posted 06-19-2005 06:40 PM                       

This is just so frustrating...

quote:

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This Property is Condemned

Despite big plans and high expectations, the Huntridge Theater is not reopening

BY ANDREW KIRALY

You missed a great party in early October. Everyone was there. Mayor Goodman, of course, did the ribbon-cutting, and a veritable who's-who of politicians, entertainers and scenesters were on hand to celebrate. The Foo Fighters performed an incredible two-hour set to a packed crowd, and people mingled, ate, drank, and danced until the early hours in downtown's hottest new venue.

You missed it because this Oct. 3 party never happened. It was supposed to have been the grand reopening party for the Huntridge Theater. It was also the birthday of theater owner Eli Mizrachi, who would've marked turning 32 by unveiling an utterly transformed Huntridge Theater -- which would have been so much more than a mere theater. The 60-year old venue would also encompass a lounge, an indoor/outdoor balcony, a restaurant and bleeding-edge sound and lighting systems.

But those plans have been shelved -- maybe for good. Nearly a year after closing for renovations, the Huntridge sits dark, its trim Moderne-style tower a monument to dreams delayed. Those dreams will likely never materialize.

"The boy in me would love to open it," says Mizrachi. "The businessman in me is very, very, very hesitant about spending any money."

Because the businessman inside Mizrachi -- whose family owns a string of furniture stores across the valley, including Cima's -- has faced countless setbacks since he closed the Huntridge for remodeling after its final show, a July 31 Dimmu Borgir concert. Perhaps it's fitting that a death metal band closed the concert hall, because things are looking positively funereal for the place. Since buying the property in January 2002 for $925,000, and after trudging through the planning process, tangling with red tape and talking to contractors, Mizrachi says he's looking at a $4 million price tag for a revamp. That's thanks to a delicate historic building and contractor prices that have inflated as the valley's continued growth has pushed construction prices up.

"The price started at two million, and then all the construction boom went crazy, so nobody really had time to do it," he says. "Nobody wanted to do it because of the sheer fact that it's an old building, and it's hard to really know what you're getting into. By the time we got all the plans and we actually took it out for bidding, the price had a little bit more than doubled."

It's not that Mizrachi can't afford it; he's just skeptical of the payoff. "We can afford it, but does the risk in putting that much money into a 60-year-old building warrant it? If you're going to put four million into something, you could put four million dollars into a lot of other things that could make a lot more money than taking a risk on a 60-year-old building."

Add to that the fact that the renovated venue, as envisioned by Mizrachi, would enter an increasingly crowded market, where venues such as the House of Blues and the Joint offer similar amenities, and still others are in the works, such as an announced 1,500-seat theater in the Aladdin that will be financed and co-managed by Clear Channel, and a 2,200-capacity concert hall at the Palms.

The Huntridge Theater has been many things. In the '40s and '50s it was a first-run theater that saw everyone from Frank Sinatra to Vincent Price promoting flicks with personal appearances. In the '80s it was a Spanish-language movie house. In the '90s it was the city's premier all-ages concert venue. Today it finds itself wedged somewhere between hard economic reality, the visions of an intensely driven businessman, and a music community that's starting to question his plan.

"Eli wanted to take [the Huntridge] and turn it into a 2,000-seat theater for Mary J. Blige-level acts, and we were trying to explain the city's already got two venues like that," says former monitor engineer Jenn Neal, who worked at the theater for more than a decade. "You're in the ghetto, you're always gonna be in the ghetto, so you don't try and fill a niche that's already been overwhelmed. Back in the day we never had a dark night, filling the calendar with everything, even if it was Latino drag queen contests. The only time the Huntridge really worked was when it supported the local music scene and local community. He's a good guy, but his idea for the place is totally misdirected."

Its decade-plus run as a gritty all-ages concert hall has inspired fervent loyalties among music-scene mavens, who say the theater could live again in something like its former incarnation -- something not fancy but functional, a place where the rock roster is filled out with animation festivals, local band showcases and cultural events. Former employees, many of whom also worked under the previous owners, the nonprofit Friends of the Huntridge Theater, characterize Mizrachi as well-meaning but overambitious.

"The plans were really awesome -- a multi-level floor, a balcony, a VIP area upstairs we were gonna call 'The Boom Boom Room.' But it would be really hard to pour in millions and make it state of the art and still compete with the Joint and House of Blues," says former production manager Brad Bryan. "I thought in the back of my mind: It's never gonna happen. He was a cool guy with a cool dream, but we all kind of figured he was going to either bail completely or do it over the top, super-nice. Bail was the path he chose."

"[Mizrachi] really wanted it," says former head of security Jason Brown. "He would talk about it all the time -- who to have on opening night. He was really looking forward to it. We'd go to a show at the House of Blues, and [he'd say], 'They could be playing at the Huntridge.'"

But if the Huntridge is the victim of too grand a vision, Mizrachi counters that its old identity of rough-hewn rock palace simply won't work. Unlike its former nonprofit owners, who shored up sagging finances with $1.5 million in state grants over the years, Mizrachi's Huntridge is a private business with an $8,000-a-month mortgage to pay.

"I think I did an excellent job, and I tried to do as much as I could with it as far as putting a grade-A [sound] system in there and taking care of local bands," he says of his run of concerts that ran from November 2002 through July 2004. "That being said, we were losing money month in and month out ... the mortgage came out of my pocket.

"People have asked me, 'Let me rent it and run it my way.' I'm not saying I'm the smartest person in the world, but if you're going to do it right -- with insurance, pay your taxes, take of everything the way it should be -- I don't think there's a way of making it in there the way it is now."

Kim Garcia, Mizrachi's second-in-command, agrees. "The Huntridge cannot exist as a plug-and-play venue," she says.

And yet it likely won't exist as the shiny downtown jewel Mizrachi envisions, either -- or anything else. Despite murmurs from politicians about the city or state buying the property, Mizrachi says he wouldn't consider selling it for anything less than $12 million. Despite pressure to lease it out as-is, Mizrachi wouldn't hand over the keys to anyone but a reputable corporate promoter. And while his attitude is "never say never" about tearing the venue down, strict covenants in place by the state Historic Preservation Office prevent such a fate until at least 2017.

Where is the Huntridge: in an intermission or its final act?

"I have nothing but good thoughts about the Huntridge," says Mizrachi. "It's a magical place. I would love to say I could open this up and make a million dollars or even say it's not about the money, but unfortunately, it is. You can't do it if you're losing money. One, I can't afford to lose money. Two, I can't do something half-assed. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it 100 percent, and I'm going to do it where I know there's no risk involved, and right now I'm questioning the risk in spending four million.

"Where does that leave the Huntridge? Where does that leave me? In limbo, honestly."

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posted 06-20-2005 03:11 PM                    

quote: Jeffry L. Johnson

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IATSE Local 306 is picketing IFC's new theater.

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posted 06-22-2005 10:45 AM                       

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New York's Famed Beekman Theater To Close:

The Beekman theater, regarded as one of New York's premier movie art houses since it opened in 1952 and one of the last single-screen theaters in Manhattan, will shut down next Sunday. A spokesman for Clearview Cinemas, the theater chain that operates the Beekman, told Reuters that it was being forced to close because its landlord, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, had exercised a lease option to take back the property in order to establish an outpatient care facility there. In an interview with Reuters, Woody Allen, who featured the theater in Annie Hall, mourned its extinction. "The Beekman epitomized New York movie houses at their best," he said. "The size, the architecture, the location seemed perfect. I saw many great films there by great foreign filmmakers, and it was an honor to have my films shown there."

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posted 06-24-2005 11:29 AM                      

quote: Bill Gabel

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they had 8-10 picketers and a large 15' standing blow-up Rat

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Picket lines have changed!

posted 06-24-2005 02:16 PM                    

quote: Ron Keillor

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from medicinehatnews.com June 22/05
It's final curtain for drive-in
The only remaining drive-in theatre in Alberta has officially screened its final film. Landmark Cinemas announced on Tuesday Redcliff's Gemini Drive-in has been closed, permanently

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Aw man! I thought something was up since it usually opens on May long weekend. So much for drive-in road trips this summer. Ah, we had many a drunken night there in my youth.