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Future of Atlantic Theater in Long Beach is cloudy at best
posted by
CSWalczak
on
February 11, 2010 at 10:45 am
LONG BEACH, CA — City officials are weighing possibilities for the former Atlantic Theater on Atlantic Avenue. The 1941 Boller Brothers theater was last used as a church, but is currently vacant. Both redevelopment and razing are being considered.
Now, some are worried that the old theater’s terrazzo tile and signature neon spire will be lost if the north Long Beach building is demolished as part of a redevelopment push in the neighborhood.
For John Thomas, president of Long Beach Heritage and a board member of the city’s Redevelopment Agency, buildings like the Atlantic Theater serve as giant reminders of a city’s former splendor.
“When you actually have a building, it helps create a visual experience of how their community evolved,” said Thomas, who has abstained from his involvement with the redevelopment agency on issues involving the Atlantic Theater because of his position with Long Beach Heritage.
Read the full story in the L.A. Times.
Comments (5)
It would be nice if they fixed up the building, but the neighborhood is not that great. We’ll see.
Interesting LA Times article! This theatre went from being an art deco theatre to a porno theatre to a church, but sits vacant now. Would love to see a photo of that “signature neon spire”. Hope this one gets saved and restored in Long Beach CA.
There are links to few pictures of the spire on the theater’s page here on CT.
San Pedro saved the Warner Grand. Can’t Long Beach do as well??????
no not if the RDA wants it down. i don’t know what the city is up to but they clearly plan on razing all of Atlantic from Market St. up to Artesia Blvd. they said they need to raze the Atlantic Theater so they can have the 61/2 acres to build a North LB Community center. including a library. there’s a library just blocks away at 5600 Orange Ave. i’ve been right here in NLB within five blocks of the theater for the last 56 years and i’ve never ask for or have ever heard of anyone in NLB saying there was a need for a community Center. especially right where the theater stands. or stood. the whole block directly across the street from the theater has been razed. and down three blocks where the old Atlantic Motel once stood has been razed and is open why haven’t they built it on them sites? not one of their ‘redevelopments’ promises have been fulfilled but for the demolishing and the putting up the city’s white fencing’s. John Thomas was the only one that was for not razing the theater and he excluded himself from the voting. the RDA has razed, demolished, scraped off, remove & erased so very much of LBC’s heritage and history to date and not replaced it in anyway that was promised. so they kept and saved the tower & terrazo. for what? i’m betting that they threw it on top of the kept & saved pieces of the Jergins Building and the promise of the Pike. you see how they saved the Loffs roof. it rotted sitting in the open lot. it didn’t even make it to the salvage yard where all the saved things are kept. i seen a pic of the salvage yard somewhere not long ago and it was alot of rusted piles. i know i’m well too late to act on anything but i thank you for letting me voice my thoughts.