Culture Clash Gets Residency at Revitalized Westlake Theatre

The LA Times is reporting that Community Redevelopment Agency of the city of Los Angeles is undertaking an initiative to revamp the Westlake Theatre. The Agency plans to make the space into a performance and multimedia center, with facilities for stage and music performances, film, and community and social events. In addition, the Latino performance ensemble, Culture Clash, is set to become the resident theatre company of the space.

"They're very popular; they attract a big audience," said CRA Administrator Leslie Lambert speaking to the LA Times. "Ethnically, they fit perfectly with that community. They're very much in touch with that community. [And] they'll bring in audiences from elsewhere."

To read the full article from the LA Times, click here.

Culture Clash is a Chicano American performance troupe composed of the writer-comedians Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Sigüenza. Their work is of a satirical nature.

Culture Clash was founded on May 10, 1984 at the Galería de la Raza in San Francisco's Mission District, by the writers José Antonio Burciaga, Marga Gómez, Monica Palacios, Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Sigüenza. The founding date is significant due to the importance of Cinco de Mayo to Mexican-Americans, the shared ethnicity of the majority of collaborators. Montoya and Sigüenza had both been involved in the Chicano art scene in the San Francisco Bay Area, Montoya being the son of Chicano poet, artist, and activist José Montoya, and Sigüenza having been involved in the art collective La Raza Graphics, which created works of graphic art to support campaigns of the Chicano Movement.

Culture Clash's works range from comedic sketches to full-length plays and screenplays, all of which feature political satire and social satire. The troupe's members have appeared separately and together in several films and received numerous awards, commissions and grants. In 1993 they filmed 30 episodes of a sketch comedy television series, also called Culture Clash. Some of them were aired on Fox affiliates. In 2006 they premiered two new full-length plays, the comedy Zorro in Hell and "SF: The Mexican Bus Mission Tour with CC!" Their works have been collected in two volumes, Culture Clash: Life, Death and Revolutionary Comedy and Culture Clash in AmeriCCa: Four Plays. Their papers are housed at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN) Oviatt Library.The Westlake Theatre is located in the MacAthur Park area near downtown Los Angeles. It had a gala opening September 22, 1926 with Monte Blue and Marie Prevost in "Other Women's Husbands" on screen, supported on stage by Charlie Nelson and his Band and a Franchon and Marco "Idea". The original seating capacity was for 2,000. The theatre was equipped with a 2 manual, 10 rank Wurlitzer organ (which was later removed and eventually destroyed). The theatre's large roof-top sign has not only survived, it is still in use, as it was renovated in 1987. Other theatres located near the Westlake Theatre were the Park Theatre (now a store) and the Vagabond (now a travel agency).

Built and operated by West Coast-Langley Theatres it was designed by architect Richard M. Bates in a Spanish Colonial Revival style on the exterior, with Spanish Rococo details, known as Churrigueresque. This style is carried out throughout the theatre. Inside the auditorium there are decorative side grilles beside the proscenium, behind which were the organ chambers. A large painted panel is located above the proscenium.

Operated by Fox West Coast Theatres for many years, in 1935, architect S. Charles Lee was commissioned to modernise some features of the theatre, mainly the ticket office, marquee and some work in the foyer. The Westlake Theatre was a first run-movie theatre, but in later years, Metropolitan Theatres bought the theatre and ran it as a second and third run movie house, and eventually switched to only Spanish-language films. The Westlake Theatre closed on June 26th, 1991. Like many Los Angeles theatres, the Westlake was transformed into a swap-meet. A level concrete floor was poured in the orchestra area and traders stalls now operate from this and the foyer. The balcony remains intact, but out of bounds. All the original decorative treatment remains.

In February, 2008, the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles purchased the theatre for $5.7 million and adjoining properties for an additional $5 million dollars. The agency wants to resell the space to a buyer who will restore the theatre into a movie and performing arts space, and redevelop adjacent property with affordable housing, retail and parking.

The Westlake Theatre is designated a Historic Cultural Monument.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.