PERFORMANCE—Encore With a Latin Flair

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landmark Doolittle Theater in Hollywood has found new life as a home for Latino performing arts

Outside the landmark James A. Doolittle Theatre, the faded posters touting the last production at the Hollywood venue are nearly two years old.

“Art,” a comedy starring Alan Alda and Alfred Molina, closed in April 1999.

Ever since then, the theater has been shuttered, the structure just another unkempt Hollywood eyesore.

But things are about to change. The theater at 1615 N. Vine St. is opening its doors again under a new owner who has a new mission.

The first production to run at the revamped theater is a two-month production of “Selena, Forever,” a musical about the Latina singer who, in her 20s, was murdered in Texas by her former personal assistant.

“Selena, Forever” is a milestone in the long journey of the Ricardo Montalban-Nosotros Foundation, which purchased the 1,021-seat theater last year from UCLA, which owned the building for more than a decade.

Under the new owner, the theater aims to become L.A.’s top Latino performing arts center. A venue where Latinos and others hone their acting and directing skills and showcase productions addressing Latino themes.

To reflect its Latino connection, the theater later this year will be renamed the Ricardo Montalban Theater, after the 80-year-old legendary Mexican actor best remembered for his role on TV’s “Fantasy Island.”

Montalban broke into the movie industry in the 1950s and 1960s at a time when Latinos were often cast as servants, criminals and prostitutes. In order to improve Latinos’ image in the entertainment industry, he founded Nosotros Inc. in 1970, a nonprofit entity that is the sister organization to the Ricardo Montalban-Nosotros Foundation.

“What this does is put a place on the map to literally announce the presence of the Latino entertainment community,” said Joanna Bongiovanni, president and chief executive of Cielo Films Inc., a 10-year-old international production company in Santa Monica that works with the Latino advertising industry. “This really has not been attempted before. Not in the mainstream of Hollywood.”

Theater reborn

The story behind the attempt to establish a Latino landmark reads like a theatrical drama, with several twists and turns and an anonymous donor.

UCLA acquired the Doolittle in the 1980s, shortly after the Whittier earthquake damaged Royce Hall, the university’s stately performing arts venue. While Royce Hall was being repaired, UCLA used the Doolittle for many of its musical and theatrical performances.

After Royce Hall was repaired, the university used the theater more sparingly, occasionally loaning it out to the Ahmanson Center for productions. But a few years ago, the university decided the Doolittle was too far away from campus for its needs, especially if it was to be used to train students studying in the theater program.

In early 1998, UCLA approached the city of L.A.’s Community Redevelopment Agency, signaling it wanted to sell the theater but wanted a nonprofit organization to use it. Donna Hemer, the CRA’s project manager for Hollywood, thought the theater would blend in well with Regent Properties’ plans to redevelop a two-block area into a retail/entertainment center called Hollywood Marketplace.

The CRA arranged for Regent to buy the theater for $2.1 million and then lease it to the Montalban-Nosotros Foundation, which would have an option to purchase it at the end of five years.

But then things changed. Regent was sued by Meringoff Equities, one of Hollywood’s largest landowners, over parking spaces. The lawsuit delayed development and forced Regent to scale back its Hollywood project to a single block. The Doolittle was dropped from the plans and Regent no longer wanted to purchase the theater.

So in May 1999, the foundation was faced with a challenge. If members could come up with $2.1 million within a few months, the theater would be theirs.

Donor steps forward

“We had identified some donors that were going to help us fund the theater,” recalled Jerry Velasco, president of Nosotros Inc. and chairman of the foundation’s executive committee. “But at first we were just aiming to get the $250,000 down payment and then work on the rest.”

After making some overtures, Velasco and Montalban met in L.A. with an individual who said he might be interested in helping out with the deposit. After a 15-minute meeting, the individual offered to write a check for $2.5 million, with the additional $400,000 to be used for operations. There was one stipulation, the donor had to remain anonymous.

With money in hand, the foundation closed escrow on the property on July 31. In the time since, the foundation has been planning the theater’s future. The uninspired Doolittle fa & #231;ade will be refurbished to make it look more like a theater from the 1920s than the 1970s, and a staff is being developed to launch a theatrical season in 2003.

Presently, the foundation is renting out the building to outside theatrical productions, both Latino and non-Latino.

In addition, plans for a Ricardo Montalban Performing Arts High School Academy are in the works at a separate location.

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