NO HAPPY ENDING YET CITY ACT PANNED AT REDEVELOPED VALLEY THEATER.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

CANOGA PARK - Mom-and-pop-shop owners danced in the street the day city leaders were hoisted over a former X-rated theater to snip the ribbon off its new marquee.

The Madrid Theatre - dedicated Dec. 3, 1998, after a $3.5 million makeover - not only was going to replace skin flicks with symphonies and stage acts. Backers swore the city-owned theater also would revive a Canoga Park business district battered by crime, sleaze, recession and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

Saying 135 to 175 performances would draw 50,000 visitors a year, backers promised the renaissance of Antique Row.

``This is truly a love-in,'' then-City Councilwoman Laura Chick, leader of the Madrid redevelopment effort, said from her perch to 500 business owners, arts lovers and politicians swinging to a jazz band below. ``It's a tribute to you ... and to artists all over the city.''

Today, Chick, now Los Angeles city controller, says the love-in is over. Councilman Dennis Zine, Madrid supporters and local business owners agree.

The 499-seat anchor for Canoga Park revitalization at 21622 Sherman Way has failed to deliver the promised programs, they say. As a result, foot traffic is down. Night life is dead.

And businesses have failed to benefit from millions spent to rebuild the former Pussycat Theater and add more police, parking, pedestrian lights, park benches and quaint decor to a historic Main Street district.

``It's not making any money and not bringing people into the community,'' said Joe Vogt, president of Main Street Canoga Park and past president of the Canoga Park Improvement Association. ``We're talking shows: Since Christmas, we've had about five evening (cash-ticket) performances.''

Vogt, a general contractor, claims he spent $300,000 to open Cafe Madrid to complement the theater, only to shutter it in February because of poor foot traffic and lack of theater support.

After months of complaints from shopkeepers like Vogt, Zine issued a sharp rebuke and called for replacing the city's theater management with a private vendor.

``The bottom line is that the Canoga Park community has a beautiful theater that sits empty and is collecting dust,'' Zine stated in a Feb. 22 letter to Margie Reese, general manager of the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, which operates the theater.

``The theater remains dark, and the stores remain empty. It is because of this that I am informing you that I am taking the necessary action to take the management of the Madrid Theatre away from the Cultural Affairs Department and give it to an entity that will be more aggressive with its marketing.''

Amen, said Chick, who applauded Zine's proposal.

Chick, who once choked down her political pride to perform ``Love Letters'' with then-Mayor Richard Riordan to raise $300,000 for the Madrid, now concedes the city may not be fit to run it.

``I fought for the Madrid Theatre. Getting the money is easy. The hard part is running it. It's not being managed well,'' she said. ``I'm not an expert at running theaters, and I don't think Los Angeles is, so I think that what Mr. Zine is proposing might be a solution.''

Stripping the Madrid from Cultural Affairs to lease it to a private vendor, such as the House of Blues, would require approval by the Los Angeles City Council.

The City Council will meet Wednesday in, of all places, the Madrid Theatre. Zine said his proposal may be drafted by that meeting; if not, then later.

``Obviously, we have failed at the Madrid,'' Zine said. ``Let us clean the streets, police the city and do what government is supposed to do. ... Now it's time to give it to a private vendor to let (it) bring in business, plays, concerts, everything else.''

In the Cultural Affairs Department, Reese and Sarah Welch, marketing director, did not return calls.

Anisa Hamdan, manager of the Madrid since its rebirth, declined to furnish budget or box-office figures for the number of showgoers.

Cheapest rental

The Madrid is the cheapest rental hall in the city, she said, dependent on outside producers to create and market shows. She pointed to a wide range of programs - many of them free - for kids, seniors and adult audiences.

``I know of no plans to take the theater away,'' Hamdan said. ``If they want more performances, they (city officials) need to give more money.

``The bottom line is: They build the building, and they walk away. There's no money for programs, zilch for marketing. ... I'm happy to have somebody here every weekend, but they have to - knock knock - book the show,'' she said.

This month's bookings include: ``Bravooo!!,'' a musical performed in Hungarian; a Santa Cecilia Orchestra matinee on Sunday; Val Watson, a female vocalist; afternoon salsa Music for Seniors; Kevin Toney and his seven-piece jazz band; and ``Anything Goes,'' a stage musical.

Total number of April shows: 10.

Earlier this year, the Madrid hosted ``Jesus Christ Superstar,'' performed by Our Lady of the Valley Theatre Company, and Yolanda King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr.

``Fiddler'' in August

Two dozen gigs are booked through December - most of them one-night stands. There are a few bigger productions planned, such as ``Fiddler on the Roof,'' scheduled to run Aug. 23-31.

Hamdan said it's unfair to ask any community theater to perform the heavy lifting for economic development.

``Is the Madrid supposed to be the economic catalyst?'' she asked. ``If so, where is the economic plan?''

Officials in the mayor's Office of Economic Development, which helped lead the effort to spend $3.5 million in federal funds to refurbish a theater built for silent films in 1926, declined to comment.

Ron Clary, as chairman of Friends of the Madrid, said the volunteer group has no position on whether to privatize the theater. Members just want to see more shows. The Friends, as chief backers for the Madrid, were not permitted free use of the hall for fund-raisers.

``They can promote the dog pound, but not the community theater,'' Clary, president of the Canoga Park Community Center and a board member of the Canoga Park Chamber of Commerce, said of the city's vast public-relations machine.

One private theater director said audiences have tripled since he moved his troupe from West Hills to a new location a few blocks from the Madrid.

``I'm here because of the Madrid,'' said Jon Berry, artistic director of the Woodland Hills Community Theater, which performs at the 167-seat West Valley Playhouse at 7242 Owensmouth Ave., in Canoga Park. ``I thought this would be a perfect place for a theater.

``I think people may have been rushed a bit, thinking things would happen overnight.''

But numerous business owners who had expected three to five paying events a week at the streamlined gray-and-red Madrid were more pessimistic.

``They don't do much for the area,'' said Paulette Mauck, manager of Tattered Elegance, an antique store across the street. ``No one ever came in and said, 'I was in the Madrid and I saw your store.'''

``It hasn't done squat,'' added Stan Goldman, owner of Turn of the Century Antiques and Refinishing for more than 30 years. ``All I see over there is kids in school - which costs nothing - (and) senior citizens groups, ... which is nice, but it's not worth $3 million.

``The busiest place on the street is the topless bar.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, map

Photo:

(color) Friends of the Madrid activists Ron Clary and Shelly Samborsky say there are too few shows at the city-owned theater.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

Map:

Madrid Theatre