Last stand at the Harding Theater!
Richard Reineccius says "Don't mourn, renovate the Harding" theater and save this historic landmark
By Bruce B. Brugmann
Well, hopefully this isn't the last stand for the Harding Theater in the Western Addition. But I wanted to use the line that we used for years in the passionate and unending battle to save the Goodman Building off of Van Ness Ave.
The battle was lost to save the original building but there was a complicated deal done in which the people in the Goodman Building ended up in the Thick Description Theater Building at 1695 l8th st. on Potrero Hill.
The theater is the lineal descendant of the old Julian theater, one of the city's finest and most avant garde neighborhood theaters founded by Richard Reineccius and Doug Giebel.
It most fitting that Richard is now a leader in the fight to save the Harding theater. Here's his call to arms on a hearing for the latest proposal to demolish the building at a hearing on Thursday (11/13/08) before the city planning commission.
A FULL HEARING FOR THE HARDING
by Richard Reineccius
The SF City Planning Commission will this week hear the latest proposal for demolishing much of an historic theater at 616 Divisadero Street, erecting a multi-story apartment building plus retail space on the premises. The hearing will be on Thursday afternoon 11/13, Room 400 City hall. (www.sfgov.org/planning)
The Harding Theater in SF's once artistically vibrant and stylish Western Addition hasn't seen audiences for live performances or films in a number of years, but is an excellent candidate for saving, not only as an arts space but as a development catalyst for the neighborhood. While not currently listed as a historic landmark, it in fact is one, being the last intact theater remaining in the city designed by the famous Reid Brothers firm (Fairmont Hotel, Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, SF's Roosevelt and Castro Theaters, Byron Hot Springs Spa Hotel, more)
Albert Lanier, San Francisco's "people's architect" who died at the end of October, had a philosophy of "Renovate, don't demolish," echoing labor agitator/songster Joe Hill's last words "Don't mourn, organize!" The Harding Theater is a good target for a renovation that would make it a much needed medium sized venue for music, dance, drama, film and other types of gatherings, located centrally in a multi-cultural section of the city, convenient to both its Haight and Western Addition neighbors by foot, and to all of SF by public transportation.
A plan put forth by developers in 2004 asked for Planning Department permission to entirely demolish The Harding, and to replace it with 18 condominium apartments. After community protest, the Commission rejected the proposal, saying it must be protected under the criteria of the California Environmental Quality Act. Early in 2008 the same developers proposed a plan that calls for a smaller number of condos, asking for removal of of the entire stage house and much of the seating area, leaving the theater practically unusable for performances. No public meetings have been held on this latest proposal, and performing groups have not been solicited to evaluate the plan.
The Save The Harding Theater organization, Friends of 1800, and other organizations and individuals are asking Planning to require that a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) be conducted, as required by law, so that the neighbors, the performing arts community, and all of the city's citizens will have a chance to speak to the need for saving the building as an historic landmark and much needed and desired gathering place. The Planning Commission should recognize both the historic significance of The Harding and the public need for such a space in the center of the city.
Don't Mourn, Renovate The Harding, and don't let it be destroyed or made unusable. For more on its historical significance, look at savetheharding.blogspot.com/ or search Harding Theater on Wikipedia.
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Richard Reineccius was a founder of the city's Neighborhood Arts Program in 1967, and principal advocate for creation of the Community Cultural Centers in San Francisco, under the Arts Commission. He was co-founder of the Julian Theatre of SF, from 1965. Jim Bracken of Save The Harding contributed the background material used.
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