Tony Dodero -- From the Newsroom

It’s practically a rite of passage for new reporters on our Newport

Beach beat.

We give them a tour of the town that goes something like this:

“OK new reporter, take note.”

“There’s Newport Beach City Hall, Newport Harbor, Fashion Island, Hoag

Hospital, the Fun Zone, the Back Bay, the Wedge, John Wayne’s old house

and, oh yeah, there’s that Balboa Theater, it’s been under construction

for probably a decade. And you’ll be writing a story on its progress. And

so will the reporter after you and the reporter after you.”

OK, I’m sort of kidding. But sometimes it sure seems that this is a

story that will never end.

And peninsula activist Dayna Pettit said it may seem like that again

to some observers. But she wants everyone to know there’s a good

explanation why construction appears to have halted once again.

“There always is a lot going on behind the scenes,” she said. I wrote

about the theater way back in the early 1990s, when I think it was known

as the Balboa Cinema. Back then, it was a shell of its former self and

had been famous mostly as a former X-rated movie house and then later as

the midnight movie hangout for followers of the cult film “Rocky Horror

Picture Show.”

The city and business community had pretty much written it off because

the old structure wasn’t anywhere close to meeting today’s current

earthquake proof standards.

Shortly thereafter came Pettit, the fireplug peninsula activist who

doesn’t like to hear the words “no” or “can’t.” Pettit and several other

peninsula activists decided to embark on what has been a seven-and-a-half

year struggle to save the theater by transforming it from a movie house

to a performing arts center.

But that takes lots of money, about $4 million, and lots of planning

and lots and lots of time.

Just last May, however, things seemed to be moving along nicely as

Balboa Theater organizers commenced with a groundbreaking ceremony that

came complete with a Bulldozer Ballet.

Finally, it seemed, the theater was on the way toward completion.

But the ballet came and the ballet went and still the theater looks

the same.

So what gives now?

“We were getting ready to demolish the building to start our

construction when we found out the electrical panel for the Orange Julius

business next door was located on the Balboa Theater building,” said

Pettit, the president of the Balboa Performing Arts Theater Foundation.

“Here we’re ready to go in and demolish and we can’t leave the the Orange

Julius building without electricity.”

Not to fear, says Bill Wren, chief financial officer of the theater

foundation, who acts as a liaison between the city and the city’s

construction contractor, ALY Construction. Wren says it looks like the

problems between Orange Julius and the theater have been ironed out and

construction should begin soon.

Still, it cost the theater foundation money to dig underground and get

all the permits cleared for the new electrical panels, Wren said. While

the snag has set the theater back timewise, the changes in the electrical

hookups may end up saving the theater after all, he said.

Another unexpected issue popped up regarding the need for dressing

rooms. Because there was no room in the current theater, the decision was

made to build the dressing rooms in a basement.

But that also turned into a snag because the theater basically sits on

tidelands and any underground work would mean busting into the water

table, thus creating water quality issues and even more permits needed,

Wren said.

All the glitches have left Pettit and others exasperated but still

eager to see this through to the end.

“None of us ever dreamed when we started out that we would encounter

all of these difficulties,” she said. “I’ve practically given up my whole

life for this.”

Even after all the trouble, Pettit predicts that in a year-and-a-half,

the theater just may be finished. And I suppose we’ll all be sitting

through a nice rendition of “Swan Lake,” or something like that, thus

marking the end of a long, frustrating ordeal for theater organizers, and

of a long-playing feature in this newsroom.

***

FYI

The Divas of the Balboa Theater Arts Foundation will present a Beach

Blanket Barbecue benefit from noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 9. Music will be

provided by the Nomads surf band while food will be provided by Clayton

Shurley’s Real BBQ. There will be a rubber duck race, kite flying, hula

hoop, limbo, water balloon toss and baby bathing beauty contests. For

information on the duck races, call 949-646-5161.

TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you have

story ideas or concerns about news coverage, please send messages either

via e-mail to o7 [email protected] or by phone at

949-574-4258.