Theater a Step Closer to Being Destroyed
A plan to demolish Edwards Mesa Cinema to make way for a Borders Books moved another step closer to completion this week after the City Council adopted a needed zoning change.
The new commercial zone takes effect Dec. 3.
The action came after several members of a group dedicated to saving the Newport Boulevard theater unsuccessfully urged the council to postpone the action. Group members said they wanted time to try to persuade Borders Books to keep the building intact.
Mayor Peter Buffa said it would be virtually impossible to save the theater, because the building is structurally unsound.
“Someone would have to completely rebuild the building and it is just not economically feasible,” he said. “If it weren’t for the little critters running around in the walls, there would be nothing holding it up.”
Council members said there is a possibility that the sign from the 1948 theater will be preserved and given to the Costa Mesa Historical Society.
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