Warner Grand Theater Slated for Big Renovations in Hopes for a Bright Future

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Left to right: Lee Sweet, Grand Vision Foundation staff member, Taran Schindler and member of the Grand Vision Foundation board of directors Fred Allen. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala.

Architecture is always about faith. Inherent to the laying of every foundation, the wiring of every wall, the refurbishment of every façade is a faith that tomorrow people will walk through the doors of the new or improved building to take advantage of whatever it has to offer.

The role of faith in such endeavors is most obvious when the work is done in dark times. So, it was when the port town of San Pedro was gifted with its architectural jewel, The Warner Grand Theatre. And so it is today, as the City of Los Angeles is set to move forward with the first major renovations in the theater’s 90-year history.

Although it was the early days of the Great Depression, major movie studios banked on the idea that people would flock to theaters to forget about their troubles. Over the course of just seven months between 1930 and 1931, Warner Brothers opened three “movie palaces” in Los Angeles alone, including The Warner Grand. Dubbed “the Castle of Your Dreams” by studio head Jack Warner, the Warner Bros. Theatre (as it was originally called) was the first in the South Bay equipped to play “talkies,” an art form that was less than five years old. 

The gamble paid off huge for the next two decades, with cinema becoming a national obsession and Los Angeles being the living center of the film world. But with the ascendancy of television, the Golden Age of Hollywood fell into its twilight years, and by the mid-1950s half of Los Angeles’ movie theaters had closed. While the Warner Grand hung on (changing hands and names all the while), the decline was clear, bottoming out in the 1970s when it allegedly had a brief as life as a porno theater before being purchased by a Wilmington entrepreneur who renamed it Téatro Juarez to feature Spanish-language cinema, going as far as to reupholster the seats in red, green and gold to mimic colors of the Mexican flag. 

Designated a City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in the 1980s, The Warner Grand Theatre (as it had been rechristened) enjoyed a minor renaissance, featuring a greater variety of programming than at any point in its history. In addition to screening classic films, The Warner Grand was now the setting for stage and musical performances, including such well-known acts as The Ramones and Chaka Khan.  

But the renaissance was short-lived. In 1991 it was acquired by Lee Michaels, a one-hit wonder whose Do You Know What I Mean? made the Top Ten in 1971. He didn’t do much with the place once his plans to turn it into a dinner theater fell through (it’s ‘90s star turn was doubling for Harlem’s Apollo Theater in the 1993 Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It?), and in 1995 the Warner Grand was up for sale yet again.

Enter downtown property owners Gary Larson and Alan Johnson, who founded The Grand Vision Foundation to save the theater. In 1995, Michaels gave them 180 days to find a buyer who could meet his $1.2 million asking price — or else another interested party (a church and a swap meet were on the shortlist) would move in. After convincing Los Angeles City Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr. that the theater would be a good investment in the area’s revitalization, Svorinich found the cash in Community Redevelopment Agency funds, and The Warner Grand was in the hands of city government.

Over the next two decades the theater settled into a comfortable life as both an architectural treasure (it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999) and an active performing-arts center, providing a home for (among many others) the San Pedro City Ballet, the Encore Theatre Group, the Golden State Pops Orchestra, numerous youth arts programs and five separate annual film festivals. Highlight performances from just the last few years include Jackson Browne, Band of Horses, and Long Beach Opera’s world premiere of The Central Park Five, winner of a 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Music. 

But age was taking its toll on the building, and many of its components were antiquated. The Grand Vision Foundation (incorporated as a 501(c)3 corporation in 1996 with a mission to preserve and promote the theater and arts programming) spearheaded several targeted refurbishments, including restoring the mezzanine ceiling, extending the stage, replacing the stage curtain and rigging, and installing bigger and better seats throughout the auditorium. 

But for its 90th birthday The Warner Grand is slated to undergo its first major renovation. Benjamin Johnson (no relation to either Alan or Liz), director of Performing Arts at Los Angeles’ Cultural Affairs Department, which manages the theater, said the city has allocated $5 million for the first stage of renovations, with hopes to secure an additional $4 million for further work. (Johnson says that a comprehensive renovation would cost $30 to $40 million, but that the city’s current financial crisis makes this unfeasible.)

Among the renovations at the top of the list are restoring the main lobby, installing an elevator, expanding bathrooms (including bringing them into Americans with Disabilities Act compliance) and “completely overhaul[ing] the theater’s extremely outdated electrical and plumbing systems.” Budget permitting, additional items will include repainting the exterior, the relocation of manager offices to an adjoining storefront, and general décor upgrades. No refurbishment of the auditorium itself is planned at this time. 

The project is to be led by SPF:architects, a firm that previously completed other renovations of historic properties in Southern California, including refurbishment of Hollywood Pantages Theatre and conversion of the old Beverly Hills Post Office into the Wallace Theatre. According to Johnson, the plan is to close the theater for 12 to 15 months beginning in December or January. 

Why will it take so long when the theater took only six months to build from the ground up? Johnson says that, while he’s unfamiliar with all of the architectural logistics of such renovations, the timeline seems consistent with similar work in his experience with the city. Nonetheless, he understands frustration residents and arts organizations may have with the length of the process.

“For us [i.e., the Cultural Affairs Department], too, it’s like: ‘Why does everything take so long?’ he says. “[…] Bureaucracy and red tape is a real thing. […] If we were a separate nonprofit and could get donors to donate millions of dollars, it could be done very quickly; but because we’re spending public funds, there are rules and regs with every single dime. […] It’s a highly managed process. […] But we actively push and push and push to get things done.”

Grand Vision Foundation Executive Director Liz Schindler-Johnson (wife of Alan Johnson) said there is no such frustration at the GVF — and that 12–15 months may be an optimistic guess, as “building projects of all kinds usually take longer than anticipated,” especially historic renovations.

“Once we get into the walls, we do not know exactly what we will find; and the building must be brought up to every code to make it safe for public assembly,” she said. “[…] The fact that the theater was built quickly in the 1930s speaks to the lack of labor and workplace safety laws — things that we consider very important today — and other factors like private development versus public. […] We are not frustrated [with the timeline], because we have been at this [sort of work] for 25 years[,] and we know [from experience] the city works very slowly. […] There are far more rules and procedures in place than there were almost a century ago.”

Schindler-Johnson says she believes the city has “been very attentive and respectful of Grand Vision Foundation’s recommendations, among which is for the project not to include a proposed digital marquee. “[I]t would not be in keeping with the historic fabric,” she notes.

One obvious downside to the renovations is that, combined with the COVD-mandated closure of the theater last March, upon completion of the project in 2023, The Warner Grand will have sat mostly idle for well over two of the previous three years. But Johnson promises the Cultural Affairs Department is willing to do whatever it can to facilitate some sorts of use.

“It’s very complicated to figure out how to move the needle forward without having anyone actively utilizing the space,” he said. “As a city[-owned] venue, our goal is to be of service to as many arts organizations and civic organizations and social service organizations and educational organizations as possible. […] We hosted a big meeting with all of our users and said, ‘We will turn this facility into whatever you need it to be now for you. It won’t be about audiences, but you can do live streaming, rehearsals, socially-distanced early development work, [etc.]’ We want to do COVID-safe production rental for Netflix series. […] The space isn’t [confined to being] a traditional idea of what a venue should be; it should be whatever the community needs it to be.”

In the meantime, on Jan. 23 the Grand Vision Foundation is hosting the Warner Grand’s 90th Birthday — A Virtual Party, “a livestream event featuring music and old-time style short film from Janet Klein & Her Parlor Boys playing the vaudeville and ragtime hits of the 1910s, ‘20s & ‘30s plus an onscreen cocktail/mocktail demo.” Tickets can be purchased with or without a party package that includes cocktail/mocktail ingredients, birthday cake, party favors, and sparkling wine options. The party is part of the GFV’s “Love the Lobby” campaign to restore the theater’s three lobbies, which so far is about halfway to its $250,000 goal.

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Greggory Moore
Trapped within the ironic predicament of wanting to know everything (more or less) while believing it may not be possible really to know anything at all. Greggory Moore is nonetheless dedicated to a life of study, be it of books, people, nature, or that slippery phenomenon we call the self. And from time to time he feels impelled to write a little something. He lives in a historic landmark downtown and holds down a variety of word-related jobs. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the OC Weekly, The District Weekly, the Long Beach Post, Daily Kos, and GreaterLongBeach.com. His first novel, THE USE OF REGRET, was published in 2011, and he is deep at work on the next. For more: greggorymoore.com.