HOW TO GROW NOHO ARTS DISTRICT RE-EXAMINES ITS POTENTIAL AS A THEATER, RETAIL AND DINING MECCA.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

Imagine a pedestrian-friendly area where a string of playhouse marquees seems to light up an entire block. Cafes are buzzing, and artistic performance literally seem to be spilling out onto the street. Imagine thousands of people arriving from all over the city via the Metro Red Line subway and the Orange Line busway to mix with the artists who call the area home.

Now imagine this happening not just once a year - as it does with the NoHo Theatre and Arts Festival, which arrives this Saturday and Sunday - but every weekend. Perhaps even nightly.

Zhanna Osminina, manager at Color Me Mine, the paint-your-own-ceramics studio studio on Lankershim Boulevard in the heart of NoHo, likes the idea of an arts mecca - particularly if it includes activities for younger artists and audiences. Osminina, who previously lived in Silver Lake and Los Feliz, says she relocated to NoHo specifically for the arts. So far she likes what she sees.

``Those areas were more expensive, like high-end,'' she says of her former haunts. ``I want this to be more fun for younger crowds. Clubs, galleries, all the good stuff - bring it on.

``I've noticed people coming through here asking, 'Where's the NoHo district?' You are in it. You just can't recognize it right now.''

In the future, with careful and proper development, nobody should have to ask that question, according to a redevelopment study conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute (ULI) and focusing on NoHo. The Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) should be using its money to make the city's only arts district even arts-ier.

``The area could become what we call an urban village,'' says Frank Sparicio, president of Corporate Real Estate Strategies in Rhode Island and a consultant on the ULI report. ``You've got all kinds of facilities and city amenities. You've got housing, recreational facilities, restaurants and nightlife. With the high school going in, you have all the elements going in there to make that kind of a neat little urban village over time.''

(A new LAUSD high school is expected to be completed at the corner of Vineland Avenue and Cumpston Street in the summer of 2006.)

It's an attractive picture of the future, say NoHo residents and merchants, but the colors and shading still need to come into focus. A NoHo with a cluster of new playhouses and a focus on the arts signals a very different identity than, say, a NoHo flanked by a brand new 9,000-seat concert and sports arena or a strip mall.

``Prioritize the Arts,'' was the message from the ULI panel, which released ``highlights'' following a weeklong survey of the district's 750-acre redevelopment area in January. The recommendations included landscaping and street enhancements and the addition of parks and green space. A small percentage of development funds allotted to the CRA should be used to create a nonprofit organization designed to buy existing smaller theaters, which might not otherwise survive as property values increase, according to the consultants.

``They actually recommended a new theater center that would help build more of a critical mass of theatergoing activities in NoHo,'' says Bob Fazio, a senior planner with the CRA. ``Suggestions include a central gathering spot that would be programmed for a variety of activities that would be in keeping with the NoHo Arts District. Music, entertainment, lectures. I could even envision street performances of a professional nature.''

The full report is still nearly a month away from completion, but the future look of NoHo is already starting to take shape.

The J.H. Snyder Co. has broken ground on its $180 million NoHo Commons apartment/office and retail space adjacent to the Metro station at Lankershim and Chandler boulevards. And despite the ULI's caution that such a proposal goes against the character of NoHo, the developers of a proposed $100 million sports arena, the Oasis, are still eyeing prime land adjacent to the MTA station.

``Key elements have focused on the (Metro) transit system,'' says Sparicio. ``As soon as people knew that was going to happen, developers and the city started looking at it. My impression is that if the station hadn't happened, the area would still be a kind of funky arts neighborhood struggling to survive.''

The funk is still present, further south on Lankershim Boulevard, in what is traditionally thought of as the heart of the district. The often sparse foot traffic along the boulevard seems to fly in the face of the vehicle bustle on Lankershim itself. Starbucks at the corner of Lankershim is pretty well guaranteed to have a steady stream of visitors. Ditto the Pit Fire Pizza Co. across the street to the northwest.

The theaters themselves, mostly along Lankershim, can house everything from a class to an improvisation group, a folk concert to an original musical. Friday and Saturday nights are the times when the area's 22 performance spaces - all with fewer than 99 seats except the El Portal Center for the Arts - get busy.

Peter Strauss, manager of the Raven Playhouse and a former master electrician at the El Portal, recalls nights where the district has been alive with activity. That means lots of foot traffic between operating theaters, restaurants full, visitors browsing the secondhand and antique stores.

``I thought, 'My goodness, what we have here is a walking village,' '' says Strauss. ``Unlike Old Pasadena, what you don't have is a sort of definition of the area. The lighting is poor. I've also suggested for some time that we need a glossy brochure that lists all the theaters, dance studios and restaurants. It's not development, but if someone published that, it would be a boom.''

Located on Lankershim just south of the El Portal, the Raven is one of the few performance spaces in the district with a marquee. Many of the theaters are tucked away with no signage, indistinguishable from the storefront or office space but for a flier in the window.

Although it calls for the introduction to the area of some six or more larger theaters as well as art house cinemas, the ULI report is not suggesting that the existing playhouses be left behind.

``There's a real concern that when the development does come through, the rates will go so high that existing theater owners - the ones who worked so hard to make it an arts district - will be out of business,'' says Nancy Bianconi, president of the NoHo Theater and Arts Business Collective. ``The smaller Equity waiver theaters are really struggling.''

When Kathy Finley tells people who have never visited about the NoHo scene, the manager of Someone Else's vintage clothing describes an area where, on a weekend, a person can grab lunch, browse the shops and enjoy the entire scene while waiting for an evening performance at a theater within walking distance.

``Just kind of enjoy the whole aspect of it as opposed to going to a movie or eating something at a drive-through,'' says Finley. ``There's great little restaurants, great little stores that you can kind of lose yourself in. I just tell people it's good clean fun and that it's not a mall.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

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5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) NOHO ARTS DISTRICT

the next stage

(2 -- 3 -- cover -- color) Kids' acts and dance figure prominently at the festival. Scheduled this weekend are performances from Children's Museum of Los Angeles (featuring Jere Jon and Sabrina Lu, top left) and the Martin Dancers (Terri Roberts, left).

(4) no caption (NOHO ARTS DISTRICT)

(5) Nancy Bianconi, left, president of the NoHo Theater and Arts Business Collective; Peter Strauss, manager of the Raven Playhouse; and Edmund Gaines, president of the Valley Theatre League, stroll past the ticket booth of the El Portal Center for the Arts.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer