Theater’s conversion stepped up

Taking a damn-the-torpedoes approach, the owner of the historic Raymond Theatre, a long-vacant 1921-vintage landmark in Old Pasadena, aims to gut the building and convert it to condos, offices and stores -- and to risk the consequences if a pending court appeal by preservationists goes against him.

For two years, a coalition of groups, including Friends of the Raymond Theatre, has tried to block Gene Buchanan’s plans for the 1,800-seat theater that has been a vaudeville stage, a porno house and, through the 1980s, a rock venue called Perkins Palace. The preservationists want it to remain untouched until a buyer can be found to restore it as a theater. Buchanan says he has run out of patience.

The City Council approved his plan in 2002, and a Los Angeles Superior Court judge upheld it last year after his opponents sued. Preservationists had been expecting another round in the California Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. But Buchanan, keen on taking advantage of a hot housing market, is pushing to start work as soon as he can.

The city’s Design Commission is scheduled to review the developer’s architectural plans at a hearing March 15, a process meant to ensure that the plans meet the city’s requirements. Among those are restoring the Raymond’s exterior to its original look and making sure that a structure to be built on the theater’s parking lot is compatible with the Raymond and other buildings in the surrounding historic district. If his design flies with the city, Buchanan says, he expects to begin work by early fall and finish by the middle of next year.

Meanwhile, Gina Zamparelli, leader of Friends of the Raymond Theatre, has called for emergency donations so the group can fight Buchanan at the upcoming hearing and perhaps open new legal fronts to stop the conversion.

“We’re working round the clock,” Zamparelli said last week.

Buchanan said “the risk is very small” that he’ll lose on appeal. “There’s nothing that says I have to wait. If they want to stop this, they can try to get an injunction, but there’s not a chance in the world, in my opinion.”

-- Mike Boehm