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.