Lancaster and Palmdale battle for bragging rights to Antelope Valley's first arts complex.

Lancaster and Palmdale battle for bragging rights to Antelope Valley's first arts complex

About 60 miles north of Hollywood, in the northermost reaches of Los Angeles County, two communities are battling to become the entertainment capital of the Antelope Valley.

If all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players, then the citizens of Palmdale want to insure they are not upstaged by their neighbors in Lancaster. And in the latter community, the feeling is mutual.

Officials of Lancaster, with 80,000 citizens, and those in Palmdale, with 55,000 residents, were unable to work together on building new performing arts center. Now the two cities are building similar-sized facilities just 10 miles from each other.

Although the two cities share a border, they have frequently vied for the distinction of building the valley's first mall, its first auto dealership complex and now its performing art center.

"I don't think there was a controversy, just a competitive situation," said Lou Bozigian, a former Lancaster mayor and president of the Lancaster Performing Arts Center Foundation. "Though I believe it could have been better if we combined efforts over the years."

Lancaster has a jump start on Palmdale as its theater is already in the construction stage, while Palmdale is still planning its version.

The victory is sweet for Lancaster, which lost bragging rights to the first Antelope Valley mall to Palmdale last year. Palmdale also convinced two major retailers, Sears and J.C. Penney, to relocate from downtown Lancaster to it.

Since Palmdale and Lancaster first started planning arts centers in the early 1980s, their plans have drastically changed and moved toward similar concepts. Lancaster began with a grandiose plan and scaled it down to the present 725-seat theater. Palmdale's City Council began with a modest 400-seat theater proposal and now has decided to build a 700-seat one.

Construction began last May for Lancaster's theater in the heart of the downtown business district, sandwiched between an appliance store and a gift shop on Lancaster Boulevard.

The city bought an abandoned movie theater on the site and razed it to the ground for the theater.

Bozigian explained that the city has budgeted $7.5 million for the project, not including the cost of the land. Most of the funding comes from the city redevelopment agency, but Bozigian's foundation has pledged $420,000 toward construction costs.

Palmdale received a 5.7-acre parcel of land this past December from developer Ron Ordin for its own performing arts center.

However, Palmdale has not been able to match Lancaster's strong financial backing. The Antelope Valley Cultural Foundation to date has only raised $450,000 of the $750,000 it pledged to raise in 1984. The City of Palmdale has budgeted $4.7 million for the theater, but has not yet received the City Council's approval for the project.

Bozigian, who served as Lancaster's mayor from 1983 and 1984 and as a council member until 1986, said that his city originally had plans for an arts complex in a city park. Plans included a 2,000-seat theater, a 450-seat theater, an outdoor amphitheater and several shops.

At first, Bozigian traveled throughout Southern California to study community theaters. He was advised to build a smaller 700-seat theater first and to wait to build a larger 1,500-seat theater until there is a strong community demand. Lancaster officials then decided to construct a smaller theater in its present downtown site.

Some council members opposed the move. Bozigian said that Councilman George Theophanis did not want it built downtown. Theophanis said the theater would occupy prime downtown real estate without generating tax revenues. The council went ahead with its plan anyway.

The City of Lancaster will subsidize the theater's operating budget after it opens in Spring 1991. Lyle Norton, Lancaster's director of parks, recreation and arts, has estimated that the city arts center will have an annual operating budget in the $400,000 to $500,000 range. He has said that the city will pay for half that cost and with the balance financed by box-office revenue and theater rentals.

Bozigian said that Lancaster parks department has a $5.4 million budget that will help support the theater. The Lancaster Performing Arts Foundation plans to earmark funds to help pay for special performances that may not be box-office successes. Many groups in town ranging from elementary school classes to theater groups will be able to use the theater, Bozigian said.

In Palmdale, the city council has agreements with the Desert Opera and Desert Repertory that will permit them to use the theater 18 weekends a year for free. As a result, the theater will generate no revenue for one third of the weekends each year.

Bozigian said it is too early to tell if the two cities can each support its own theater. He said that competing for the same acts should not be an issue because his theater can either book the performance for a different date or find another act. Arts: Palmdale desert prepares to blossom