Society Page
by Midge Grebbens
This is important! On the last page of this issue is a readership survey. We, the people who bring you this fine publication every month, want to know a little information about you, the reader. As an incentive, we are offering free tickets to those of you who fill out and send in your survey. The first ten people who send in their survey will receive a ticket to The Road Theatre’s critically acclaimed play, The Chisholm Trail Went Through Here (limit one per household, $15 value). All surveys received after the first ten will be entered in a drawing in which one lucky person will receive a pair of tickets to the Acme Comedy Theatre. So send in your survey today!
ScentsAbilities is offering a free gift to NoHo Magazine readers with any purchase. You’ll find them at the corner of Tujunga and Moorpark, and I guarantee you’ll find something of interest, be it bath, skin, or scent products, or something from their special line of Fruits and Passion bath products. You’ll also find Nancy Torrey’s L.A. Lars hand-crafted jewelry as well as more precious stones and sterling jewelry.
Signs of revitalization are springing up in the NoHo Arts District, particularly on that lively stretch of Lankershim Blvd. between Magnolia and Weddington. Adding to the night life is Aladdin’s Hidden Treasure. Aladdin’s is a gallery featuring a variety of original art and sculpture, including ethnic art and jewelry. Kent and Sharon, the live-in proprietors, plan on staying open late and offering a variety of events to take advantage of the late-night traffic. On the ground floor beneath NoHo Studios, Ragtime Cowboy is making a comeback. The wonderful vintage clothing store was displaced by the earthquake, and is more popular than ever. They are revitalizing their fixtures and decorating the space in anticipation of a full reopening.
With the addition of these new, eclectic businesses, the continuing revitalization of older businesses, and the anticipated success of theatre from Actor’s Alley in the tent across the street over the next several months, the entire NoHo Arts District is starting to take shape.
If you’re putting together your summer play list, be sure to include at least one production from Actor’s Alley. They are the theatre company undertaking the restoration of the historic El Portal Theatre, the Valley’s oldest theatre, originally opened in the 1920s. After the heartbreaking experience of seeing several years of restoration work undone by the Northridge earthquake, Actor’s Alley is demonstrating a genuinely positive commitment to the community by playing in a circus tent erected across the street.
Actor’s Alley was just putting the finishing touches on the El Portal Theatre, originally built in 1926, when the Northridge earthquake caused $25 million in structural and systems damage and destabilized the front of the building. Actor’s Alley has obtained a $1.4 million SBA loan to be used for cleanup and reinstatement of the theatre, enabling the company not only to repair earthquake damage, but to restore the theatre to a better condition than it was prior to the earthquake. It is estimated that this work will take at least another year to complete.
Meanwhile, Actor’s Alley is demonstrating that it is a theatre company first by mounting a full summer season of plays in a tent on CRA property next to the Academy of Television Arts, across the street from the El Portal Theatre. With the help of Obayashi Corporation—the company that dug the Metro rail tunnel—the tent was prepared in time for the NoHo Arts Festival, where it was the main attraction, featuring live theatre and music.
Actor’s Alley will open its full fall season on their first anniversary. The season will include three mainstage productions, a one-act play festival, and the Latino Playwright Lab, led by Duane De La Paz, who is perhaps best known for his performance in “Cheech & Chong.” Early word has it that excellent talent from the Chicano community is being recruited for these productions. ♦