Auditorium’s Reopening to Cap San Gabriel Face Lift

Evan Wilson has spent the last three months leaning back, on a 40-foot-high scaffold, painting the ceiling of the historic San Gabriel Civic Auditorium in its original blue, orange, red and gold hues.

When the 71-year-old auditorium reopens tonight as the intended cornerstone of San Gabriel’s downtown renewal, Wilson said, he has one wish.

“I just want people to look up,” said the leader of a 12-artist restoration crew. “I want them to run into each other because they’re looking at the ceiling.”

San Gabriel city officials hope visitors look past the auditorium to see a host of new improvements to the neighborhood, which is ringed by the 18th century Mission San Gabriel, the Mission-style auditorium and City Hall.

The auditorium renovation completes a four-year rebuilding project the city initiated to create a vibrant commercial and entertainment district.

More than 200 years ago, early settlers walked from the San Gabriel Mission to start the city of Los Angeles.

Today, San Gabriel wants their descendants to come back, have dinner, see a play.

Unlike other shopping districts, San Gabriel’s Mission District is free of chain restaurants and chain stores. As the oldest Old Town of all, San Gabriel’s status as a monument to California heritage is its main selling point.

“We looked at what our community’s assets were and obviously our history is one of our strongest assets,” said San Gabriel City Manager P. Michael Paules. “The district itself communicates the pride that we have of being the first settlement that gave rise to the whole L.A. region.”

Paules said the idea of revitalizing the district began with repairs to the San Gabriel Mission, the fourth of 21 missions established in California. The mission was severely damaged in the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake and was closed for seven years.

In the years after the quake, the once-vibrant civic center neighborhood began to decay. Stores were vacant, and popular local landmarks like Panchito’s restaurant closed.

The auditorium continued to draw thousands of people each year to plays and concerts, but visitors complained about the area’s growing ghost-town feel.

So the city began making improvements. Mission Drive was cut from four to two lanes to make the street more pedestrian-friendly. Sidewalks were widened, trees planted and benches and street lights installed.

As a result, businesses have begun to return to the area.

Located 10 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, San Gabriel is not only a remnant of Southern California’s past, it also is a mirror of the region’s diversity.

Latinos and Asian Americans make up two-thirds of the city’s population of 40,000. Immigration has brought ethnic restaurants and stores to the area.

The newly renovated auditorium was built in 1927 as a site for the staging of John Steven McGroarty’s “Mission Play.”

Begun as an outdoor pageant in 1912, the “Mission Play” was performed 3,200 times, until 1933. The drama depicting the rise and fall of California missions was one of the most popular symbols of the romantic image of California used to lure migrants.

The auditorium reopens tonight with the musical “42nd Street.”