Save the 4th

City bond request could galvanize communitywide rescue campaign

Published: January 25, 2006
Last Modified: January 25, 2006 at 02:06 AM

If there is an icon of Anchorage's earlier days, the 4th Avenue Theatre is it. Begun the year World War II erupted at Pearl Harbor and finished after the war, it was Anchorage's first million-dollar building. Territorial business tycoon Cap Lathrop spared little expense on the Art Moderne structure. He imported Italian marble for the facade, adorned the lobby with fluted walnut woodwork and commissioned gold leaf murals depicting Alaska themes. The Big Dipper and North Star twinkled on the ceiling.

It was Cap Lathrop's way of saying Anchorage was not just a boomtown blip on the landscape. With the 4th Avenue Theatre, he said this was a town that was going to make something of itself.

The sleepy pre-war town of a few thousand people did indeed make something of itself. And the 4th Avenue Theatre became a treasured symbol of the city on the rise.

In 1949, it hosted the world premiere of the Hollywood blockbuster "Twelve O'Clock High." Another world premiere, "The World in His Arms," starring Gregory Peck, followed in 1952. In 1964, a newfangled "electronic-optical" link allowed local viewers to see Richard Burton perform "Hamlet" on stage in New York.

The 4th Avenue Theatre is to Anchorage what Carnegie Hall is to New York City. New York's famed concert hall narrowly escaped a developer's wrecking ball in 1960. Today, Anchorage's 4th Avenue Theatre is facing the same dangerous threat.

The theater is owned by Anchorage-born grocery heir and businessman Robert Gottstein. He did the community a huge favor in 1991 by saving the theater during its last crisis, when it was a rundown movie house repossessed by a bank.

He spruced up the public spaces, fixed the worst code violations, protected the treasured murals and preserved the fine woodwork. He added a commercial kitchen and ran it as a catering hall, along with office space for his businesses, but he was not able to turn it into a self-sustaining enterprise. After 15 years, his patience and money have run out. Creditors are knocking.

Mr. Gottstein's best sales prospect is next door, where developers plan a high-rise that could use the theater location for parking. However, the developers, Joe and Maria Fang, don't necessarily need the extra space.

Anchorage grew so fast and furiously that we are desperately short of history worth saving. In a town where humble cottages pass for historic landmarks, we cannot let a signature building such as the 4th Avenue Theatre disappear. It would be the local equivalent of razing the Empire State Building.

The theater's tenuous fate has provoked a burst of community concern, but a rescue plan has yet to crystallize. Owner Gottstein is asking $4 million. A formal appraisal of the building's value, commissioned by the city, is under way.

The Begich administration has stepped forward and will support city financing for the first half of a rescue package, according to Heritage Land Bank director Robin Ward. She says Mayor Mark Begich is willing to ask voters to approve a $2 million general obligation bond for buying the theater. The balance of funds would have to come from the state, federal sources or private donations.

Winning voter approval and raising the remaining rescue money is a tall task. But with a $1 billion state surplus, Sen. Ted Stevens in Washington and a deep well of community affection, it should be possible. Repaying a $2 million bond would cost taxpayers about 65 cents a year for each $100,000 of taxable property. That's not much, but voters will need some assurance the city has a credible plan for making cost-effective use of the building before committing to the deal.

The Anchorage Assembly meets Friday to discuss the final list of bond and ballot propositions that will go before voters in April's election. That list should include a $2 million bond to help buy the 4th Avenue Theatre, so that Anchorage's most important historic landmark will never again face the wrecking ball.

BOTTOM LINE: The 4th Avenue Theatre is a historic and architectural treasure. The Assembly and voters should approve a $2 million city bond to help save it.