‘Miracle on Lankershim’

Tonight’s unveiling of the refurbished El Portal Center for the Arts is described by its organizers as a housewarming, not an opening, and with good reason.

Widely hailed as the crucial next step in the creation of a vital arts scene in the east San Fernando Valley’s NoHo Arts District, the ambitious arts center is nearly finished--but not quite.

“We’ve still got a lot of things we’ve got to do,” said Robert E. Caine, president of the El Portal board of directors.

Visitors who attend the black-tie dedication will see how dramatically imagination and $6 million have transformed the ruined 73-year-old movie palace at 5269 Lankershim Blvd.

Where there was once an earthquake-ravaged hulk, there are now two state-of-the-art theaters, a third 49-seat theater, an art gallery and support facilities in a complex of 23,000 square feet.

The facility, initially scheduled for completion in October, is expected to be ready in time for its inaugural theater season beginning Jan. 14. But earlier this week, tile was still being laid, walls were wet with paint and the seats in the 400-seat Mainstage Theatre and 99-seat Circle Theatre had yet to be installed.

Sparks flew as welders installed metal railings, and workers rushed to make sure lights and toilets would be in working order for tonight’s event.

“It’s all flying monkeys and firetrucks right now,” said design consultant Terry Evans during a tour of the resurrected building, which opened as a silent-movie house in 1926.

Almost Finished

Some of the best features of the earlier building are being restored, including bas-relief sculptures in the lobby depicting the Gold Rush and other scenes from California history that date to the Depression-era Works Progress Administration.

“It’s at the 90% completion point,” said Richard F. McCann, the Pasadena architect in charge of the project.

Actors Alley, the nonprofit organization that will operate the El Portal, has taken to calling the project “the miracle on Lankershim.”

Renovation of the faded former movie and vaudeville theater was already underway when the Northridge earthquake struck in 1994, rendering the building unusable.

The first sign of the site’s rebirth as a theatrical venue was the opening, shortly after the quake, of the tiny 49-seat Storefront Theatre, in office space next door.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency contributed just over $4 million to the project and the Small Business Administration gave another $1.5 million. Actors Alley and El Portal raised the remaining $500,000, Caine said.

Finishing touches are now being put on the 400-seat Mainstage Theatre--the first new Equity contract venue in the East Valley in more than 20 years. According to architect McCann, the theater is unique in the Valley in the scale of its stage, which is comparable to that of the Pantages, the Shubert and other large theaters on the Westside.

Instead of a modest platform stage, the Mainstage Theatre boasts a legitimate-theater stage that soars 70 feet from the performance floor to the grid area above.

McCann, whose Pasadena firm specializes in theater design, said the center is the first in the area to apply a multiplex approach to theatrical space.

Once a performer (he plays piano and keyboards and has been a composer and an arranger), McCann said, “For me, producing the theater is more important than performing in the theater. You have to have the theater first.”

As he designed the space, McCann said, he was aware of how it could serve performers and the entertainment industry, as well as the public.

He predicted the El Portal would become an important venue for showcasing new work and performers, “a type of theater that’s unique to New York and Los Angeles.”

A new play might have initial readings in the tiny Storefront Theatre, he said. A more fully developed version might next be staged in the 99-seat theater, which can also function as a sound studio. Finally, a polished version of the material might be ready for presentation in the largest theater.

Added Benefits

Given the proximity of the El Portal to major studios and other industry facilities, new work or talent showcased there is likely to come to the attention of industry decision-makers and “could then make its way to Broadway or into movies or television,” McCann said.

Among the amenities in the new complex is a separate lobby for the 99-seat theater, so performances can take place simultaneously in the large theater and the smaller one.

Jeremiah Morris, the center’s artistic director, said the new complex is creatively stimulating.

“It gives us a fluidity we never had before,” he said. “It allows us to do plays we could never do before. It’s magnificent, and, yes, I love it.”

Some tickets for tonight’s dinner gala, which begins at 6 p.m., are still available. They cost $200 apiece and can be purchased at the door.

A lifetime achievement award will be presented during the event to actor and dancer Donald O’Connor, who has appeared in more than 50 films, including “Singin’ in the Rain,” and who continues to appear in film and on stage.

O’Connor, 74, first appeared at the El Portal when he was a toddler and in his family’s vaudeville and circus act. In those days, he said from his home in Sedona, Ariz., Los Angeles, including the San Fernando Valley, had dozens of theaters: “You could work 52 weeks a year around there.”

O’Connor said he entered show business hours after he was born. By the time he was a year old, he was earning a salary--$25 a week.

“When I got out of the hospital, Mother took me on stage,” he said. “I was 3 days old.”

O’Connor said he thinks the El Portal’s renovation is “marvelous, because this used to be a beautiful theater.”

Actress Carol Channing, who will present the award to O’Connor, said she is excited about the opening of El Portal because it has the potential to function as an important regional theater.

“Regional theater is the essence of theater,” she said.

Local and Live

Talent is able to take risks in regional theater that it wouldn’t dare take in more costly, more conservative venues, Channing said. And the El Portal will increase the amount of live theater available locally.

“Nothing beats being in the same room with the actors,” she said. “They can work on you and you can work on them, and the result is just thrilling.”