EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : Some Venues Crippled by Damage : Entertainment: Hardest hit are El Portal and American Renegade Theatre complex in North Hollywood. The music scene suffered less.

Entertainment venues for live music and theater in the San Fernando Valley were among the victims of Monday’s 6.6-magnitude earthquake, damaging buildings and closing some clubs and stages for several days.

While many have reopened, some suffered crippling blows. Hardest hit was the Valley’s theater community, with major damage to the venerable El Portal, which recently became home of the Actors Alley troupe, and the American Renegade Theatre complex. Both are in North Hollywood.

The local music scene suffered less. The most prominent Valley venue, the Universal Amphitheater, was left virtually untouched and most of the clubs remained intact.

But club owners voiced some concern over the possible loss of audiences, too preoccupied with damages at home to venture back out at night.

“I’m scared to death of what the future holds,” said Dale Jaffe, co-owner of Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks. “There’s condemned buildings all around us. There’s people without homes. I really wonder if we’re going to have the customers we need to support our business in the future.”

Among the theaters damaged by the quake were:

Actors Alley at the El Portal Theatre. A significant portion of the theater and lobby ceilings fell, but initial reports indicated that the Lankershim Boulevard facility was structurally sound.

“The building needs a lot of work now,” said Marty Cooper, spokesman for Actors Alley. “But it’s definitely not a loss, and no consideration is being given to just walking away from it all.”

The roof of the theater was apparently undamaged, as was the troupe’s “arena theater” space built inside the larger hall and an adjacent storefront performance space.

Actors Alley, which leases the building, was weeks away from opening the first productions in its new home after months of restoration and redesign.

Now the company is faced with finding a new venue for its two upcoming productions of Peter Lefcourt’s “The Audit” and James Thurber’s “The Male Animal.”

American Renegade Theatre. The exterior veranda of this Spanish-style structure, built in 1902, partially collapsed. The multi-theater complex on Magnolia Boulevard also sustained large cracks in the walls.

Co-artistic director David Cox estimated repair costs as high as $100,000. “But our immediate concern is that the roof doesn’t cave in,” Cox said. “We will certainly have to remove all the tile from the roof.”

The adjoining building at the site, built in the 1920s, separated a few inches from the main theater building. The company’s smaller rear theater space was undamaged.

American Renegade’s production of Mike Reynolds’ “Knockin’ ‘Em Dead” is being transferred to the West End Playhouse, where it will open Feb. 4.

Art of the Dance. The North Hollywood performance space sustained water damage from a broken water heater. Carpets had to removed, dried and reinstalled by facility staff. Ceiling tiles also fell, but dance classes were expected to resume soon.

California Cottage Theatre. The theater, located in the Van Nuys home of Roy and Adele Brocksmith, was structurally undamaged, although props and glass items were damaged or demolished. Roy Brocksmith said that the only physical harm he suffered was from four volumes of Shakespeare that fell on him from a bookshelf while he was in bed.

L.A. Connection Comedy Theatre. Although the Ventura Boulevard theater--located in the heart of severely damaged Sherman Oaks--appeared to have no structural damage, an assessment is still pending. The theater’s storefront windows were shattered during the quake. Performances were expected to resume soon.

Lancaster Performing Arts Center. The only damage suffered at the large theater center was to the mechanisms that carry the weight of the stage curtains. The damage occurred during a Monday afternoon aftershock, and repairs were quickly made.

NoHo Studio. Corners of the North Hollywood performance complex were cracked, but structural engineers have declared the brick building sound. The damage was superficial, according to studio operator Dan Hirsch, who noted that if the building had not been seismically retrofitted, “it might have come down like a house of cards.”

While repairs take place, the Artists Confronting AIDS production of “The Desired Effect,” scheduled to open at the studio this weekend, will reopen Jan. 30 at the undamaged Limelight Theater in North Hollywood.

A Noise Within. The only visible damage in the company’s home, the Glendale Masonic Temple, were chunks of plaster that fell in the lobby and stairwell areas. A complete building inspection will be made early in the week.

Victory Theatre. A temporary structure housing the Burbank theater’s dressing room collapsed, but the concrete-and-steel theater building was undamaged.

Music venues hit by the earthquake include:

Cal State Northridge Music Department. Because the school has been sealed since Monday, the staff remains unclear about the full extent of damage to campus music venues.

In any case, several music events will have to be rescheduled. Among those was a planned concert by the CSUN Symphony with singer-actress Nichelle Nichols, which will probably be pushed back at least two weeks from its original mid-February date.

“We’re going to do what we have to do, whether that means putting up huts on the ball field or getting tents for rehearsal space,” said David Aks, music director for the symphony.

The Classroom. This live blues club near the quake’s epicenter in Northridge suffered no structural damage, but did lose its water heater, toilets, ice machine, stools and more than $10,000 in liquor stock.

The club has reopened.

The Country Club. Damages to the Reseda club included cracked walls, broken glass and damaged sound equipment and computers. “I know that roof is going to need some work,” said owner Tony Longval. “I’ve got light coming in.”

He said he hopes that repairs will be completed in time for a scheduled rock concert Feb. 19 with Reverend Horton Heat.

Le Cafe. A ruined wine cellar, superficial wall damage and the loss of the glassware and china adds up to about $20,000 in damages, one of the owners said.

The club has reopened.

The Baked Potato. The venerable Valley jazz club in Sherman Oaks lost about half its glassware, but reopened two days after the earthquake to good business.

“I guess everybody’s been in the house too much,” said manager Justin Randi.

Blue Saloon. This North Hollywood venue for blues and rockabilly lost little more than “a couple of beer bottles,” said bartender Carlos Alvarado. The club was reopened a day after the quake.

Caballo Loco. This banda club in Canoga Park had only been open a week, at the former location of the Longhorn Saloon country music venue, when the quake hit. Suffering only broken glass and bottles, it reopened Friday night.