Hopes are to open 16 days each month for movies, concerts
Published in the November 27, 2013 issue of Morgan HillLife
By Marty Cheek
The Granada Theater in downtown Morgan Hill will reopen in December.
If the dreams of a group of dedicated volunteers come to fruition, Morgan Hill’s downtown might after more than a decade have a cinema theater that will regularly bring audiences for a movie and a meal. The nonprofit Morgan Hill Granada Preservation Society has received a one-year lease starting Dec. 1 to reopen the iconic Granada Theater as a community entertainment venue.
“We’re going to run the Granada as a business,” said John Liegl, chairman of the preservation society. “We’ll have staff, but we’ll also have volunteers and people who will advise us.”
Based on the agreement with the city of Morgan Hill’s Successor Agency, the preservation society will open the Granada to the public 16 days each month on Thursdays through Sundays. The target date for the theater’s opening is mid-December, Liegl said. The group plans a Dec. 13 event where families can meet Santa Claus in the lobby. A $100 a ticket fundraising event is also planned for late December.
The Granada Theater, known locally for its iconic marquee on Monterey Street, was closed as a cinema in 2003. Since then, it has been used several times as a venue for the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival as well as screenings of two family-themed holiday movies last December.
In its two theater’s cinemas, each of which can hold about 180 people, the preservation society will host weekly events including classic movies, independent films, stand-up comedy and comedy improv performances, concerts, and lectures by filmmakers and other notable figures. It will also be open for private and business events and educational films for local schools, Liegl said.
The start-up cost for the project is about $30,000 to refurbish the theater and bring its restrooms and other facilities in line with city requirements and federal ADA laws, he said. “I don’t think that’s going to be difficult to raise,” he said. “I’ve done it before and I can do it again.”
From left, Walter von Tagen III, Mitsie Smith, John Liegl, and Renee Carrillo in the Granada Theater lobby.
The preservation society’s long-range goal is to purchase the Granada and keep it from being torn-down by developers, Liegl said. The estimated cost of the purchase would be about $1.6 million, based on a real estate offer in 2012.
Renee Carrillo, owner of the Grinds Vines & Automobilia Cafe located on the same block as the Granada, is a member of the preservation society and sees the success of a reopened Granada helping downtown businesses by bringing more people to its shops and restaurants. “It will definitely make a huge impact, I think bigger than anyone imagines, if we have the theater open for movies and theater and stand-up comedy and concerts,” she said.
A similar cinema in Vallejo was closed for many years and later reopened as a privately-run entertainment venue, helping to rejuvenate that East Bay city’s downtown district, she said. “That theater changed the local economy. People come from all over,” she said.
The Granada could be part of tourism development of Morgan Hill’s downtown, bringing people from outside the city to enjoy themed movie events depending on the holiday season, such as Christmas and Valentine movies, and become acquainted with the restaurants and shops surrounding the theater, she said.
“I haven’t heard a single person who hasn’t expressed excitement, thrill, and a passion to reopen the theater,” she said. “So now the challenge is, ‘OK, Morgan Hill, here’s your theater, come support us.’ And I do think we have the support of the community.”
The re-opened Granada will be a combination of Palo Alto’s Stanford Theater, which shows classic films, and the Nickelodeon Theater in Santa Cruz, which shows independent and art films, said Walter von Tagen III, the preservation society’s director and its self-described “resident film guru.”
“We’ll have a combination of the newer independent films, films that don’t get shown down here, so we won’t be competing with CineLux at all,” he said. “And then we’ll be showing classic films, films from the ‘20s on up. We might do a short-film series, like films of William Powell and Myrna Loy.”
The preservation society has not yet contracted to show any films or booked any performers at the Granada, he said.
Local commercial property manager Mitsie Smith said the group has been trying to get the Granada lease for about 10 years. “Being part of the property management plan for downtown, to see that building reactivated to bring joy to people whether it’s long term or short term, I think has tremendous value for our community,” she said.
