Granada Theater designated historical monument
The vaudevillian Granada Theater in Wilmington will become a Los Angeles historic-cultural monument.
The Los Angeles City Council approved the designation on Wednesday for the 1,000-seat theater, 632 N. Avalon Blvd., which opened in 1926 to host vaudeville performers as part of the West Coast Theaters chain.
The council’s decision caps a yearslong effort to give the theater a historic designation. Councilman Joe Buscaino, who represents the Wilmington
neighborhood, had sought since 2014 to designate the building as a historic-cultural monument for its value as “an excellent and rare example of a neighborhood theater with Renaissance Revival architectural influences in Wilmington,” according to the application.
“Giving the Granada Theater historic-cultural monument status is an important first step towards protecting the character of Avalon Boulevard in Wilmington,” Buscaino said Wednesday. “Wilmington has a rich arts, cultural, and architectural history that we must preserve for future generations.”
The theater switched operators several times since it opened and has been used as a performance arts center, filming location, movie house, Spanish cinema theater, church and special event venue, according to the Wilmington Granada Friends organization.
Defining characteristics that have been retained over the years include terrazzo floors, balcony seating and an ornate proscenium.
The building also has an intact pulldown advertising curtain that still
displays ads for small businesses in the 1920s and 1930s, such as Wilmington Creamery, Dr. P.H. Lisman, Wilmington Variety Shop and Hotel Neptune. A representative from the L.A. Historic Theater Foundation, during a mid-April Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission meeting, supported the historic designation and mentioned that the advertising curtain is the “last remaining example we know of across the whole city.”
The Cultural Heritage Commission unanimously voted on April 15 to recommend the City Council add it to the Historic-Cultural Monument list. The commission’s president, Richard Barron, said he visited the theater before the vote and supported the designation, calling the theater’s condition “rough” but noting that it had potential to be brought back to life.
The Wilmington Granada Friends organization has been working to raise money and reopen the theater as an independent movie house and performance center.
“Reopening the Wilmington Granada theater will not only create jobs but will stimulate the economy by offering performances and films,” the organization says on its website.
“Wilmington Granada Friends is currently searching for local vendors and community programs interested in becoming part of our mission,” it adds. “We look forward to working closely with Wilmington’s residents and commerce.”
The theater had been under consideration to be listed as a historic-cultural monument previously, but the time for consideration expired. The City Council approved a motion, introduced by Buscaino, on Jan. 13 to reactivate consideration.
“We have an incredible opportunity to historically designate a vital part of Wilmington’s history,” Buscaino told City News Service after that vote. “Every Wilmington native will share stories of their childhood memories of this theater. The Granada Theater has the potential to help revitalize the downtown corridor, so we’re moving today on a motion to designate it as a historically protected monument.”
The City Council on Wednesday also voted to give the Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro the same status as a historic-cultural monument.