Historic Theaters

Crest Theatre's preservation behind purchase

2011-02-08T04:14:03Z

A desire to protect the historic Crest Theatre helped push someone to buy it last week.

Bob Emerick, a wastewater treatment engineer with Stantec Consulting Services in Rocklin, said a love of historic architecture and Sacramento's loss of the Alhambra Theatre helped motivate him to buy the theatre complex for nearly $2.8 million Wednesday. The asking price was $3.12 million.

The 41-year-old said he's too young to have really experienced the Alhambra, which was demolished in the 1970s to make way for a supermarket.

But he heard stories about how grand the Alhambra was from his parents and grandparents. Those stories greatly influenced him to act when he learned the Crest was up for sale last summer.

"It just leaves an impression that these old buildings need someone to watch after them," he said. "I love the Crest Theatre. It's a beautiful venue."

His grandparents once lived behind Tower Theatre. Emerick, who was born in Sacramento, also looked into buying that theater but realized he couldn't buy both. Buying the 61-year-old Crest made more sense because it was restored recently, he said.

Emerick developed a love for historic architecture when he restored an old house in Oak Park while he was a grad student in engineering at UC Davis.

He said he is exploring the possibility of bringing more live music events to the Crest now. Otherwise, the Crest will continue operating nearly seamlessly after he bought a complex that measures about 38,000 square feet. The complex includes three restaurants, plus office and retail space.

Emerick bought the property from the Briggs-McClatchy family. Colliers International brokers Erik Neese and Heath Charamuga handled the deal.

The Crest's current operators – Sid Garcia-Heberger and her husband, Bill Heberger, Andy Field and Gary Schroeder – will continue running the theater. They show movies and rent the theater to individuals and organizations who wants to do shows.

The Briggs-McClatchy family owned the theater and adjacent property for nearly 100 years. Dr. Briggs, who owned a physician's building at 10th and K streets, bought the 1013 K St. property in 1910. Briggs married a McClatchy, whose family operated The McClatchy Company and The Sacramento Bee.

He leased it to vaudeville pioneer John Considine and New York politician Tim Sullivan, and in 1913, they completed the Empress Theatre. The Empress offered live vaudeville with seating for about 1,800.

The Empress was replaced by the Hippodrome, which also brought vaudeville performers to Sacramento before being turned into a movie theater in the late 1920s.

The Hippodrome was gutted, and the Crest was built within its walls. The Crest opened Oct. 6, 1949.

Emerick owns one other commercial building – an office building in Reno.

The change in the theater's ownership follows other new development on K Street Mall. Two bars and a pizza restaurant opened across the street from the Crest last month, and a restaurant and tequila bar is expected to open at 12th and K next month.

Emerick said he wants to bring more live entertainment to the Crest to help encourage K Street's evolution.

"It's really a venue for Sacramento," he said. "As all of K Street evolves to become more of an entertainment district, all of the tenants will respond accordingly."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Relit Crest wows crowd

2009-09-22T07:19:09Z

As pretty as a wedding cake and a hundred times more colorful, the Crest Theatre regained center stage on K Street Mall Monday night with the relighting of its historic marquee.

The "ooos" and "ahhs" of roughly 300 people seemed to float up over the flashing dance of electrified color that now plays from the marquee's reader board to the top of the 90-foot blade.

People of all ages turned out to watch as Mayor Kevin Johnson and Sacramento City Councilman Ray Tretheway threw the switch to relight the landmark neon sign following a four-month restoration.

The city ponied up $360,000 for interior work and the sign's renovation, which was handled by YESCO sign company. The theater and its sign turn 60 in October. Both are "treasures" the city wants to protect, said Johnson.

"You know we let the Alhambra (Theatre) slip away," he said. "We are never going to let that happen again."

Johnson and Tretheway applauded Bill Heberger, Andy Field, Gary Schroeder and Sid Garcia-Heberger, who've operated the theater for more than two decades. Tretheway encouraged the public to thank them for rescuing the theater in 1986 and all their work since.

"This lighting is a beacon for Sacramento's future, more than anything else," he said.

Photos by Eric Whalen. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Crest relit Monday night

2009-09-21T03:26:49Z

Nights on K Street will be lit up once again by the colossal Crest Theatre marquee.

A four-month restoration of the landmark neon sign wrapped up Friday when the last neon tubes were installed. Theater operators have invited the public to a relighting ceremony at 7:15 p.m. Monday -- just two weeks shy of the Crest's 60th anniversary celebration.

"When I saw the first coats of paint, my first reaction was, 'That's really bright,' " said Sid Garcia Heberger, one of four people who operate the Crest. "But once I saw it in the larger context, I realized how well it works together and how right it looks."

In May, Heberger and her partners hired YESCO sign company to perform a $213,000 restoration of the marquee. The work is part of a $360,000 renovation project on the building, which is on a list of the city's essential historic sites. Interior work is expected to be completed by year's end.

As a Sacramento landmark, the Crest Theatre's art deco sign can be found in most promotional material used by the city and the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau. The theater sits at the center of K Street Mall, where redevelopment efforts are underway. The city's Economic Development Department is footing the bill for the restoration.

The sign's restoration was undertaken with the blessing of the family which that has owned the theater building for nearly 100 years.

Dr. Briggs, who owned a physicians' building at 10th and K streets, bought the 1013 K St. property in 1910. He leased it to Sullivan and Considine, men who managed vaudeville acts, and in 1913, they completed the Empress Theatre. Today, the building is held in the Briggs family trust.

New operators renamed the theatre the Hippodrome in 1918 and converted that into a movie theater in the late 1920s. The theatre was remodeled and reopened as the Crest on Oct. 6, 1949. The theater closed in 1979 after the decline of K Street Mall and dwindling ticket sales.

Over the next few years, several people tried to operate the theater. The Crest was rescued by Linda McDonagh, owner of The Palms playhouse in Davis, and Bill Heberger, Andy Field and Gary Schroeder, who were involved with the Palms, Sid Garcia Heberger said.

McDonaugh brought the trio to do the Crest's stage lighting, sound and other work so the Crest could reopen in 1986. Heberger, Field and Schroeder later took over as sole operators, said Heberger, who joined the theater in 1986 as a candy girl and became the fourth operator after marrying Bill Heberger.

YESCO workers repaired or replaced more than 45 neon light units on the marquee, which includes a 90-foot blade and reader board. They also recaptured the sign's original paint colors. The sign had been painted in pastels during its first restoration 17 years ago, said Sean Ward, YESCO's service sales representative on the project.

YESCO also built a deck and a rappelling system on the sign to make future maintenance easier. Scaffolding was removed Wednesday and the paint on the marquee received final touches Friday morning, Ward said.

After the relighting ceremony Monday night, there will be a private showing of Michael Moore's new film, "Capitalism: A Love Story."

The public is invited to return on Oct. 6 to celebrate the Crest's 60th anniversary. The theater, which seats 975, will charge filmgoers 60 cents to see Warner Bros.' only print of "That Midnight Kiss," which opened the Crest in 1949, Sid Garcia Heberger said.

"They said it's in good shape. So we're really excited to be able to present it," she said.

A digital copy of screechy 1949 newsreel footage from the Crest's opening also will be shown — for the first time in decades.

"It's really something," Heberger said. "It makes me get goosebumps whenever I look at it."

The former candy girl said the refreshment stand will be stocked with 1940s candy such as Black Crows, Jujubes and Snow Caps.

"We promise it will all be fresh candy — it won't actually be from the 1940s," she said.

Doors open at 6 p.m. The show starts at 7 p.m.

"We're not selling tickets in advance, and we're not taking credit cards," Heberger said. "We wanted to do something that was kind of a give-back to the community, just as a thank-you that the community has been supportive of the Crest."

Photo of restored Crest Theatre sign provided by YESCO sign company. Historic Crest Theatre photo used with permission from the theater. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Crest sign nears finish

2009-07-31T04:49:33Z

A beauty is about to take center stage on K Street Mall.

She's not quite ready for close-ups yet. But passersby are starting to get glimpses of the historic Crest Theatre's new face. Renovation of the theater's landmark art deco sign is nearly finished.

YESCO sign company finished reinstalling the "CREST" letters above the reader board Wednesday. A total of 42 new and repaired neon light units are almost done, said Sean Ward, the company's service sales representative on the project.

The blade -- consisting of sections known as the tower, the leaves and the candy cane -- and the marquee, with its reader board, have been repainted.

This restoration included painting the roughly 90-foot "colossal marquee," as the entire sign is known, in the original bright colors. During the first sign restoration 17 years ago, the colors were changed to primarily pastels The old sign also faded with the years..

However, the sign isn't expected to be lit up again at night until a grand reopening this fall.

YESCO crews must still do some electrical troubleshooting and replace the last of the neon after all the scaffolding is down. Then the sign company will install a rappelling system with pulleys and secured cables to be used for future maintenance, Ward said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. She can be reached at 916-804-2856 or suzanne@sacramentopress.com.

Crest restoration marks 60 years

2009-07-14T02:46:38Z

Standing inside YESCO sign company's Natomas warehouse, Jinbo Xia heated a four-foot long glass tube in an open flame called a ribbon fire. He kept the empty tube from imploding by blowing air through a thin hose running from his mouth to one end of the tube.

Xia gently rushed the tube to a work table and began bending the material before the glass cooled. Working with both hands and mouth, he used a disappearing craft to form the "C" in the Crest Theatre's landmark neon sign. He later added electrodes and "bombarded" or filled the letter with red neon gas that would turn the powder-coated glass tube pink.

The 39-year-old learned the art of making neon light units from his father, who owned a neon sign shop in their village of Jishi, China. Xia's father had learned the skill from early neon light makers in Shanghai. Xia came to this country to use that skill.

Today, many sign companies have begun offering more and more LED signs, which are cheaper and more energy efficient than neon. Few people still making neon lights in Sacramento can match Xia's knowledge and talent.

"I've been doing this for 23 years and he's one of the best I've ever seen," said Sean Ward, the company's service sales representative on the project, as he watched Xia work. "If it's done right, this tube can last for 50 years. If it's done wrong, it won't last a week.

Making and rebuilding neon signs is YESCO's expertise. The founder of the Salt Lake City-based company changed the face of Las Vegas after bringing neon to this country from the World's Fair in France. YESCO is believed to be the largest privately owned sign company in the world, said YESCO Division Service Manager Mark Ager.

The company was chosen to restore the art deco sign as part of a $360,000 renovation to be completed shortly before the Crest celebrates its 60th anniversary in October.

Inside, worn-out seats will be repaired and curtains at the main entrance will be replaced. A boiler that's been heating the main theater since Crest opened Oct. 6, 1949, will be replaced with a more efficient heater, said the theater's Office Manager Laura Coulter.

The Crest site's importance to Sacramento's theater culture dates back before the opening of the theater. The Empress Theatre offered live vaudeville with seating for about 1,800 after opening at the site at 1013 K St. in 1913, said Gerry (pronounced "Gary") Watt, the Crest's projectionist and technician and a former Tower Theatre manager.

The Hippodrome, which replaced the Empress, brought popular vaudeville performers to the city before converting into a movie theater in the late 1920s. The aging Hippodrome's marquee fell off the building and killed someone on the ground in the late 1940s. The Hippodrome was gutted and the Crest built within its walls.

Once, K Street Mall was a movie-house mecca filled with huge, independent theaters. The Crest is one of the few Sacramento movie palaces that survived being demolished or divided up into mini-theaters in the 1970s, Watt said.

"It's a very vibrant, vital part of the Sacramento arts scene," he said. "A lot of the theaters I loved as a kid are gone or converted into other spaces. A lot of cities don't even have theaters intact from that era. So we're very lucky."

The Crest's sign was first restored in 1992 as part of a $1 million theater renovation. The current marquee restoration is expected to cost about $213,000 and be completed by mid-August. For more than a month, Xia, Ward, Ager and five other YESCO staffers have been working to restore the roughly 90-foot "colossal marquee" as close to the original as possible.

Some in the city weren't ready for that in 1992. At that time, the marquee's and sign's colors were changed to primarily pastels, Ward said. This time, the blade sign made of sturdy Midwestern steel will be returned to its original bright colors.

Workers pulled down all the existing neon. A total of 42 broken or burned-out units will be repaired or replaced by Xia. The blade -- consisting of sections known as the tower, the leaves and the candy cane -- was sanded and prepped. The blade is being repainted, and work on the marquee with its reader board is following.

Working from the top down, crews have already started reattaching the neon lights that were in good shape. YESCO workers have appreciated working on the landmark, Ager said.

"That sign is an icon for downtown. We're taking a piece of Sacramento history and restoring it to like-new," he said. "Once we restore it, that sign will probably outlast me."