The double feature advertised on the Reseda Theater marquee made Pat Towers' father laugh out loud when they drove by some 50 years ago: "Friendly Persuasion" and "At Gunpoint."
But the days of double features, or any features at all, at the Reseda Theater have long since faded away, replaced by a graffiti-covered facade that belies Towers' childhood memories of lazy Saturday afternoons spent inside the darkened theater, enjoying such sci-fi classics as "Godzilla," "House of Wax" and "It Came From Outer Space."
Back then, the theater was the centerpiece of a thriving community of 30,000, living high off the post-World War II suburban boom. Back then, Reseda's main street, Sherman Way, had a J.C. Penney department store and a J.J. Newberry's five and dime, as well as an ice skating rink. Into the 1980s, it was home to the Country Club, a legendary concert venue that showcased punk rock and New Wave bands.
But something happened to Reseda. Middle-class families began moving to newer suburbs, and lower-income immigrants moved in. Moviegoers flocked to multiplexes rather than to single-screen theaters, and main streets gave way to mega-malls. The big shops shut down. Sherman Way was left deserted.
"It was depressing to drive by," said longtime resident Susan Davis.
But now Reseda is hoping for a revival -- with the Reseda Theater again its centerpiece, this time serving the area's growing Latino population.
CIM Group, a company that operates the Hollywood & Highland complex in Hollywood that includes the Kodak Theatre, has entered into an agreement with the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles to renovate the 60-year-old structure and transform it into a venue showcasing community-oriented entertainment.
The $8.7-million project should be completed this fall, said Shaul Kuba, principal and founder of CIM Group, based in Los Angeles. "The intent is to have a Latino band playing there one day, a Persian band the next day, and the day after that, a little rock band can come in and play," Kuba said. "The venue will be there for all different sorts of events."
Residents, business owners and city officials hope the theater's renovation will usher in a new era for the community whose population has grown to 99,000.
Reseda was one of the San Fernando Valley's post-World War II boomtowns, one of scores of suburbs to rise with the population explosion of the 1950s and '60s. And the Reseda Theater was a local landmark.
