The Daily Briefing

IS THERE A WRECKING BALL IN ATLANTIC THEATER’S FUTURE?

Theo DouglasMon. October 19
 

It’s way up in North Long Beach—and it’s been closed for years—but our own Atlantic Theater building, at 5870 Atlantic Ave., is another architectural diamond in the rough.

How diamond-y?

As LBReport.com’s Bill Pearl noted Sunday, the 1941 building was designed by the Boller Brothers—nationally-known experts in theater design, who were also responsible for the “Inglewood Theatre (Inglewood, 1922), Ritz Theatre (Long Beach, 1924), Largo Theatre (Watts, 1924), Corona Theater (Corona, 1929), and Stadium Theater (Los Angeles, 1931).”

Remember the Ritz Theatre? Me neither—probably because it doesn’t exist any more.

The Atlantic Theater, on the other hand, is still with us—for now—and is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places—a huge architectural honor.

This being Long Beach, though, Pearl points out that “it’s been proposed for demolition as part of the ‘North Village Center’ project.

“Whether North Long Beach’s Atlantic Theater, closed for years, is destroyed or reused as part of Long Beach’s redevelopment process will ultimately involve City Hall actions,” he writes.

We’ll see how that works out.

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  • TracyKittinger
    Save the Atlantic Theater. See my post on lbreport.com for my families history in Long Beach and the theater business.
  • LBmom
    So how do we get this structure listed as historic?
  • The folks at the Los Angeles Conservancy would be most helpful in answering your query. As a start, I would suggest you visit their website and see how they do it. Here's the link http://www.laconservancy.org/

    Just a warning... it takes a lot of passion, time, and patience to do this.
  • LBmom
    Thanks so much for the tip! And you are right. They are most helpful.
  • kennebreath
    The Los Angeles Conservancy is a model organization when it comes to historic preservation issues. It's disappointing we don't have something similar on a smaller scale. It seems like the LB Historical Society would be the perfect organization to start taking on more a active role in trying to save threatened structures. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be their intent.

    When the Robert's building (which, is less than a mile away from LB Historical Societies offices and on the same street) was demoed last week, nothing even mentioning this building or demolition was even listed on their website.

    Time and time again we hear that people love Long Beach because of the history and the Architecture and in the same breath that this is something Orange County lacks, yet we continue to slowly lose this history and these buildings that make our city unique (and that are usually replaced by uninspired and cheap cookie cutter architecture)...it's very frustrating to see.
  • Janis Populi
    If you want to measure Long Beach's commitment to historic preservation drive by the rotting decaying Loof's roof in a lot off of Ocean. Many many people in the architectural preservation community are just going through the motions and have development deals or other financial/political motives other than saving historic structures. There is no real advocacy group standing up to the city and developers. Preservation play acting at best. Julian Shipyards was DOA right from the get go. I could go on and on and on. Really dishonest and sad.
  • LBmom
    I agree that the Loof's roof is also a serious outrage. I was just down to the "Pike" and the sight of it (the decaying roof) has never failed to turn my stomach. It is emblematic of our so-called city leaders. What can be done? How can I turn the screws? I mean besides writing to my apparently illiterate (since he has never responded to me) councilman.
  • Janis Populi
    The owner of Loofs, Mike Cincola (now on LB Blvd moved from Pike) told me that he wanted to restore the roof. The city and developer would rather the last remaining Pike structure rot away.

    The city prefers to bulldoze, scrape, and build. Ala Hitchcocks Area23. Downtown the RDA demolished mixed use buildings- put in a mall- now they are putting mixed use buildings back in at the public cost and private profit.

    Historic preservation, neighborhood character, sustainability, and protection of wildlife and the environment are all harmonious ideals that the city pretends to support until some well connected crony smells a profit .

    It is so much easier to justify trainwreck developments as economic development when you have bankrupted the city. The city needs informed voters, new elected officials and new management.

    ...Correction in an earlier post I meant to say Julian Ship Supplies
  • HighHat
    Got any pitchforks or torches?
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