It is intended to get the attention of someone with money who will rescue the historic building from the current owner who isn't quite sure what he wants to do with it. This website is being referred to a select group of individuals and companies who have the means and desire to restore historic theatres. It is a one stop shopping website for everything they should know about the San Clemente Theatre.
It is also intended to focus the community, visitors, and students on what the theatre can become and how the students can help. It sits at North Beach seemingly abandoned. It has not been abandoned. It is just waiting for the right timne to be reborn.
WHAT DO I HOPE YOU WILL LEARN FROM BROWSING THIS SITE?
Everyone will have his own questions. Who will pay? Who will help? What will it cost? Why do we need it? What about property rights? What’s the history? How can I help? The list of questions is endless. I hope you will take the time to find your answer in these pages. If it is not there contanct me. I have been researching and watching this theatre for over a dozen years now and even made a reasonable offer for it once.
Please leave a comment on the Comment Page AND cast your vote on some polling questions on the Polling Page
I hope all visitors to this website will see that there is an alternative to demolition; a vision for a teaching Center for Cinema and Performing Arts; a cultural oasis in the center of our developing North Beach Recreational and Entertainment Gateway to San Clemente. Along with the beach, hotels, shopping, restaurants, and cafes will be a performance and cinematic entertainment alternative fully produced by students of the arts.
Now I’m off to make the San Clemente Theatre famous so it doesn’t disappear in the dark of night as some of our other historic landmarks have done. I have a letter to write to Steven Spielberg. Who knows what might happen.
Thanks for visiting. Let me know if you want to help. Buy a bumper sticker!
Riverside Votes to Seize Fox Theater
The City Council agrees to force a sale for $1.667 million, saying promised restoration of the building is lagging. The owner vows to fight.
By Seema Mehta
Times Staff Writer
IS THIS WHERE THE MIRAMAR THEATRE IS HEADED?
November 17, 2004
The Riverside City Council voted Tuesday to seize the Fox Theater [designed by C.W. Balch], saying the current owner had failed to restore the historic vaudeville stage and cinema and turn it into a cutting-edge performing arts center.
The vote authorizes the city's redevelopment agency to use its power of eminent domain to force the sale of the theater to the city for $1.667 million, hundreds of thousands less than owner H.J. "Joe" Zivnak said would compensate him for what he invested in the theater.
"This is a difficult day — one I had hoped could be avoided," said Councilman Dom Betro before the 7-0 vote.
"I believe Mr. Zivnak should be commended for the heart and soul and effort he has put into the Fox Theater. But I also believe the Fox is the second most historical building in the city, and one that the City Council must move on."
Zivnak said the city ignored the theater for decades and became interested only after he was approached by a major theater producer about putting on Broadway-style shows at the Fox. He also said the city reneged on its promise to help him financially with the theater's roof and seismic retrofit, and he vowed to challenge the city in court.
"There is no question — I will fight them," he said before Tuesday's meeting. "I have done nothing wrong, and they have dealt [with me] in bad faith since the very early parts of this. I did everything in my power to work with them. And all that happened for my efforts was that I ended up losing a lot of money."
The Fox Theater opened in 1929 and screened the first public showing of "Gone With the Wind" a decade later. It has fallen into disrepair.
Zivnak bought the theater for nearly $1.4 million in March 2001 and said he spent $600,000 on renovations, including plumbing repairs, an upgraded sound system and organ installation, and refurbished office space.
Zivnak, 52, lives in Pomona and manufactures custom truck bodies. He said he bought the theater because of his memories of playing the pipe organ as a child at historic theaters.
"I basically purchased the theater to preserve it and install a pipe organ and preserve the way things were done back in the beginning — sing-alongs, concerts of organ [music], silent movies," he said.
"Of course, we weren't limiting ourselves to that — we were also attempting to restore the vaudeville stage and stage live performances."
Since he bought the Fox, Zivnak has hosted charity fundraisers, silent movies with organ accompaniment and a film festival.
Estimates of full refurbishment costs range from $7 million to $17 million, but such improvements could bring 10,000 people to downtown Riverside every week, greatly boosting the council's efforts to revitalize its downtown, Betro said.
The theater has apparently caught the interest of the Nederlander Organization, which owns the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles among other venues. Zivnak said he was approached by the company about the possibility of putting on Broadway-style shows six to 10 weeks a year at a refurbished Fox.
The company declined to comment.
Betro said the council's action was the best move for the city.
"The public benefit to be derived from the city taking charge of creating a performing arts center is really the main factor and most important at this time," Betro said.
AND THE FOLLOW-UP TO THAT STORY...
4:56 p.m. February 28, 2006
RIVERSIDE – A project design for the long-stalled refurbishment of the historic Fox Theater was approved Tuesday by the Riverside City Council, acting in its capacity as the Redevelopment Agency.
“It's a wonderful treasure that will unfold itself,” said Councilman Dom Betro. “We are trying to create a modern performing arts center but maintain its historic heritage.”
The unanimous vote followed a discussion with project architect Richard McCann, who has restored about 30 historic theaters, including the Wilshire Theater in Los Angeles and the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle.
McCann and his staff displayed photos and concrete examples of their pre-design work, in which they painstakingly uncovered decorative tiles under stucco, stenciled patterns under layers of paint on kiosk beams and yet more patterns hidden away in closets or behind stage additions.
It's the first time in decades that much of original interior artwork of the theater, which was built in 1929 in a Mission Revival design, has been exposed.
Some observers sitting in the audience in the Council Chamber gasped with each revelation.
“This must be a labor of love for you,” Councilwoman Nancy Hart told McCann before she voted to approve the design plans.
Mayor Ron Loveridge pushed for a timetable from City Manager Bradley J. Hudson, who said the project could begin as early as this fall with completion by about April 2008.
The 1,600-seat venue is envisioned as Riverside's premier performing arts center, which would host Broadway-style shows, concert performances and ballets, according to the city's project manager, Robert Wise.
“The theater will be rehabilitated to its original design but will be enlarged in some areas and have other modifications,” he said.
The city's downtown area has struggled to develop an historic area with the restored Mission Inn as its centerpiece, despite the city's investment of more than $122 million in the redevelopment project.
The missing element has been the Fox Theater, which in its heyday was the site of a sneak preview screening of the 1939 Civil War epic “Gone with the Wind.”
By the 1980s, the theater had fallen into disrepair and was showing only Spanish-language films.
The building went through a succession of owners, who promised to return it to its original condition and show first-run movies.
City officials saw a glimmer of hope when Joe Zivnak purchased the theater in 2001 for $1.4 million with an eye toward restoration that never occurred.
The city began eminent domain proceedings to take possession in 2004. Last December, the city settled with Zivnak, purchasing the theater for $2.9 million.
Plans call for keeping the exterior of the theater virtually intact but enlarge the stage area and upgrade the upstairs offices, according to a city report.
“The auditorium will pretty much remain as it is, and the ceiling will remain original with a little touch-up,” Wise said. “But the lobby has been repainted three or four times over. We have had paint experts come and look at the original colors and matched them.”
Theater offices and retail shops that line the theater at Market Street and Mission Inn Avenue would also be restored, Wise said.
The theater is expected to complement the Fox Plaza, a nearby proposed project of 900 condominiums, 200 lofts, a hotel and 800,000 square feet of commercial space.
SAN DIEGO NEWS SERVICES
A final follow-up to the two previous Riverside Fox Articles:
A Premier Destination.
The revitalization of Riverside's Downtown is in full swing! The City's Redevelopment Agency authorized staff to negotiate with Metro Pacific Properties for a first-class, mixed-use, four-block redevelopment project surrounding the Fox Theatre. The project will accent the historic context of Riverside's Downtown and offer upscale living space, retail variety, dining and entertainment. Patrons will be treated to an exhilarating nightlife in the heart of Downtown. This project will surely become a premier Inland Empire destination.
Sure it sounds exciting, but you're probably asking yourself, "Haven't I heard all this before?" Well, here are the details you've been waiting for! Read on to learn more project details to date.
The proposed project includes over 400 residential units and 75-100,000 square feet of commercial space. The architectural theme for the entire development is based on the Old World European Mediterranean Revival character established by existing structures such as the Fox Theatre and Mission Inn. Building height will range from three to six stories. Residential units, comprised of lofts and luxury condominiums, will occupy the upper floors of the project buildings. Ample garage parking is included to address the residential, commercial, and public needs of the project site. Staff anticipates returning to the Redevelopment Agency with a negotiated deal by August 31st.
Looking Forward.
The renovated Fox Theatre and the innovative surrounding development will create a positive physical and thematic connection with the Mission Inn and pedestrian mall. This development has great things in store for the businesses of the downtown area and we are excited to see this project get off the ground. The City is committed to the continued service of our community through the stimulation of economic growth and overall aesthetic improvement.
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