League of Historic American Theatres conferees visit United Palace in New York. (Photo by Matt Lambros)
Don’t try to sell Ken Stein on the theory of what goes up must come down.
As executive director of the League of Historic American Theatres, it is Stein’s organization’s job to preserve the American landmarks known as historic theaters, described in League protocol as those venues that are 50 years or older or considered to have significance to a community.
“As an organization we believe that historic theaters are unique places of community and cultural gatherings,” said Stein, himself a former CEO of the Paramount and State Theatres in Austin, Texas. “We believe they sit apart from the newer performing arts centers that have been built. We believe that because there is a sense of history in place that is sort of intergenerational.”
Indeed, the older a theater the more likely its history and its events become shared as stories and visits are passed from one generation to the next. Today, the League’s membership includes 280 theaters, 64 allied members who provide product and/or service to the theaters and 50 subscribers comprised of people who have an interest in historic theaters.
The organization was started almost 40 years ago and serves to demonstrate the breadth and depth of America's historic theaters and serve as a resource to members, theater historians, preservationists and other community leaders. According to Stein, the League’s birth was not exactly planned but became more and more of a possibility the more certain constituents discussed the need for an umbrella organization.
“A group of theater operators and service providers, primarily on the East Coast, got together and were having drinks and talking about how much they loved the historic theaters they were involved with and decided they wanted to go out and tour other theaters,” Stein said. “After doing that and over drinks again—which seemed to be a theme—they said that a lot of the theaters they were visiting for fun were probably not going to be around years from now and maybe something should be done about that. So this fun get-together turned into conversations of creating an organization that might assist in preserving or otherwise raising the profile of America saving its historic theaters.”
In its early years the League would call historic theater operators, enthusiasts and service providers in a particular city where they would hold a conference, which basically meant getting on a bus, driving to a city and theater, conducting a meeting, getting back on the bus and heading to another city.
“They would go on a traveling caravan for a conference,” Stein said. “Eventually that got big enough that the caravan was more than the organization could manage so it became a single city-based conference with a tour included.”
Today the League holds an annual conference in July and provides continuing education not only for historic theater operators, but also for communities and organizations that are interested in saving historic theaters or otherwise interested in getting more information.
“If a community determines that its theater is worth saving we will help them put together a strategy, some studies and put them in touch with similar theaters around the nation to help them along the way,” Stein said.
Don Telford, president of San Diego Theatres and a past president of the League, has a special fondness for the organization as it relates to his venue.
“I first became aware of and involved in the League at the encouragement of the architect and the finishes experts that had provided early investigations and studies that helped lead to the preservation and restoration of San Diego’s historic Balboa Theatre,” he said. “At that point, the Balboa had been closed and ‘mothballed’ for more than 15 years.”
“However, there were many local advocates as well as national interest in its restoration. It was refreshing and exhilarating to find the League, and its members that have a common bond of appreciating these irreplaceable community treasures, not just for the architectural features but also for their value and marketability to their residents,” he added.
League members run the gamut in size and appear in both urban and rural communities. While the definition of a historic theater must meet the criteria listed earlier, Stein is quick to add with a laugh that, “We don’t require a plaque to be on your front door.”
“If you are 50 years or older or architecturally significant in some way, you can become a member,” he said. “The key there is architecturally significant. If a community has determined that theater has value to that community, welcome aboard.”
Stein cited as an example the Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State University, which is one of the League’s newest members and joined just before turning 50. “We welcomed that membership because it was a Frank Lloyd Wright theater and I believe one of his last public space commissions,” he said.
The League maintains a database of about 1,500 historic theaters and routinely communicates with hundreds.
Interviewed for this story: Ken Stein, (512) 789-2087; Don Telford, (619) 615-4004