Granada II: The Sequel

Remember when the Granada Theatre died? Indignant employees have complained in semi-obscene language that an evil landlord was kicking them out on the street for no reason other than greed. The local news media wrote and read last riles. And in a final, dignified show of support, a dramatic candlelight vigil took place on Halloween, the eve of the Granada’s closing.

Now we learn that the Granada died only to be resurrected in its old image, but renovated, and will reopen early in 1987. What is going on?

Well, it all started more than a year ago when Granada property owner Louis A. Stool tried to get the zoning changed on the parking lot behind the theater. The parking lot, you see, is not really a parking lot. It’s zoned for multi-family residential development: however, in 1945. the Dallas Board of Adjustment granted a variance that allowed the property to be used as a parking lot as long as the Granada Theatre was being operated as a theater. Stool wanted to change the zoning on the lot to a parking district, which would give him the flexibility to operate (he Granada under the full range of uses allowed by its general retail zoning. The new zoning would protect parking rights on the property if Stool lost his theater tenant, Movie Inc. of California, which had expressed an interest in getting out of its lease. Stool says. Since that time, it has been generally known within the real estate community that the Granada was on the market.

Stool’s application for the zoning change plodded through the city process and finally made it to the council docket on December 10. Meanwhile, the local media began to explain to loyal patrons what was in store for their theater: a bar. No, a bar and restaurant-make that a bar-restaurant and disco, showing movies on the side. At one point it was rumored that the theater was going to be torn down. D loo is guilty of premature lamenting. In our June Business Review, we labeled the remaking of the Granada into a bistro an “account inconceivable.”

In the days before the October 31 vigil, the melancholy media coverage mounted. The former manager of the Granada. Bill Neal (often referred to in the local newspapers as the theater’s “owner”), spoke from his soapbox. “It’s like a death in the family.” said Neal in a Dallas Morning News account of the cinematic tragedy in which a reporter explained that Stool was “buying back the theater” from Neal. Of course Neal never owned the theater, so that was impossible; actually. Stool was exercising an option to buy out the lease from Movie Inc. One local paper ran an oh-so-clever banner headline lamenting that the Granada had Gone With the Wind. . .another opined that it had closed “with spirit.” At one point the media, which had been participating only vicariously in the wake, jumped right in-KVIL radio personality Andy McCollum, apparently overcome by the loss, joined the vigil, lighting his own candle.

But it was all wasted emotion, because the Granada will reopen by the end of January or early in February, says its new operator, Keith McKeague. McKeague and his partner John Appleton have been restoring the theater. (No. they haven’t touched the murals on the walls and ceiling. No story there.) The two are general partners in a local limited partnership that will operate the theater as a Cinema ’N’ Drafthouse franchise. Despite the “draft” in the franchise name, when D went to press, McKeague hadn’t decided whether or not the Granada would be serving beer and wine.

In fact, with the passage of landlord Stool’s zoning application, the property cannot be used as a bar. Deed restrictions, volunteered by Stool as a compromise with residents in the neighborhood who opposed his application, prohibit any restaurant on the property that would derive more than 40 percent of its gross annual receipts from the sale of alcohol. The restrictions also rule out other good stories: the Granada cannot become a drive-in bank or savings and loan office, or an auto parts store, beverage store, service station, drive-in restaurant, inside commercial amusement facility (like a video game arcade), concert hall. or discotheque.

For the next ten years anyway, the Granada Theatre is going to be just that-a theater. McKeague has signed a ten-year lease and a whopping letter of credit to secure that lease. He says the theater will continue to show a mixture of classic films along with shows like Top Gun and Children of a Lesser God when they finish first run. The Granada will continue to run “intelligently grouped film festivals” like the best of Bogey and Bacall. And there’s more good news: the admission price will drop from the previous $4 to $5 to $2 or $2.50.

“On the night of the candlelight vigil, we had the choice to go down there and try to tell these people that they were going to be getting three times the theater they have now, guaranteed ten years to come.” McKeague says. “But they were so angry and so caught up in what was going on that we were sure someone would have found some way to twist what we were saying.”

So, McKeague decided to let the mourning run its course and get on with the renovations. In addition to painting (around, not over the murals), installing new wall-to-wall carpet, replacing broken neon on the marquee (the rest of the marquee will remain as is), fixing the leaky roof, and exterminating (more than you want to know) rats and roaches. McKeague says the 650 cramped seats will be replaced with 400 to 500 larger, more comfortable seats. The movie screen in the Granada will be the same full-sized version to which fans are accustomed-no tiny-plex replacement. The concession service will be expanded, but don’t jump to conclusions: “It will not be a restaurant. You will not be able to get a meal here, but you will be able to get finger food, more than M&Ms and stale hot dogs.” McKeague says. If McKeague decides to serve beer and wine, a waitress or waiter will serve patrons at intervals during the movie-there won’t be a bar in the theater, McKeague says.

So, why all the fuss if the news is good? McKeague puts all the blame on the media: “The media associated us with the Highland Park Village Theatre and the Esquire. The Granada would be torn down, redone, made into a dress shop. It was a natural association and it made a better story. I talked to a lot of reporters and it was just hard to convince them. At one point I was going to call them all and tell them we were going to tear it down just to get their attention. I guarantee that would have made the front page. But when you tell them you’re going to fix up this and repair that, it’s just not what they want to hear.’

So, that’s the story: great old theater known for intelligent selections becomes.. .great old renovated theater. Film at ten.