Fans Launch 11th-Hour Effort to Save Theater

A group calling itself the Save the Port Committee announced Wednesday that it will campaign to preserve the city’s 47-year-old Port Theatre, due to close its doors tonight.

“We got organized at the last minute,” said David Ford of Costa Mesa, one of the committee members. “We’re asking anyone who cares about the Port to show up [tonight] and show their support.”

There will be an informal wake in the theater lobby while the last movies are being shown, he said.

So far, the committee has gathered signatures on a petition seeking support from the Newport Beach City Council. Ford said the council may be asked to help subsidize the reopening of the theater. “There are a lot of things being kicked around,” he said.

The group has a toll free number for information--(800) 359-5284--and a World Wide Web page at https://www.handbuilt.com/savetheport.

According to the committee’s Web page, “The Port is an example of everything that is right with the world today and should be a shining beacon for generations to come of what life was like in a kinder, simpler time.”

The Port, built in 1951 at 2905 E. Coast Highway, was intended as a mainstream theater but switched to showing foreign films in 1976. Landmark Theatres took over the theater in 1989 but said patronage was too sparse to support the operation.