03/28/2004: "Land Barron"

As usual, there are a thousand schemes going through my head. I'm probably bery lucky that I don't have the time or money to put most of them into practice (or the world is very lucky, I'm not sure which!) I have a long "to do" list, which I am slowly but surely making my way through, but I don't see how I'm going to manage everything without a serious investment in cloning. I had originally planned on living to 135 (interestingly enough, this is Mark Hardwick's goal too - guess we still have a lot in common after all these years), but I'm afraid I've had to extend it out to 240 now. Sounds reasonable to me, I have gone three days without sleep before, why not three lives without death?

Anyway, here is my latest scheme. I have always loved the idea of living somewhere weird, like in a converted warehouse, a theatre, or some such. With house prices still running incredibly high in Silicon Valley, and a lot of vacant commercial property still, I figured now would be the time to look again. One building that has always caught my eye is the old Burbank Theatre.

(click below to see more)

One big confusion in America was dealing with theatre, is that the word "theatre" and "cinema" are often used synonymously. So, the Burbak Theatre was actually a cinema (and for a long time, a porn-cinema). But, as it turns out, was originally conceived to accomodate live theatre as well. The building is fantastic, art-deco in form, and though located in a slightly seedy neighbourhood, it seems like it would be a fantastic place to play....

The theatre has stood vacant for many years now (though there are still two thriving buisnesses that make up part of the actual building itself). When I first checked into it about three years ago, it was for sale, but sold soon afterwards to a local San Jose businessman. I kept my eye on the building, but aside from the disappearance of the "for sale" sign, nothing else changed about the place.

So, once again I have been getting the urge to move somewhere weird. Not that my house isn't fantastic, but I've been living here for eight years now! It is in fact thanks to "The Hermit" that I started looking into the Burbank... the house directly opposite is more or less abandoned, though the owner drops by from time to time. Looks like someone crow-barred their way into his garage, and that got me to think about the whole "property development" thing. Or perhaps it was watching "The Apprentice" with Donald Trump.

Anyway, whatever the motivation, I decided to do some more research. I work closely with two local theatre companies, bith of whom have plans to move into their own space over the next few years. It seems to me with this sort of reason behind me, I might actually be able to pull off something here. I chatted with the current owner, and as far as I can tell, he had big plans for the place, which fell by the wayside mostly due to the problems of dealing with the beauraucracy and red tape invloved with such a development.

He sounded very enthusiastic when I described my vague vision for the building. I hope to go
visit it next week to take a good look inside. Now, any actual plan to renovate this building would require grants, permits, backers, and all that sort of stuff. But I figure, I know plenty of people around town (and around the world) who are good at that sort of thing, and if I can just get them all motivated and enthusiastic about the plan - well, it may just be in the realms of possibility. Matthew, fancy gicing me a few pointers???

Checking out the minutes of the Burbank Community Association, it seems that the questions and concerns about plans for the building were strong - the "porn theatre" herritage of the place will take a lot of work to overcome, but what better use of time than to return such a tarnished jewel to her former glory????

Investors welcome! Encouragement welcome! Yay, this sounds like fun!