The Rise and Fall of the California Theatre

Today's post shows a very sad before and after view of the once grand California Theatre. Located on 4th Avenue in downtown San Diego, the first image shows how it looked circa June 14, 1963. Today, it is a boarded up dilapidated mess.



The movie showing in 1963 was "PT-109," starring Cliff Robertson. Here's a vintage 1960's shot of a diorama from the Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park that recreated a scene from the movie on the California Theatre's marquee:



Robertson also starred in the 1960's classic TV series "Batman" as the villainous cowboy Shame; his real life wife Dina Merrill portrayed Calamity Jan.



I had the pleasure of meeting Robertson back in 2002 at an event at the San Diego Historical Museum honoring San Diego in film. Robertson was born in the nearby community of La Jolla.



The building does still retain some of its vintage details:









At what point does a building actually need to be recreated vs. restored, and at that point, should the effort be expended? There is also a very cool faded vintage advertising mural on the side of the building:





I think I hear Joni Mitchell: "You don't know what you've got till it's gone…"



FEBRUARY 2020 UPDATE: 
Save Our Heritage Organisation and developers reached an agreement with the theater. Apparently it is going to be torn down and rebuilt using much of the original ornamentation and preserving as much as possible. The building has too much deterioration and carcinogenic asbestos to be saved as is.

See more Daveland San Diego photos at my main website.

Yvonne Craig as Batgirl

Growing up, I used to love to watch the 1960's TV classic, "Batman," starring Adam West and Burt Ward as the Caped Crusaders. The powers that be decided that Season 3 of the wildly popular show needed a jolt of estrogen; dancer and actress Yvonne Craig fit the bill perfectly. As mild-mannered librarian Barbara Gordon, she was privy to all of the Caped Crusader's activities, thanks to her father being the Police Commissioner. In this first photo, we see some serious goings on with Neil Hamilton on the left (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (as Chief O'Hara), and Craig. Barbara was a smart cookie who somehow was able to afford a very chic apartment in Gotham; was daddy subsidizing the rent for her?

As this photo shows, there was no denying that Craig as Barbara Gordon had appeal.



But when she transformed into the ginger-wigged Batgirl, sporting a very form-fitting purple lycra costume, she was a literal knockout. Craig's training as a ballet dancer served her well when fighting criminals. Her high-kicks were legendary.



Sadly, the powers-that-be decided to stick with a decidedly 1960's chauvinist approach to the Batgirl character. Inevitably, Batgirl got captured by the criminals (in this case, Cliff Robertson as Shame) and it was Batman and Robin that had to save her. Still, Craig did her best to play Batgirl as a very liberated yet sexually flirtatious heroine.



If only the writers had been allowed to have Craig be the rescuer; maybe the show would have lasted a bit longer.



Holy Toledo! Want more Batgirl photos? Ride your Bat Cycle on over to my main website.