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# Untitled
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/novel-defense-fails-parkers/
- Published: 2003-04-08T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:03:10.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

There has been much in the news in the past year about historical preservation in Santa Monica. A special election last month centered around whether the city’s Landmarks Commission has the right to deem a private home historical without the owner’s permission. Homeowners lost that battle.

The Aero Theatre, which is arguably one of Santa Monica’s more significant buildings, is owned by a Landmarks commissioner but it isn’t historically designated. The commissioner says he doesn’t want it to be.

Fellow commissioners have taken their colleague’s word that he intends to keep the building a single-screen movie house, despite some community members’ concern that it could someday become another retail store.

So this week, Q-Line wants to know, “Do you think the Aero Theatre should be a historical landmark? Why or why not?”

Call (310) 285-8106 with your response before Thursday at 5 p.m. We’ll print them in Friday’s paper. Please limit your comments to a minute or less. It might help to think first about the wording of your response.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 8, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040803.pdf?ref=smdp.com)