A new life for the old Vagabond

MANY L.A. cineastes have fond memories of the Vagabond, the MacArthur Park-adjacent theater where you could see a pair of vintage Technicolor musicals one week and some latter-day art house fare the next. It closed in the early ‘90s, but now plans are afoot to bring it back. Only this time it’s going legit.

Specifically, the Wilshire Boulevard building is being converted into the Hayworth Theatre Center, a four-space venue for live performances slated to open in March. The main auditorium will seat 99 for productions using Actors’ Equity members and perhaps a few more for events that aren’t under Equity’s jurisdiction.

Upstairs, meanwhile, will be three smaller spaces. The largest, seating up to 84, will be operated by Circus Theatricals, which has taken a five-year lease after moving from a residency at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A. The City Stage company, itinerant since moving from downtown L.A. in 1989, also will be a Hayworth resident.

This will be the third four-stage complex for Gary Blumsack, a co-owner of the building and its operator along with City Stage artistic director Danna Hyams. He was one of the developers of the Hudson and the Lillian -- both on Santa Monica Boulevard’s Theatre Row.

“Theatre Row popped up in a neighborhood where people told me not to go,” Blumsack says. “It’s vibrant now. I hope this becomes as vibrant.”