That was in 1998 and LA movie lovers were upset about a proposal from Pacific Theaters to surround the Hollywood Cinerama Dome with a complex of restaurants and a movie multiplex that would become ArcLight Cinemas.
According to critics, the proposed $ 60 million development would obscure the view of the 1963 design of the medieval icon Welton Becket and Associates as the first geodetic dome in the world. The Cinerama lobby would be replaced by a restaurant, and the seat’s legendary epic screen would destroy the stadium’s seats.
The public outrage was fierce. Conservation of the Los Angeles Conservatory has begun and a grassroots organization called Friends of the Cinerama Dome has been launched. Jackie Goldberg emerged as an advocate in the city council and by December, Pacific Theaters had agreed to keep the beloved theater just that way – and still is.
What’s going around is coming around: On Monday, Pacific and ArcLight theaters announced they would not reopen, and movie lovers voiced themselves on Twitter for fear that their beloved Cinerama Dome was in imminent danger. Could the structure be vulnerable to demolition? Can a craven developer turn it into a luxury steakhouse?
The short answers: probably not, and probably not either.
In 1998, the Cinerama Dome was designated as the historical-cultural monument no. 659 of LA. It protects the building – to some extent, said Linda Dishman, president and CEO of the LA Conservancy, and Ken Bernstein, chief city planner and manager of the city. Office of Historical Resources.
“Even if a developer popped up in the wings today and had plans to demolish and redevelop the site, there would be extensive public processes, and the public has many opportunities to weigh the preservation and use of the Cinerama Dome,” said Bernstein.
Bernstein said any request for a permit to demolish the Cinerama Dome would go through the city, and his department would order the owner to initiate an environmental impact report. The EIR process, which can take up to a year, is designed to investigate what can be damaged by demolition, and it will explore alternatives to that damage.
The historic-cultural monument status also means the LA City Council and Cultural Heritage Commission can postpone a demolition permit for up to one year, Dishman said.
Once the EIR is completed, the city council would decide how big its impact would be and could deny demolition. The Ordinance on the Cultural Heritage Commission that will be used to navigate this process does not give the city council the ability to deny demolition based on the historic importance of the building, nor will it ensure that the Cinerama Dome will have to continue to function as a movie theater. .
However, the ordinance gives the city the power to review planned alterations to the inside and outside of the building. Changes – to make the dome work like a massive restaurant, for example – must meet federal guidelines called the Home Secretary’s standards, which Dishman described as the Ten Commandments of change.
She said converting to a restaurant would be difficult because it is a geodesic dome difficult. The building is built with about 300 pentagonal and hexagonal panels, each weighing 3,200 pounds and structurally relying on each other so you can not just take out a few. The challenge is the 1998 plan for a restaurant in the foyer.
“It feels as much like 1998, because there was a big shout out when they talked about changes and the removal of the foyer,” Dishman said. “I think the thing people need to do now is really beg Pacific Theaters to make sure this building will have a future as a movie theater.”
Pacific built the dome using a patented Buckminster Fuller technique to bolt the panels together. After Cinerama Dome opened, other dome theaters were erected in places like Orange, Anaheim, Pleasant Hill, and San Jose.
All other domes have been demolished, except the San Jose’s Century 21 dome, which has been declared a landmark in the city and is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. It stands in the shadow of a shiny new Silicon Valley office complex.