Council Asked to Save Theater

Even as the Port Theatre ran its final screening Thursday, grass-root efforts continued to keep the beloved landmark open.

Area residents, calling themselves the Save the Port Committee, gathered supporters at the 47-year-old movie house and delivered a 500-signature petition to the Newport Beach City Council. They want the city to designate the theater a historic landmark or set aside funds to protect it, according to Maggie Sullivan, a part-time Port employee.

Newport Beach International Film Festival officials also expressed support, Sullivan said. “This is all very embryonic, we’ve not met together as a group, but the festival called and e-mailed me and said they’d like to help in any way they can.”

The building’s owner, Scott Burnham, could not be reached Thursday. Burnham has said he’d like to maintain the site as a theater but that “we have to explore other options.”

Landmark Theatre Corp., which has operated the single-screen art house since 1989, is not renewing its lease because of poor profits.

Newport Beach Mayor Thomas C. Edwards, a frequent Port-goer, said he would bring the issue up for discussion at Monday’s council meeting.

“If there’s some way to [maintain a theater there], it’s the sort of use I’d like to see,” Edwards said Thursday, “but we don’t know what the landowner is proposing.”

Todd Blood, owner of Captain Blood’s Cinema in Orange, said Burnham had turned down his proposal to take over the theater.

Meanwhile, Landmark is considering donating to the community the seats, projection and other equipment inside the Port, spokesman Cary Jones said.