American Cinematheque takes over historic movie house today
The nonprofit organization which takes over the historic Aero Theatre today owes more than $110,000 in taxes.
American Cinematheque has racked up about $70,000 in assessments to the City of Los Angeles since it reopened the Egyptian Theater in 1998. The Hollywood-based organization hasn’t paid its taxes for five years, officials said.
Kerry Morrison, executive director for the Hollywood Entertainment District, said American Cinematheque owes her organization too. HED, a business improvement district that represents 210 businesses along 18 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard, is seeking $45,000 from the organization.
Barbara Smith, executive director for American Cinematheque, said the theater didn’t know it owed the money because it is exempt from property taxes and never received a bill. Assessments are listed on property tax bills.
“The assessor’s office never sent any bills and they admit they didn’t have the right address,” she said. “We never were expecting a bill and it’s not my job to run around and ask if we owe people money.”
Smith said she has been working with the Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector for the past several months to determine why the theater didn’t get a bill. It turns out the assessor’s office was sending the bills to the wrong address.
“They city is not at all upset and if they have a problem with you they can do all kinds of things to you, which they haven’t,” she said.
Businesses along Hollywood Boulevard assess themselves to pay for certain services like maintenance and private security, but apparently American Cinematheque hasn’t paid its share.
3C0,“Any money that doesn’t come in effects services,” Morrison said.
She added that she contacted the Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector after getting pressure from her board of directors to collect the money from American Cinematheque.
“We don’t have any leverage,” Morrison said. “I contacted the CRA because of the severity of it being five years of back taxes. When there is a long standing delinquency, Los Angeles County can do something about it.”
The theater is being fined about $1,600 a month, which is about 18 percent annually. If the organization doesn’t pay the back taxes in full by June 30, it runs the risk of the theater being shut down and sold at a public auction.
However, Smith said officials from the assessor’s office told her it wouldn’t be seeking penalties and there is no risk of the theater being sold.
But Morrison said Smith has known about the delinquency for years because she’s talked to her about it several times.
321,“I’ve had conversations with her over several years that have been friendly,” Morrison said. “She said she would look into it and I ultimately decided to send her a memo to her (in February) and since the phone conversations weren’t yielding any results, I contacted the CRA to make sure they are aware of it.”
LA County Assessor Gary Townsend said the problem should be remedied shortly.
“They’ve expressed interest in paying,” he said. “We do expect them to take care of it.”
American Cinematheque recently has secured a 10-year lease for the 65-year-old Aero Theatre on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Future plans for the theater not only assure that it will remain a single-screen movie house, but its new operators say they plan to renovate the aging venue so it’s more comfortable for patrons.
American Cinematheque plans to open with its first screening at the end of the summer. The non-profit arts organization will take over the Aero today and spend a few months renovating the facility.
The American Cinematheque recently restored the historic 1922 Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and many of the films shown there will make it to Santa Monica.
Cinematheque presents at the Egyptian Theatre a diverse, year-round film series featuring rare, unusual films and videos from all over the world, Smith said.
By expanding its operation in Santa Monica, American Cinematheque hopes to broaden its audience by offering one-of-a-kind films, Smith said.
The new operators plan to keep the Aero a single-screen theatre, with a few upgrades to the venue’s concession stand, as well as “vastly improving” the audio and projection systems, Smith said.
Larger, more luxurious seats will be replaced with the old ones and the interior of the theatre will be renovated. The symbolic marquee that stands above the theatre located at Euclid and Montana Avenues will remain intact, as well as the theatre’s art deco interior.
The theatre’s current operator, Chris Allen, has run the Aero for the past 11 years. Last year, Allen had fallen behind on the $10,000-a-month rent. The community rallied behind the Aero at several fundraisers that Allen held to keep the theatre going.
The Aero had been running second-run blockbusters fans might have missed at big-name multiplexes, or independent films they might have missed elsewhere. But with only five or six people arriving for most showings, the theatre’s future was constantly at risk.
Allen hosted a going-away party this past weekend and showed “Blazing Saddles” as the last film under his tenure.
“It was great,” he said. “It was a fun movie and a good one to go out on.”
Asked what he’ll do now, Allen joked that he might sell oranges at freeway exits or panhandle on the Promenade with a sign that says, “Aero Theatre veteran” to garner sympathy.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 15, 2003. Read the original PDF.