![]() It is hoped the mini park will open before the end of 2020. ![]() Amenities will include an open stage for live entertainment and a giant movie screen on the southern wall of the historic theatre. The mini park has been described by its designers as a future “town square” for North Park, a place for the community to gather for special events and an important pedestrian connector between the business corridor of University Avenue and residential neighborhoods. In February 2020 work broke ground on the North Park Mini Park, a half-acre park / urban plaza which was approved for the parking lot behind the theatre in 2012. The Observatory North Park continues to be a popular and vibrant live entertainment and music venue. Opened as the West Coast North Park in early 1929 by Fox West Coast Theatres, it was promoted by Fox as the first theatre in. The group now own and manage the theatre, marketed as The Observatory North Park, and the restaurant space (West Coast Tavern), built in what was originally the theatre lobby. The Verant Group kept the theatre going as a live entertainment venue, and then in early 2015 it was announced that SD Observatory LLC would purchase the theatre. North Park Mini Park (rendering, courtesy City of San Diego) The City was convinced to build a multi-level parking lot across the street. The theatre lobby was converted into a restaurant. The $12 million project saw the stage extended forward into the auditorium, and although a balcony was added, overall seating capacity was reduced to 800. In the early 2000s a combination of North Park community members, the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Diego, and the Lyric Opera of San Diego, raised millions of dollars to renovate the theatre. The space was used sporadically for various discount and religious enterprises. The City of San Diego bought the theatre in 1990 and transferred ownership to its Redevelopment Agency to complete a $900,000 seismic retrofit. The theatre stopped showing movies and closed in 1989. The decorations of note in the auditorium of 1929 are the same as they are today: the ornate curved organ grilles, massive wall sconces, highly-decorated ventilator grilles in the ceiling, and the elegant electric chandeliers. The theatre was designed in an understated Spanish Renaissance style, with reports of the time noting that the theatre did not carry any ornate “ginger-bread” decorations.
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