Old Town Report (8/31/17 Issue)

Old Town Monrovia. – Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News

By Pam Fitzpatrick

Well, Monrovians, we have a real news flash for you: Old Town’s Krikorian Theatre has sold to a major theatre chain primarily located in Texas. Krikorian has agreed to sell their Myrtle Avenue theatre, along with their theatres in Redlands and Downey, to Studio Movie Grill (SMG). My understanding is that SMG is preparing for a big expansion into California and will bring with them some major changes to the theatres they purchase/open. There will be very significant renovations of the existing theatre, according to City Manager, Oliver Chi. The first thing Monrovia movie-goers will notice is a transition to a reserved seating system. I’m told that the sale will be officially announced on Friday, September 1st – and Friday will probably be the day that theatre patrons will be able to purchase a specific seat (in person, or online) for each movie they want to attend.

Next big change for the theatre will be a change in the façade — however, that change will have to go through the City approval process, including a signage assessment by our Historic Preservation Commission. Also – yippee! – new seating will be installed which will reduce the seating capacity, but will greatly enhance the movie-watching experience. SMG is shooting for the initial upgrade to be completed by December 15th this year (just in time for the opening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi). What’s next? With a name like “Studio Movie Grill,” we can make some good assumptions…

Also, hot off the press (almost!) is a new book about our Monrovia. The “Renaissance Years: A History of Modern Monrovia” is now in the hands of the printer, according to my friend, and the book’s author, Dick Singer. Expect the book to contain 436 pages of the making of the town we know, including candid stories and opinions, and 118 photos. The thing I love about this book is it will contain names of people I know, many people who are here with us today (like me). I suspect it will be a real walk down memory lane, and I can hardly wait to get my hands on it! Dick says we’ll have copies in about 3 weeks, and he promises to make them available for purchase in my store, The Dollmakers’ Kattywompus, as well as other locations throughout Monrovia.

So, now let’s go back to last Saturday’s first ever Monrovia Wine Walk. It was wonderful, and I’d like to repeat a FB comment I saw that night when I got home: “Can’t we do this TWICE a year?” Thought I’m betting we’ll have to settle for once a year, I guarantee you everyone who participated will be looking forward to next year’s event. We had 32 merchant participants: 26 serving wine, plus 6 serving non-alcoholic beverages. The wine was excellent, the food was wonderful, and the planning was spotless. Kudos to the City staff and to fellow merchants Diane Balsamo (Prime Lending) and Kristin Miller (Charlie’s House)!

During the Wine Walk I had the pleasure to stop and talk to lots of friends, as well as make lots of new friends. It is seriously difficult for a shop owner to walk the entire downtown and connect with new owners and find out about new businesses during the working day. The evening walk was pleasant (but tiring…), and I got the chance to visit one of our sort-of-new businesses up in the 100 block of Myrtle. Cryo Spa is located at 121 S. Myrtle (just below Baskin-Robbins), and they offer a very unique kind of therapy. To quote from their brochure, cryo therapy is “a crisp, rejuvenating treatment that uses liquid nitrogen vapor to achieve a healing skin temperature reduction.” Very interesting…

Next week I’ll tell you what’s going on in the 300 block (you have to check out The Attic!)

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