Mayor Takes Stage of Refurbished Theater

After a quick tour Wednesday morning of the refurbished El Portal Center for the Arts, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan took the stage with a group of second-graders from Strathern Street Elementary School.

Riordan joined the students, participants in El Portal’s theater workshop, in a brief skit followed by a song-and-dance routine.

Dressed in a stylish gray suit, the mayor burst out in song and showed the children some of his best moves. The youngsters giggled and exchanged high fives with the mayor during the routine.

Riordan seemed impressed with the $6-million transformation of the 73-year-old movie palace at 5269 Lankershim Blvd. The Federal Emergency Management Agency contributed more than $4 million toward the project and the Small Business Administration gave another $1.5 million. El Portal raised the remaining $500,000.

The 23,000-square-foot facility has two state-of-the-art theaters--the 400-seat Mainstage Theatre and the 99-seat Circle Theatre--a tiny theater for initial readings and an art gallery.

Some of the best features of the old building have been restored, including sculptures in the lobby depicting the Gold Rush and other scenes from California history that date to the Depression-era Works Projects Administration.

“It’s beautiful,” Riordan said. “I’ll absolutely come back and see a show. I love small theater because it can get intimate.”

The mayor chatted and joked with theater officials, then on his way out signed a tile on the complex’s “Wall of Fame” next to actor Ed Asner’s name.