Here is part of a November 1998 article in the Orange County Register:
Contractor Pete Montanez was sitting in a pew one Sunday morning when a surge of inspiration came over him. It happened as the pastor was preaching about Christian Tabernacle’s terrible problem. The congregation had bought the 1923 Fox West Coast Theater on Main Street, once the grandest movie palace in Orange County, but had run out of money to transform it into a church. I will fix it, Montanez thought.
The restoration of the National Register of Historic Places landmark was a giant task. The walls had holes and the carpets were disintegrating. There were rats, smashed lights and basement dressing rooms choked with decades of clutter. Long expanses of graceful gold leaf lay under coats of dirt. The 50-foot-high ceiling needed paint. The intricate Spanish Colonial Revival facade had faded so much that it was hard to identify the original colors.
But Montanez, 47, who lost his forearm in an accident 26 years ago, felt moved by the spirit of God to restore the theater, and there was no turning back. Years before, his parents helped build a church in Cuauhtemoc, Mexico. It seemed like his destiny. He and his family had been living in Fontana; he was only visiting Santa Ana, his former home, that day he went to the church service. In December 1996, he moved his wife and four children back to Santa Ana, and into the home of his sister, suspended his normal work as a general contractor and set about fixing the theater.
Montanez started in the basement of the theater on a restoration journey that occasionally took him back in time. Removing layers of paint, he found doodles from long ago. Under the stage, someone had stashed soda bottles that were so old he didn’t recognize the brand names. In the balcony, he found a row of square windows that had been covered up. He put in panes of glass and watched the morning light stream in. He borrowed scaffolding from a friend to work on the ceiling. He installed decorative trim around plain doorways. He noticed empty spaces atop the pillars on the facade, and fabricated big gold globes to sit on them.
Some of the tasks were more mundane. He installed plumbing in the bathrooms. He did electrical work. At first, Ariel Meza, the assistant pastor, got nervous watching Montanez climb up and down the scaffolding, because of his disability. Montanez lost his right forearm in a gasket-making machine in Anaheim in 1972. He says he was depressed for seven years, but finally snapped out of it and went into the homebuilding business.
Montanez finished his work on the theater Oct. 30, and on Halloween, the new church was rededicated in an all-day ceremony and lunch. Its gold leaf shone. Its pews stood on a rich royal-blue carpet. Meza said Montanez saved the church $200,000. Still, the project was an expensive one. The church paid $750,000 for the building in 1991, Meza said, and put about $500,000 into it. Christian Tabernacle, an evangelical Hispanic church, used to be on Susan Street but moved because it needed a bigger building. Meza said the church has about 600 members.
Montanez crossed Main Street this week to admire his handiwork on the facade from a better vantage point. He looked up at it and said he felt he could go back to breadwinning now, satisfied with the way things turned out.
This site has a 1973 photo. Not sure if the adjacent business with the marquee was a former theater:
http://tinyurl.com/cn7blf
Here is a 1981 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dkxh6y
Here is a 1974 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c6rdp6
Here is a 1980 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cltbqm
Here is the Malco in 1984:
http://tinyurl.com/c32c3p
Here is a 1981 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/d4dhes
Here is a 1981 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dfu9uo
This site has a 1969 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/d9ay4k
Here is a 1981 photo. It looks like there were four screens at that time:
http://tinyurl.com/c8vuzm
Here is a 1981 photo of the Adams:
http://tinyurl.com/cztybz
This is a 1983 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ctmrvx
Here is a 1983 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c2kg8v
Here is a 1981 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cosvpy
Here is a 1984 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/d2dxp4
There is a 1983 photo on this site:
http://tinyurl.com/dc82rr
Here is a 1981 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/d6y53t
Here is a 1985 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dzqhbk
Here is a 1987 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cuf4rh
Here is a photo circa 1960s:
http://tinyurl.com/dmho8l
Here is a 1973 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cxmpkq
This site has a 1984 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c7wyba
Here is a 1986 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dzezdt
This is a 1981 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dkxwjl
Here is a 1987 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ckd4ae
Here is part of a November 1998 article in the Orange County Register:
Contractor Pete Montanez was sitting in a pew one Sunday morning when a surge of inspiration came over him. It happened as the pastor was preaching about Christian Tabernacle’s terrible problem. The congregation had bought the 1923 Fox West Coast Theater on Main Street, once the grandest movie palace in Orange County, but had run out of money to transform it into a church. I will fix it, Montanez thought.
The restoration of the National Register of Historic Places landmark was a giant task. The walls had holes and the carpets were disintegrating. There were rats, smashed lights and basement dressing rooms choked with decades of clutter. Long expanses of graceful gold leaf lay under coats of dirt. The 50-foot-high ceiling needed paint. The intricate Spanish Colonial Revival facade had faded so much that it was hard to identify the original colors.
But Montanez, 47, who lost his forearm in an accident 26 years ago, felt moved by the spirit of God to restore the theater, and there was no turning back. Years before, his parents helped build a church in Cuauhtemoc, Mexico. It seemed like his destiny. He and his family had been living in Fontana; he was only visiting Santa Ana, his former home, that day he went to the church service. In December 1996, he moved his wife and four children back to Santa Ana, and into the home of his sister, suspended his normal work as a general contractor and set about fixing the theater.
Montanez started in the basement of the theater on a restoration journey that occasionally took him back in time. Removing layers of paint, he found doodles from long ago. Under the stage, someone had stashed soda bottles that were so old he didn’t recognize the brand names. In the balcony, he found a row of square windows that had been covered up. He put in panes of glass and watched the morning light stream in. He borrowed scaffolding from a friend to work on the ceiling. He installed decorative trim around plain doorways. He noticed empty spaces atop the pillars on the facade, and fabricated big gold globes to sit on them.
Some of the tasks were more mundane. He installed plumbing in the bathrooms. He did electrical work. At first, Ariel Meza, the assistant pastor, got nervous watching Montanez climb up and down the scaffolding, because of his disability. Montanez lost his right forearm in a gasket-making machine in Anaheim in 1972. He says he was depressed for seven years, but finally snapped out of it and went into the homebuilding business.
Montanez finished his work on the theater Oct. 30, and on Halloween, the new church was rededicated in an all-day ceremony and lunch. Its gold leaf shone. Its pews stood on a rich royal-blue carpet. Meza said Montanez saved the church $200,000. Still, the project was an expensive one. The church paid $750,000 for the building in 1991, Meza said, and put about $500,000 into it. Christian Tabernacle, an evangelical Hispanic church, used to be on Susan Street but moved because it needed a bigger building. Meza said the church has about 600 members.
Montanez crossed Main Street this week to admire his handiwork on the facade from a better vantage point. He looked up at it and said he felt he could go back to breadwinning now, satisfied with the way things turned out.