Mention the Yost Theatre to old-timers among Orange County Latinos, and they become nostalgic about a memorable night.
From the 1940s until it closed in 1985, the Yost screened Mexican movies, hosted concerts and attracted visits from Mexican stars such as singer and actor Pedro Infante.
After it sat nearly dormant for two decades, a developer is bringing the Yost back to life, hoping it will boost declining sales at shops he rents out in Santa Ana's downtown, one of the largest Latino shopping districts in Southern California.
After a recent Mexican folkloric concert drew more than 600 people to the theater on Spurgeon Street, the owner decided to renovate it and has offered local groups use of the theater for free.
"What we are trying to accomplish is to bring as many people as possible into the downtown. If the Yost puts on programming that is first quality and very culturally oriented, there will be other people who will come," said Irving Chase of Fiesta Marketplace Partners, the theater's owner. "I might be a dreamer, but I feel that the Yost has value."
Last week, Chase and his son, Ryan, were making a list of needed improvements. So far, they have put the restrooms in working order. Irving Chase would not say how much money he expects to spend or how long it will take.
Merchants are elated that Chase has informally allied himself with the nonprofit Centro Cultural de Mexico to bring in music and shows.
"What's going to happen in the Yost is going to help us," said Jose Romo, owner of a downtown shoe store whose sales have dropped 30% in the last year. "There are fewer and fewer people coming to the downtown."
Mohammed Saleh, owner of Brian's Boy's and Men's Wear, said that because of declining sales, he has cut back from two part-time employees to one part-timer.
Saleh and others attribute sales declines to the sagging national economy, competition from malls and big-box retailers and to rumors about the possibility of immigration raids in the downtown shopping area.
The revitalization of the Yost could help draw customers to shopkeepers who rent from Chase, but to many community members, it's also a chance to turn a historic site into a vital community center.
Zeke Hernandez, the Orange County district director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights group, remembers the night, three decades ago, when he went to the Yost to hear Mexican movie star Miguel Aceves Mejia, who had turned to ranchera singing.
