Music Fills Ventura Theatre Again as Loggins, Band Prepare for Tour

Life is stirring again at the old Ventura Theatre.

Kenny Loggins and his band are now jamming at the downtown venue to tune up for a two-month national tour, and theater owner Angelo Elardo said public concerts may resume by summer’s end.

“Dr. Elardo has been kind enough to allow us to play there,” Loggins’ co-manager, Chuck Randall, said Monday from his Santa Barbara office. “We love being there. . . . It’s a beautiful place to play.”

Elardo, a retired dentist, showed the theater to several interested business people Monday, saying he expects the historic Art Deco theater to reopen by the end of August. The venue’s former operators were evicted in June because of overdue rent.

He didn’t divulge whether he has found a new theater manager but pointed to an entertainment trade magazine that reported he is “talking with several parties as potential tenants or buyers of the venue.”

Meanwhile, trucks have rumbled up to the stage entrance for the past week, unloading drums, synthesizers and sound equipment to prepare Kenny Loggins for a promotional tour of his newest album, “The Unimaginable Life.”

Randall, who fondly recalls Loggins’ concerts at the grand old theater, lamented its closure.

“I have been hearing that the Ventura Theatre is having some tough times,” Randall said. “It’s very sad. It’s one of the best little venues in the country . . . one of a few precious gems.”