Movie producer Samaha plans to lease Hollywood theaters. (Marketplace).

HOLLYWOOD'S long-forgotten Fox and Vogue movie theaters are being leased to movie producer Elie Samaha's Franchise Pictures in a move that the principals hope could bring more restaurants and nightspots to the area.

Neither building is considered a landmark, although they are within the historic district that runs the length of Hollywood Boulevard between Argyle and La Brea avenues.

Mann Theaters, owned by a partnership of Warner Bros. and Viacom Inc., has a long-term lease for the Fox and the Vogue, which are owned by the Helen T. Wilkes Company Trust and Robert E. and Suzanne R. Stockton, respectively.

Franchise has retained Ramsey-Shilling Co. to find tenants for the Hollywood Boulevard theaters. Chief Executive Christopher Bonbright said Mann wanted to concentrate on its movie theater operations and that developing the properties would be a distraction. "Technically, we're subleasing (from Mann Theaters) and we'll be sub-subleasing to our tenants," Bonbright said.

Mann Theaters spokesman Bill Hertz would not comment on why the company chose Samaha to develop the properties instead of doing it itself.

The theaters have been largely vacant for more than a decade. In the mid-1990s a group studying paranormal activity leased the Vogue for about three years while the Fox was at times leased out for storage space, according to Leron Gubler, executive director of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

The 9,000-square-foot Fox, built in 1917, is located at 6506 Hollywood Blvd. The Vogue, built in 1936, has more than 15,500 square feet at 6669 Hollywood Blvd.

Samaha, who has produced more than 54 films in the past nine years, including "3,000 Miles to Graceland," and "Driven," did not return phone calls and e-mail messages requesting comment.

Another Opening

After starting up trendy restaurants and nightclubs in Hollywood, partners Alan Nathan and Anton Posniak are looking west for their next hit.

The South African duo has leased a 4,200 square foot building at 2460 Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica for a 100-seat restaurant to be called Lincoln, a steakhouse and bourbon bar.

The pair has also signed on to design the menu for a Mexican restaurant in Venice owned by Werner Scharff, landlord of their Westwood Village restaurant Tengu, as well as the new Santa Monica steakhouse.

Scharff bought the steakhouse's location for $1.9 million in February, according to Angelle Ghiz, a senior vice president at NAI Capital Commercial who brokered the deal.

Nathan and Posniak designed the menu and wine list for the as-yet unnamed Mexican eatery and consulted on the interior design. But when the project is finished, so too will be their involvement. "As far as the operation is concerned, that is Werner's company," Nathan said.

Turning a Page

Los Angeles architecture bookstores are on the move this month.

Form Zero has retreated from its downtown location near the Southern California Institute for Architecture, relocating to 5828 Wilshire Blvd., across from the La Brea Tar Pits and reopening under the name Art Haus Books.

"Downtown was a terrible location," said Alison Pinsler, who owns the shop with husband Eric Chavkin. "There's no business downtown, there's-no foot traffic whatsoever. Here we have the museums and the parks."

In Santa Monica, Hennessey + Ingalls Art + Architecture will trade in its prominent 7,500-square-foot Third Street Promenade location for a similarly sized shop around the corner at 214 Wilshire Blvd.

Hennessy + Ingalls will close this week and re-open Aug. 9 in the new location, where the rent will be a third less expensive, according to its owner, Mark Hennessy.

In order to make the move easier, the store has set about the daunting task of liquidating much of its inventory, according to Heunessy.

"We've been cleaning house for the past six months," he said. "It's an incredible amount of work. We've managed to accumulate a lot of stuff in the 20 years we've been here."

Staff reporter Andy Fixmer can be reached by phone at [phone], ext. 263, or by email at [e-mail].