Sundance Saves Aero Theater

By Jorge Casuso

In the movies it would have been staged as the dramatic climax: The good guy -- played by Robert Redford -- rides in at the last minute accompanied by swelling music and saves the town.

But it was real life, and the news came quietly Tuesday night -- more as an aside, a passing comment during testimony on an item that otherwise held little dramatic interest.

"Sundance Cinema as of last Friday," company representative Tony Pleskow said matter-of-factly, "is pleased to announce they reached an agreement with the Aero Theater."

There were no more details from Pleskow before he walked away into the night. But his measured words had left a gleeful audience stunned, culminating a year's worth of rumors that the famous actor would save the venerable old theater where -- it is said -- he first fell in love with movies as a kid.

"It was sort of the lowest key announcement for such big news," said Councilman Kevin McKeown, who helped arrange meetings between Sundance and city staff that helped finalize the agreement. "This solidifies Montana and provides an anchor for the avenue. This is one that many of us have been working on for a long time."

"We're thrilled," said Bill Bauer, the former vice chair of Wilshire/Montana, who worked to help save the theater. "We can have a movie theater, and with the Prestige of Sundance and Redford they'll be able to do things others can't do. They'll do a first class job. It'll be a wonderful place to see movies."

Sundance has not announced what it plans to do with the old movie house, a staple of Montana Avenue since the dawn of World War II and the city's only neighborhood theater, as well as its last remaining single screen venue.

But word has it that it will showcase the kind of cutting-edge independent fare that put the Sundance Film Festival on the map.

"It's not going to be third run movies that are not on the Promenade anymore," McKeown said.

For the past year, Jim Rosenfield, who owns the Aero, has told area neighborhood groups that he is committed to saving the theater. Rumors escalated when a dress shop in the building relocated and another small shop next to the theater also moved out. Hopeful neighbors saw the move as signaling the coming of a business more compatible with a theater, say a coffee shop.

Last September representatives of Wishsire/Montana and the North of Montana Neighborhood Association successfully petitioned the city's Landmarks Commission to consider the 60-year-old theater for landmark status. But the group's withdrew their petition -- which would have preserved the Aero's foyer, box office and marquee, as well as the lobby and auditorium -- for fear it could jeopardize a deal with Sundance.

"There was concern that the Landmark status would have made it much more difficult and cumbersome for Sundance to make even minor improvements to the building," Bauer said.

Still, the theater's future seemed uncertain. Single screen theaters were going the way of the drive-in and the Aero had no parking, forcing frustrated moviegoers to scour the area for scarce spaces on the street.

"Even if you brought in a lot of people, where are they going to park?" Chris Allen, who ran the theater for eight years, told The Lookout last Fall. "It's damned if you do, damned if you don't."

City officials acknowledge that the lack of parking on the busy commercial strip presents a problem, but they are optimistic it can be resolved.

"Yes, there will be issues of parking," McKeown said. "But I think the will is there. The neighborhood and the city are behind it. It's going to happen."

Built by the Donald Douglas Company in 1939, the Aero Theater was originally opened 24 hours for aircraft workers who worked in shifts around the clock. Then it became a thriving neighborhood venue for generations of Santa Monicans. In the old days, kids were given a bubble gum as they left the show.

"My grandfather built the Areo," said Mayor Ken Genser. "My father worked there the week it opened. I'm very gratified."

"There is romance to this story," McKeown said. "There is an end and a beginning tonight. This is a great thing for Santa Monica."

"The story of the Aero would make a good movie," Councilman Paul Rosenstein said.