Warner Grand’s Movie Screen Blank--but the Show Goes On

San Pedro’s Warner Grand Theater--the last motion picture palace in the South Bay--is no longer showing movies, apparently a victim of its location and increasing competition.

“We’re changing programming,” owner Ray Howell said in a terse interview last week, declining to elaborate on his plans.

The theater remains open for live performances; this Saturday, the Croatian Fraternal Union of America will host a folk music and dance ensemble at the Warner Grand.

But movies have been the main portion of the Warner Grand’s fare since 1984, when Howell, a former manager of Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, bought and reopened the 58-year-old theater.

Under Howell’s ownership, the Warner Grand has drawn the attention, praise and hopes of preservationists both in San Pedro and Los Angeles. In an interview last March, Howell talked of his plans to restore the theater to its original Art Deco design. That month, the Los Angeles Conservancy featured the Warner Grand as the highlight of its day-long tour of historic San Pedro.

Built in 1931, the Warner Grand was originally nicknamed “Castle of Your Dreams,” and served as a showcase for Warner Bros. studios. It had two sister picture palaces--one in Huntington Park, which has been split into three theaters, and one in Beverly Hills, which was recently demolished.

Though it is one of a diminishing breed, residents say the 1,500-seat Warner Grand has had difficulty attracting customers to downtown San Pedro, where little else goes on at night, and has always faced stiff competition from the South Bay’s movie malls.

With a new six-theater complex set to open on Western Avenue in Rancho Palos Verdes in March, Howell apparently felt he could no longer afford to show first-run movies.

“He said it just didn’t work,” said Flora Baker, president of the San Pedro Bay Historical Society. Baker, along with the society’s landmark preservation committee, is trying to put together a local support group for the Warner Grand.

“His thought essentially has been, with the six-plex going in, he just won’t be able to compete with that operation,” said Gary Larson, who renovated the Arcade Building on 6th Street, across the street from the Warner Grand.

Both Baker and Larson, who is also promoting the support group, attribute a part of the Warner Grand’s troubles to its location. “I think it’s simply because it isn’t stylish to go down there,” Baker said. “Young people won’t be caught dead down there, but you see them in the malls in hordes.”

Larson said he hopes the support group, tentatively called “Friends of the Warner Grand,” can raise funds for the theater or help Howell come up with different types of programming, possibly dinner theater, art and classic films or more live entertainment.

The main goal, Larson said, is to keep the Warner Grand alive.

“If you’ve talked to anyone who’s lived here for 20-plus years, they’ve got some fond memory of the Warner,” he said. “There’s no denying it’s an absolute gem.”