California Theatre
1122 4th Avenue,
San Diego,
CA
92101
1122 4th Avenue,
San Diego,
CA
92101
26 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 153 comments
Thanks Davenport.Best of luck,Guys.
Developers over the years have wanted the block and not the theater they don’t see the economic feasibility of it, I do and have started the process of negotiations for the purchase of the building. I am a Green Building developer and real estate agent and am very pleased to find this blog and know that the people of San Diego still love and want the theater.
My businesses will be housed there which would include a Jazz Supper Club, organic slow food restaurant, VIP private cigar lounge (air quality taken care of) and of course the fully restored theater. I have reviewed some of the past plans and see the flaws. Since I have found that the City & Federal governments are not concerned and take way to long to do nothing but spout what you can and cannot do I have taken up a plan to partner with the Historic Society and the people to raise the funds to restore the building. If we fund privately then the restrictions and delays go out the window. I will keep the blog updated as to the “Save our historic theater” campaign. You have to do something radical it seems to get their attention and I hope that when I do you all will be there to show your support and drive the message home that not only La Jolla can have a playhouse that wins awards! See you soon let me know what you think about the plans and if you would like to stay more updated my business is called Davenports Supper Club & VIP Cigar Lounge and we are out on Linkedin and FaceBook hope to be friends!
Interesting story. Hope things will work out for this grand lady.
Do you think that the earthquake a month or so ago, added any more damage to the theatre?
Here’s a link to a news coverage about the California Theatre.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqSq6lI1nJo
We are thankful for that….
Katy, I cant tell you how many times I been sure that something good is finally happening to the theater by a small change outside, or a different sign being displayed on the marquee.
A few years ago, I heard that the building was to be finally demolished by the city, due to structural hazard,also signs alerting people from danger were posted outside… well its 2010 and this big boy still stand high….
There’s a sign on the theater that say something like “Ask about this building call…” I didn’t get a chance to really read it. But it leads me to believe it’s possibly going to be renovated.
Cova- do you have a link to your thesis? I think there are a few people on here that might find reading material on the California interesting.
Also:
View link
Look at the Upper-right photo.
About two years ago, I wrote my thesis on the California Theatre. I searched high and low for floor plans pictures and people I could interview to compile a decent amount of information on this theatre. One thing I as never able to do was check out the inside of it, and find any other pictures of the interior that were already available at the San Diego Historical Society.
Last night I stumbled across this band on youtube, who filmed these two music videos from inside of the theatre. wtf? Well anyway the quality of the videos is not very good, and the music is not my particular taste. But, whomever loves this theatre will surely enjoy these on mute.
enjoy!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1abWQ1fi2A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA82exuSej8
I was the last on site manager of the california theatre building in san diego..I closed it down around august of 1990…it was in the coggeshall trust operated by the union bank..we had five restaurants on the ground floor….is there any real legitimate news about it..I was in san diego a few months ago and didn’t see anything happening…how can it sit for 20 years, withering away and costing someone money……d. scrimger
Are there any updates or news regarding the California? Have any renovations or changes to the site begun?
Does anyone remember a restaurant called The Silver Cask next door to The California Theater? It was very exclusive and run by someone named Vera Metcalf. Just wondering.
Here are three photographs I took of the California on Sunday May 17, 2009. There was a chain link fence around the front of the building, other than that it didn’t look any different to me as it had every other time I’d seen it over the last 15 years or so.
View link
View link
View link
All,
I am very interested in entering this theater and photographing the work for historical and artistic reasons. If anyone has leads on how to do this, please contact me. I live only a few blocks away, so I am very able to do this to aid in historical recording or preservation.
I am particularly interested in recording the theater in its current, dilapidated state.
Pleaset contact me if you have any information on this,
Thanks,
Michael Smith
There are some nice photos of the theater on this site:
http://www.dsoderblog.com/
What is the status of this correspondence with the City?
Windmill Investment Advisors Inc. is now a disolved corporation within the state of California. This means the property title has either been transferred for consideration to another entity or quitclaimed internally to another entity with similar partners. Also possible is; it may be in escrow for a 1041 Exchange, or another such transaction is occuring. The attorney for Windmill during the take back proceedings is in La Jolla and title records do not reflect an accurate agent for service at this time. Also involved with Windmill is a well known Real Estate attorney from Los Angeles, previously listed as the agent of service.
I’m not an expert just an interested party with access to some resources, of course most of this stuff is public info if one knows how and where to look. I would hope to see the California shine again at any cost. In fact, I would like to be invloved with its restoration, organizationally or otherwise.
A quick California Theatre related story.
in 1942 my Uncle Wate was a Submariner in the US Navy. He wrote a letter home while he was in San Diego on liberty to his younger brother who was a week away from setting off to Basic Training at the then Naval Training Center here in San Diego. When he wrote the letter he suggested to Eugene (my grandfather) that one place he be sure to visit be the New California Theatre. He went on for along time in the letter about the grandness of the theatre and how it was full of beautiful women and loud laughter like he had never heard.He commented that he would save further detail for later correspondence when their mother would be less likely to read it. He promised Eugene that one day they would meet in San Diego on liberty and visit down town and the California together.
3 weeks later in October of 1943 Wates submarine the S-44 was sunk near the Aleutian Islands. All but two of the crew perished, and Wate and Eugene never got to visit the California Theatre together. In December of 1943 prior to leaving for flight training Eugene visited the California himself and secretly wiped tears away as he
watched a movie with his buddies and remembered his big brother.
I would like to visit the inside of that Theatre some day and remember my Grandfather and my Uncle, if only for a moment for days gone by.
Does anyone have a status of the California theatre as of 3/9/09?
Good luck Bill. It may come down to suing the (corrupt) San Diego City Council to force action though. Given what you wrote into the document, it would go a long way to explain why I couldn’t get into the build through legal means. They wouldn’t have wanted anyone getting in to document the actual condition of the interior of the California.
CALIFORNIA THEATER AND ORCHESTRA GROUP
a pending, tax deductible, charitable corporation
P.O.Box 33666, San Diego CA 92163-3666, Phone 619-281-2200
Email Site www.californiatheater.info
September 7 2008
City Attorney Michael Aguirre Phone: 619-
Office of the City Attorney Phone: 619-236-6220
Civic Center Plaza
1200 Third Ave., #1620
San Diego, CA 92101
Dir. Kelly Broughton
City Planning & Community Investment Phone: 619-321-3233
202 C Street, MS 5A
San Diego, CA 92101 Phone: 619-235-5200
Development Services Center Phone: 619-446-5000
1222 First Avenue, MS 301
San Diego, CA 92101-4154
Cathy Winterrowd Phone: 619-235-5217
Historical Resources Board Phone: 619-235-5224
202 C Street, MS 4A
San Diego, CA 92101
Council-member Kevin Faulconer Phone: (619) 236-6622
202 C Street, MS #10A
San Diego, CA 92101
David M. Caterino, Coordinator
South Coastal Information Center Phone: 619-594-5682
San Diego State University .edu
4283 El Cajon Boulevard, Suite 250
San Diego CA 92105
Mr. Joseph McDole, State Historian Phone: 916-653-8972
Office of Historic Preservation
California Department of Parks and Recreation
1416 9th Street, Room 1442-7 Phone: 916-653-6624
Sacramento, CA 95814
SUBJECT: Real Estate Fraud Against A Historic Property
Gentlemen:
I write this letter to alert your agencies and departments of a continuing fraud against the California Theater Building property located at 1122 4th Avenue, San Diego CA 92101.
This property is registered as a Historical Landmark Designated by the San Diego Historical Resources Board and is on the City of San Diego Historic Roll and has been so registered since 1990 in this same status:
HRB #: 291
Name of Historic Site or Structure: California Theater Building
APN: 533-521-05
Street # Street Name Zip Code: 1122 Fourth Avenue 92101
Comm. Plan Area: Centre City
Date Designated: 10/24/1990
Year Built: 1926-27
Architect and/or Builder: John Paxton Perrine
This property is also listed on the State of California Roll from The Office of Historic Preservation as a Historic Property and has been so registered as:
Property #: 043427
Street Address: 1122 4th Avenue
Name: California Theater Building
City Name: San Diego
Own: P
Year C: 1927
OHP-PROG: Historic Survey
PRG-REFERENCE-NUMBER: 2138-0333-0000
NRS: 3S
Some 4 years ago, the City Council District 2 informed our organization that in a short time they would assist us in our effort to secure this property either as an outright purchase or using the eminent domain proceeding to acquire title to this property.
The intended goal was and still is to allow our organization to acquire this property, renovate it, preserve the historic character of this property, and proceed with our charity goals to open the theater and proceed with our youth orchestra program.
This is to be financed by our charitable contributions and grants and income from the retail shops associated with this property.
Accordingly, due to the decline in real estate values, now is the opportune time to act to consummate this obligation.
It has come to my attention that the City of San Diego, City Planning & Community Investment has deliberately conspired to defraud the citizens of the State of California and the Citizens of the County of San Diego and the Citizens of the City of San Diego and the CALIFORNIA THEATER AND ORCHESTRA GROUP organization by allowing the then and now current property owners to circumvent real estate law and the San Diego County Assessor and Tax Collector by creative addressing traced to the this very department.
It is unclear as to the possible financial incentives given or the specific counter personnel involved or the exact supervisor who performed department checks on these changes, but it is clear that the true and correct address of 1122 4th Avenue was deliberately and erroneously removed from the tax roll and this key address is the address to which ALL historic status is linked protecting this property from unscrupulous developers.
The bogus address of 1110 4th Avenue was created.
The bogus address of 304 C Street was created.
Both of these addresses magically now appear on the rolls and the true address of 1122 4th Avenue is nowhere to be found! The back taxes are in question and other state required real estate law has been blatantly ignored and broken.
California Real Estate law requires that property lines of underlying lots be dissolved, thus forming a single parcel of property upon which this entire building is located.
This property is in violation of these requirements, since this real estate property in question is located above lots G, H, I, J, and K of city blocks in downtown San Diego.
This single building has been abused in the past by having different land owners for each of the 5 lots.
In fact, documentation shows that two lots were just recently alleged to have considerable income, such that a document assigning rents therefrom was done to secure a loan that was later found in default. There were no tenants or rents, this was a fraud.
A similar situation was undertaken to void a perpetual 99 year lease of the other lots and now we find that the additional effort to circumvent the historic status and registration was done by inventing new addresses, THAT WERE APPROVED BY SAN DIEGO PLANNING DEPARTMENT.
This property, including all 5 lots, had a collective real estate value in the range of $ 3 million based upon the inflated deed prices from 3 years ago, but in view of the decline in value of all real estate, this property is now likely worth something in the range of $ 2 million today; it is a bargain time for the city to exercise its promise of eminent domain.
We are very anxious to get started in our efforts to acquire this property and are proceeding with our building fund drives, grants, and planned philanthropy. We are ready to hold title to this property and have the charitable structure in place to do so.
This is a beautiful building, rich in design, embodied in local history, and historic in every way. We must, AT ALL COSTS, preserve, protect, and defend this property for future generations. Our youth orchestra program will bring joy to the people and provide the inner stimulus to the youth of San Diego that will reduce poverty and crime, all to the benefit of our community.
We, the people, will not allow this redefinition and invention of addresses to circumvent our historic properties for this, The California Theater, or any other historic property in San Diego.
WE FURTHER DEMAND:
That the City planning Director Kelly Broughton put into place guidance and checking procedures to prevent this same devious procedure from occurring again in the future to this or any other historic property in this city.
That disciplinary procedures including termination of employment of the counter persons and supervisory checkers be executed immediately.
That the current owner be required to dissolve all internal property lines delineating the 5 lots that comprise this property.
That the address of 1110 4th Avenue be retired immediately.
That the address of 304 C Street be retired immediately.
That the address of 1122 4th Avenue be reestablished and flagged as a historic property both by the City and the State.
That no development or demolish permit or plan discussion be entertained.
That the County Recorder be held accountable to correct the maps to represent these corrections.
That the County Tax Collector be held accountable to correct the true tax owing on this property.
That the county Assessor move to reassess this property as a single combined lot and establish the appropriate values thereof.
That the current owner be advised that his devious activities have been discovered and that such manipulations of properties in our city will not be tolerated.
That a civil citation be issued forthwith for the damages done to the Citizens of San Diego, seeking restitution.
That the City Attorney immediately commence legal proceedings to charge the owner with fraud and obstruction of justice and tampering with a historic property.
That the City Attorney immediately seek to enforce the outstanding citations on this property issued by the San Diego Code Enforcement Unit as to various items of interest to the public preserving this property.
All the above are to be accomplished and completed within 30 days of the date of this letter, cumulating in a public announcement.
Sincerely,
Prof Bill Neill, Executive Director.
Re: QuickTime VR comment from JJ MacCrimmon: Huh?? “Massive files”? “Memory intensive”? Dude, I made some QuickTime VRs with an ancient Mac Performa 6116 ages ago, sometime mid- to late-1990s when QTVR came out. Just took a cheap camera and a tripod, took photos at around 30 or 45 degree increments, stitched them together, which was just a matter of clicking on common points in adjoining photos and let the incredibly powerful 66MHz computer with its 32MB RAM do its work in a matter of seconds, then uploaded the VR files (each under 1MB) to my FTP space on my ISP. TaDa, interactive 360 degree panorama. I haven’t done any since then, and don’t even know where my copy of the software is now (that version wouldn’t run on the newest Macs anyway, plus I don’t currently have a tripod), but it’s not anywhere near the big drama you’re saying it is. If you didn’t want to do a VR, fine, but there’s no reason to tell tall tales about the huge amounts of computing power necessary, when a 12 year old budget-level Mac can do it just fine, which you can buy in a thrift store for $10. I just don’t want anyone else to be falsely discouraged from doing VR panos, just because you’re massively fibbing about what it takes. VR views of theaters would be nifty to see.
As for the Californian, I only go to San Diego maybe once a year, usually for Comic-Con, but I’ve been fretting for the fate of this old place for years. I had hoped there would be some good news. Well, as long as it’s still standing, there’s still hope, right?
Here is an exterior photo taken yesterday:
http://tinyurl.com/65tec4
Ladies and gents, the window of opportunity for me to photograph the interiors of the California has sadly passed for me. Due to a lucrative job offer, I have moved to Huntsville, AL and will start hunting vintage theaters there. It’s my sincere and genuine hope that someone will get into the site and be able to explore and document its rich history the way I’d hoped to.
I everyone,
Just thought I would poke around and see if there was any update on The California. There was a flurry of info for a while there. In particular I was wondering if david young had any updates since he seems to be the authority on this place. Something tells me we haven’t heard the last of this theater. If the Balboa which sat decaying for years can make a magnificant comeback, so can this treasured realic. From reading the posts there seems to be so many people behind the restoration of this theatre (especially San Diego residents such as myself). I have a feeling that one day soon many of us will see this theatre shine again. Here is to The California Theatre and the hope that it can once again provide the public with entertainment in the 21st century and beyond!
To Prof Neill,
I don’t use Apple VR or the other VR programs. While they make a wonderful experience for houses and small businesses in real estate sales, they don’t work for a very large site like this unless the massive files are held and processed on an business level net server (which as a freelance photographer, I don’t have). The programs and captures required are painfully labor and memory intensive. They do absolutely nothing to capture the character or the beauty (even decayed beauty) for a place such as this. I’ll be going for the National Geographic versus Century 21 feel which the images. I can and will however try arrange portable lighting and capture high quality area panorama shots and detail of various critical areas (including structural captures where possible). In places like this, I do my very best work.
Please understand one important thing here. Throughout our posts here and conversations back and forth you may not have understood my motivation. I see the enormous potential, amazing beauty, remarkable history and lush character of this place as it is and how it once was. I photograph fallen places and faded beauties to capture the history before they are gone. In my area and experience, I’ve seen far too many places have their guts ripped out by metals theives, the walls used as a canvas for taggers and grafitti ‘artists’; and in the end plowed under, burned down, or ravaged by developers. It’s a sad and very distrubing trend in Southern California. While I hope and pray this place is restored, I have to look at the reality of the market there, the behavior of the new owners (they have an extensive history of destructive redevelopment in Los Angeles) and the on-going condition of the building itself. I have been trying to get into this place legally for nearly two years. I’m genuinely afraid that this place will meet an untimely and suspictious end.
Unfortunately, the lawyer responsible for the deal and the new owners seem to be as difficult or more difficult to reach than the previous one. More work on that when I get the chance. My personal life and employment situation has taken front row center of late. I’m hoping to be in San Diego again several times in the coming months and hope to see the building more during those visits.