BUENA PARK : City Plans to Demolish Bankrupt Adult Theater

The bankruptcy of the Pussycat Theater, one of two adult movie houses here, is giving city officials a long-awaited chance to demolish what they see as a blight on their stretch of Beach Boulevard.

The city is awaiting approval from a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge to buy the theater for $300,000--a sum that would be recouped under a plan to sell the property to Ted Jones Ford.

In case the court deal falls through, city officials said they would condemn the property and buy the site through eminent domain action. As part of the backup plan, the City Council this week approved a motion to begin the condemnation proceedings with little comment except for some small, satisfied smiles.

The condemnation is allowed under state law because the theater is in a business redevelopment project area, Development Services Director Thomas E. Lynch said.

By initiating the eminent domain proceedings--an action that allows municipalities to take private property for a greater public good as long as the owner is paid a fair market price--the city is officially labeling the adult theater as a slum.

“(The theater) is in essence a slum and a blight on the redevelopment project area,” Lynch said.

If all goes as planned, the site of the Pussycat will become part of a six-acre expansion of Ted Jones Ford.

“It’s premature to celebrate yet, but it’s the beginning of the end,” said Councilman Donald L. Bone after the meeting. He added he was dismayed by the “image of Buena Park having two adult theaters on Beach Boulevard.”

The theater is one of a chain of Pussycat Theaters started in the early 1960s by the late Vincent Miranda. Buena Park’s theater was last owned by George M. Tate of Los Angeles. Neither Tate nor his attorney could not be reached for comment.

The property transferred to trustee Karl E. Anderson of the Bankruptcy Court after the owner filed for protection under Chapter 7 last year, said Michael D. Warner, the trustee’s attorney.

The trustee has accepted the city’s $300,000 offer, Warner said. The deal now depends on final approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles on May 24.