Save the Fairfax Theatre
HOLLYWOOD PRESERVATION
Historic Fairfax Theatre could be replaced by apartment complex
(Los Angeles Public Library)
By Shelby Grad
Los Angeles Times
January 9, 2009
The Fairfax district could be losing a major landmark.
A developer is proposing replacing the Art Deco-style Fairfax Theatre and the thrift shop next door at Fairfax Avenue and Beverly Boulevard with a residential complex.
According to Curbed L.A., a developer wants to gut the building and create more than 70 residential units as part of a mixed-use development. The Larchmont Chronicle says the developer would keep the Art Deco facade, but that has not stopped some residents from vowing a fight.
Critics note that the Fairfax is one of the last independent theaters in Los Angeles. Such nonchain cinemas have been hit hard by the recession. “The Fairfax is going to be our flagship to try to save neighborhood theaters,” said Brian Curran, a board member of Hollywood Heritage told the Chronicle.
A group, Friends of the Fairfax Theatre, has created a Facebook page to fight the closure. “The Fairfax now faces a threat to its existence by developers. Being one of the last few remaining neighborhood movie houses left in L.A., let alone the country as a whole, it needs to be preserved. Please join us as we save this Fairfax District institution,” the group says.
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January 10th, 2010 at 10:09 am
The cost of doing the renovation of a historic building is ridiculous! With the amount of money it would take, why not buy an ugly empty parking lot and build new there? Some factions are doing this to irk those of us who want the “old” just the way it is. Hollywood has lost so many fine buildings because of greed. Time to stand up and say NO! “We want the Fairfax the way it is.” Restore it, and make apartments elsewhere.
January 11th, 2010 at 3:52 am
The destruction of any major historic landmark is ,in my opinion , greatly offensive and completely self- serving.