DVD Firm Gives Aging Theater a Starring Role

An aging Oxnard movie theater that enjoyed a second act as a secluded recording studio for top artists such as Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Iggy Pop has been sold to a local entrepreneur who plans to convert the property into a television and film production house.

The Art Deco-style Teatro, a fixture on Oxnard Boulevard since 1929, will become the new headquarters of Trinidad Entertainment, a Ventura-based company that produces DVD’s.

CEO and President Erik Pence said that after renovations, he hopes to make the building “a full-blown production facility” for fledgling filmmakers.

Although Teatro screened its last movie in 1993 after years of showing Mexican movies, the abandoned theater found worldwide renown when Grammy Award-winning record producer Daniel Lanois and his partner Mark Howard rented the facility in 1995.

The duo installed vintage and state-of-the-art equipment and began quietly luring recording stars to downtown Oxnard.

In 1997, Bob Dylan cut his “Time Out of Mind” album at Teatro and the theater’s interior was displayed on the cover. The following year Willie Nelson recorded a Latin-infused album entitled “Teatro” at the theater.

The building and its marquee showed up on the cover of “Teatro” and in a movie about the making of the album directed by German director Wim Wenders.

During the five years Lanois and Howard rented the theater for $2,625 a month, a steady stream of pop luminaries, including U2, k.d. lang and Marianne Faithfull, passed through. Citing their desire to keep finding fresh venues for their trade, however, Lanois and Howard moved out of the theater last May.

The theater had several liabilities that precluded a quick sale, said Michael David, the real estate agent who represented Teatro’s owner, Oxnard businessman Andy Lee.

While the building is in good condition for its age, it is not up to current state earthquake standards, which prevent its being used as a public gathering place, according to David.

“I had all kinds of people who wanted to do a church or a theater or a nightclub, but for an assembly use to be allowed it has to be brought up to current state earthquake codes,” he said. “But the zoning did allow it to be used as a studio.”

That is when Pence, who was searching for a site for his 3-year-old DVD production company, stepped in. Pence negotiated to buy the property for $450,000, less than Lee’s $595,000 asking price, but way above the approximately $225,000 Lee paid for the property six years ago.

Pence said he saw tremendous potential in Teatro’s brick exterior, soaring 50-foot ceilings, 300 remaining seats, 800-square-foot stage and original movie screen. “It lends itself to a fun, creative environment,” he said.

He intends to move his company, which converts extreme sports videos to the DVD format and distributes them to retailers, to Teatro within the next few months. Future plans call for a $200,000 to $300,000 renovation that would convert the theater to solar power and create offices and studios where small film production companies could work.