Liberty Theatre, North Bend, OR, Phase 1 and counting.....

The Liberty Theatre, in North Bend, was designed by Tourtellotte & Hummel, of Boise and Portland, and opened on Easter Sunday 1924.  It cost $50,000, and was just one of the fine concrete, fireproof, structures built in that city during North Bend boom of the early 1920s.  The Liberty showed movies through WWII but was closed when the newer, wide-screen, Port opened.  It sat vacant for a time before its owners leased the building to Little Theater on the Bay (LTOB), a Coos County-based community theater group.  LIBERTY  LTOB purchased the building in the 1970s, paid off the mortgage in 1996 and even bought the lot next door. 

Coos County, so isolated for so many years before the coastal bridges and highway was completed, developed a rather amazing tradition of high quality local theater.  In those early years there just wasn’t much entertainment there and people, talented people, learned to entertain themselves.  LTOB is now the second oldest continuously operated theater group in Oregon, and has put on productions for more than six decades.  Their alumni include people who went on to Hollywood fame (Roy Scheider), people who perform at OSF, and yes, just as likely the local teacher, the guy that works at the mill, or youngsters from area schools.  It’s community at its best.  The quality is rather astounding.

Focusing on theater, LTOB lucked out with the Liberty Theatre but it was never exactly their primary focus.  As long as the roof didn’t leak, the power worked, and the acoustics were good (they are great) the theatre was just a building.  There has been an on-off interest in new digs, maybe restoring the Liberty or maybe replacing it, but nothing much happened.  Perhaps inspired by the work on the Egyptian Theatre, just down the road in Coos Bay, the LTOB Board asked us to come out and take a look.

I had driven by the Liberty for years and never really noticed it.  The rather monochromatic, (I called it Taupe-on-Taupe) faded, paint scheme didn’t exactly draw the eye and, located at a curve on Sherman Street at the south part of downtown North Bend, the natural inclination is to look away, toward the road.  Certainly I'd not been inside and, frankly, when the chance finally arrived this Spring, I didn’t expect to find much.  I was wrong.

The interior has much of its original design…the lighting and even the seats are all still there, probably not much different from what they were in 1924.  There has been some change and loss (the painted murals are hidden) and there’s stage lighting and sound from the conversion to live theater, but there's lots to work with.

The building is in good shape, mostly with deferred maintenance outdated systems, but nothing major.  LTOB continues to put on plays and the magic on stage buys a lot of forgiveness for the limited services, lack of indoor ADA restrooms and small lobby and concession stand, but certainly the Liberty, a phenomenal Moorish design, could be so much more than it is.  I couldn't see any reason not to rehab it and make it what it should be.

LTOB decided to launch a fund-raising effort.  The City of North Bend’s Urban Renewal Agency very generously stepped up to the table with a major (like 6-figures major) matching gift and over the next few years, in a series of phases, the Liberty Theatre will get the attention that its needs.  We’ll bring the “show to the sidewalk,” and give LTOB the venue that their tradition of quality productions deserve.  

Phase 1 was painting the exterior and having people notice the building and boy, do they ever!  We did some testing to determine the color history of the exterior and came up with a historically-based design to support the Moorish style T&H chose in 1924.  Next up, new restrooms and some lobby areas on the lot to the south, getting rid of the oh-so-lovely Sani-Can and then later a new marquee, some storage and rehearsal spaces, new systems, and more.  Stay tuned!

Medford's Greyhound Portal-Good News!

A while ago I wrote about our efforts to save the Greyhound Portal, a portion of the former Pacific Greyhound bus terminal in downtown Medford Portall.  It was to be restored as a feature in Park Block #2, of the Medford Commons project, surrounding the Lithia Motors HQ. MURA, the Medford Urban Renewal Agency had proposed saving the portal, and then last October changed its mind, setting in motion a long series of complicated public process that involved the Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission, the Arts Commission, MURA and the City Council.  Well, in the end, the MURA Board decided the best thing to do was just go ahead with their original plan.  Earlier this month they voted 7-1 to retract their request for demolition, saving the portal and assuring its restoration.  We are thrilled.

And we aren’t the only ones, apparently.  Last week an anonymous donor stepped forward.  He had secured the original “GREYHOUND” lettering when the depot was shuttered in 2008 and has kept the sign since.  Now that the City  agreed to keep the portal, he donated them back.  We picked the sign up yesterday.

The letters, about 19 feet long and 30” tall, are in excellent condition, considering they are 65 years old and have been sitting on the ground for four years.  No dings, the original mill-finish is in excellent shape under a few coats of easily removable paint.  The chase, at the bottom, originally held two tubes of neon, that would backlight the letters at night.  Even if we can’t find the budget to do that now, we’ll be sure and build the opportunity to get power back to the sign, and do so in the future! 

The Show Starts on the Sidewalk

Earlier this month the JPR Foundation filed its formal application with the City of Medford Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission, detailing the various exterior rehabilitation and restoration that mark the beginning of the transformation of that building from a long-vacant opportunity into a vibrant 1000-seat performing arts center.  Aspects of the exterior renovation include the restoration of the original wood windows, cleaning and repairing the Flemish bond brick of the upper floors, repair of the damaged sheet metal “tiles” at the parapet and the complete reconstruction of the exterior entry foyer, including the tile pattern that I’ve written of here previously.

But, as it should be, it will be the signs that get the most attention (that, of course, being the entire point of signs).  From the 33-foot neon pylon at the corner of Holly and 6^th to the projecting marquee over the entry, we’ve done the best job we can of recreating the visual character and, hopefully, the excitement that this building created in Medford when it opened in August 1930.  Fernando Duarte, of Duarte Design, and Alpha Signs are working on the details, based on JPR's historic program, and we expect to be under construction by early next year, for a Spring unveiling.

Last week I was out in Coos Bay, Oregon, talking to the City and private parties that are interested in bringing new life to the Egyptian Theatre.  (Read the story) One of the concepts that I tried to convey is the value that a restored historic structure, especially a restored movie theatre, can have as a customer magnet.  Great architecture and design, that pays lots of attention to all the details of the exterior to create an unmatched “experience,” is really one of the most difficult to reproduce benefits that comes with any quality restoration project.  I am reminded, in such situations, of two statements.  The first “it’s hard to create great places from scratch” comes from Jane Jacobs, author of the iconic The Death and Great American Cities.  The other isn’t really a quote, but to me sums up the entire goal of theatre restoration.  It’s the title of a somewhat obscure book by Maggie Valentine, about the designs of the prolific California theatre architect S. Charles Lee.  Lee designed some 250 theatres between 1920 and 1950, including the Fremont Theatre, in San Luis Obispo and the La Reina, in southern California (where, as it happens, I used to spend Saturday matinees as a child.  I think it's a mall or something now).  Lee never worked in Oregon, but his design philosophy, as elegantly summed up by Ms. Valentine’s title, fits what I think is so exciting about theatre rehabilitation.  Valentine’s book is simply titled The Show Starts on the Sidewalk and, indeed, it does and should.