ImaginAsian Center Faces Permit Tangle

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ImaginAsian Entertainment Inc.’s downtown Asian-themed entertainment complex is running a little behind schedule, but should be open by late summer.


Construction, funded by site owner Cinema Properties Group, is underway to convert the former Linda Lea Theater located at 251 S. Main St. near Little Tokyo and Gallery Row into an Asian cultural center. Movie and music festivals, live productions and other cultural events will be presented at the facility.


The existing 7,700-square-foot structure will be gutted and replaced with a 300-seat theater and balcony, a caf & #233; with specialty Asian foods, a DJ booth in the lobby and karaoke rooms.


Delays related to obtaining building permits slowed the project; executives had hoped to open in early summer.


ImaginAsian, a privately held New York company, has launched a broad range of media ventures. Among them are a nationwide television channel, radio network, a Web-zine, a film division and a home video unit, all of which provide various Asian-themed entertainment in Asian languages. ImaginAsianTV, a 24-hour Pan Asian cable network.


The downtown theater was built in the late 1920s and is owned by Cinema Properties Group, a Costa Mesa-based company owned primarily by Sue Ann and James Kirst.


The company is funding the approximate $2 million theater renovation, with ImaginAsian on board as a tenant and co-operator of the theater as a joint venture with CPG. Culver City architects Hodgetts & Fung Design and Architecture, the same firm that handled the Hollywood Bowl and Egyptian Theater renovations, is working on the ImaginAsian project.



Isle Bet

Hoping to encourage tourism and lure film and television production, several Caribbean countries are trying to gain a foothold in

Hollywood.


So far, the Bahamas is the most visible example, as a main sponsor of the pre-Oscar party hosted by Ebony magazine at Jim Henson Studios last week. The event’s honorees including Forrest Whitaker, Janet Jackson, Halle Berry, Ruben Cannon and Herbie Hancock will receive roundtrip tickets for two to the Bahamas. Bahamian officials said they hoped the exposure would generate more Hollywood interest, both on industry and individual levels.


“Being a sponsor allows the Bahamas to reach three important audiences: African Americans, the entertainment industry and Los Angeles, which is a key market for us,” said Ellison Tommy Thompson, deputy director general of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.


Delegations from Bermuda and Turks & Caicos are also aggressively marketing their countries.



Staff reporter Anne Riley-Katz can be reached at

[email protected]

or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225.

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