A hundred years ago this October, a theater opened its doors to much fanfare on Lankershim Boulevard, creating a distinct landmark that would bring art, culture and entertainment to a small business district that hadn’t yet renamed itself North Hollywood. The El Portal is still standing strong, and as historian Mary Mallory writes in this issue, its century-long run is really a story about the people around it. The theater weathered the Depression, the rise of the multiplex and an earthquake that brought down its main auditorium ceiling, and each time, the community rallied to bring it back. Mayor Richard Riordan once called it a phoenix rising from the ashes. Turns out, he was describing the neighborhood as much as the building.
That story continues today, and many of the people telling it are our neighbors. In a companion piece, the El Portal’s owners, staff and friends — including honorary Toluca Lake mayor Fritz Coleman, who calls the theater his second home — look back on its star-studded past and forward to its next chapter. Their message to readers is simple: This is your local theater; come and support it!
Elsewhere in our ninth annual History Issue, author Chris Lukather takes us back to a 1970s Valley boyhood spent hunting film reels and animation cels in studio trash bins, until a stolen copy of Becket brought the police to his family’s front door. His personal story shows us a different side of local history and reminds us that sometimes pieces of the past get preserved in less-than-conventional ways.
In addition to our time travels, we also bring you coverage of recent neighborhood events and previews of upcoming ones, including the 14th annual Turkey Trot and Fall Festival on November 22 and the El Portal’s centennial gala on November 28, with Coleman as emcee and performances celebrating each decade of its first hundred years. I hope to see you at one of these gatherings or the many other fall happenings that will soon dot the calendar. In the meantime, we remain thankful for your readership and for the support of our advertisers who make this magazine possible. Past, present and future, we are proud to be part of this community and to continue to tell its stories.
