in the Directors Room at the private Turf Club.

LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Los Angeles: The City Council agreed to amend an accord on the Alameda Corridor project to give the city more authority over spending on the $1.8-billion transportation link between the harbor and Downtown. The amendment will increase the size of a finance panel overseeing the project so its new members would include another representative from the city.

MEETINGS THIS WEEK

Avalon: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 209 Metropole. (310) 510-0220. Televised live on Channel 3 (Catalina Cable) and repeated Saturday morning.

Carson: 6 p.m. Tuesday, 701 E. Carson St. (310) 830-7600. Televised at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on Channel 26 (Continental Cablevision) and repeated the following Wednesday.

El Segundo: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 350 Main St. (310) 322-4670. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon) and repeated at noon Wednesday.

Inglewood: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 1 Manchester Blvd. (310) 412-5280. Televised Wednesday 6:30 p.m. and Friday 7 p.m. on Channel 30 (Continental Cablevision).

Lawndale: 7 p.m. Thursday, 14717 Burin Ave. (310) 973-4321. Televised live on Channel 60 and repeated several times during the week.

Lomita: 7 p.m. Monday, 24300 Narbonne Ave. (310) 325-7110. No cable telecasts.

Los Angeles: 10 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles. In San Pedro, (310) 548-7637; in Wilmington, (310) 548-7586; in Harbor City/Harbor Gateway, (310) 548-7664; in Westchester, (310) 641-4717. Televised live on Channel 35; meetings repeated individually at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and collectively on Sunday starting at 10 a.m.

Manhattan Beach: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1400 Highland Ave. (310) 545-5621. Televised on Channel 3 (MultiVision) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Rancho Palos Verdes: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Hesse Park, 29201 Hawthorne Blvd. (310) 377-0360. Televised live on Channel 3; repeated at 7:30 p.m. the following Thursday.

Redondo Beach: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, 415 Diamond St. (310) 372-1171. Televised live on Channel 8 (Century); repeated at 3 p.m. Wednesday and 6 p.m. Sunday.

Torrance: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, 3031 Torrance Blvd. (310) 618-5880. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon), and replayed at 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and at 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.