Lompoc Theatre

Lompoc_Theatre_Project on November 14, 2013 at 8:40 pm

Update! Local nonprofit organization working to restore, reopen Lompoc Theatre as multi-use stage/screen venue! Get on board at LompocTheatre.org, or facebook.com/Lompoc.Theatre.Project

kencmcintyre on September 10, 2009 at 5:33 pm

Here is a 1984 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/pbqpma

kencmcintyre on March 21, 2008 at 5:58 pm

The renovation is slowly getting underway. About time.

kencmcintyre on July 25, 2007 at 8:58 am

There was a multiplex in Lompoc in the eighties. I recall seeing a film there around 1988. Unknown if it still exists.

dheadrick on March 31, 2007 at 5:36 pm

C.D. Reiner and Son of Santa Maria California had the general contract for the construction of the Lompoc Theatre. Local contractors did most of the construction. Decorative interior painting was done by Verne Laney of Hollywood. Scenic equiepment were built by Los Angeles Scenic Studios. Over $100,000 went into the project — approximately $59,000 in the bare building alone, $22,000 in the new pipe organ, $6,000 in the seats and $3,000 in only a part of the curtains. Publicity director of Universal Film Corporation, Howard McBride, presided as master of ceremonies at the theatre’s opening on May 27, 1927.

Cinecitta on April 5, 2006 at 1:53 pm

Story on the restoration and interior pic can be found here:
View link

Big plans in store for Lompoc Theatre to include restoration and expansion
By Mark Abramson/Staff Writer

Now that the funding is in place to purchase the Lompoc Theatre, the buyer is eager to make the building a centerpiece of downtown again – with some new twists that could include even showing films outdoors on summer nights.

The vision of the buyer, the Lompoc Housing and Community Development Corporation (LHCDC), includes restoring the theater to its original look, including the neon marquee that was installed in 1954, and possibly reopening the orchestra pit. Movies and live shows are planned for the theater, which was built by the Calvert family in 1927, according to Sue Ehrlich, head of LHCDC.

But other changes must be made to make the theater economically viable, she said.

Those include adding a balcony, possibly with access via an elevator; expanding the concession area; increasing the seating capacity from 450 to 600; adding an ice cream shop on the ground floor, in a now-empty storage space; creating a VIP lounge and night club upstairs, geared for the 20- and 30-something crowds; and additional office space to lease.

“Having something like a night club done in a themed way is a really good way to go,” Ehrlich said. “We want to create something for every age range in the community and every cultural group in the community.”

A well-rounded slate of events would include first-run Spanish language films among the offerings.

It also would include “summer movie nights” – with movies projected onto an outside wall of the building that would face an outdoor courtyard of a retail building that the LHCDC plans to build next door at Ocean Avenue and H Street.

Films would be projected on a mural depicting the theater’s stage. People would be able to eat at a restaurant in the retail building and watch the movie, Ehrlich said.

The ideas already are beginning to generate some excitement.

“I think it will bring people downtown for sure and it will provide a venue for being able to have entertainment we don’t currently have, like viewing old movies,” said Alice Milligan, the chairwoman of the chamber of commerce’s downtown revitalization committee.

Having a working theater with all the new downtown buildings and other changes in the old town area will have a great impact, Milligan said.

Ehrlich’s nonprofit group last week received approval of $475,000 in loans from the city toward the $850,000 purchase price. The building was appraised at $875,000. It is assessed at $218,958, according to records in the county assessor’s office.

The exact cost of renovating the theater with the additions, while expected to be well over $1 million, has not been determined, but Ehrlich said she believes the funding will come from grants, government and possibly other sources. She said LHCDC hopes to break ground on the project in early 2007. The timetable for opening the theater has not been determined.

The LHCDC also has plans to safeguard the building by getting it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Being on that list could help the theater earn tax credits to help pay for the renovations and improvements. Being listed would also preserve the building for people’s enjoyment and make it make it difficult for anyone in the future to tear the theater down, Ehrlich said.

“We want this theater to belong to the community and provide all kinds of entertainment,” she said.

Mark Abramson can be reached at 737-1057, or mabramson@

lompocrecord.com.

March 27, 2006