A visit to the El Portal Theatre is a tour through layers of local artistic history. The main stage’s hand-painted fire curtain dates back to 1926 and is a twin of the one at the Pasadena Playhouse. The lobby’s bas-relief murals were created by WPA artists in the 1930s, its sofa is a prop from the 1964 film The Unsinkable Molly Brown, its carpet was salvaged from the Shubert Theatre before its demolition in 2004 and seating was provided by the Writers Guild of America in 2010.
But the history of what’s been called “a jewel in the North Hollywood crown” is about more than just the building. When he received a lifetime achievement award presented by Carol Channing at the El Portal in 1999, Donald O’Connor recalled performing there as a toddler with his family’s vaudeville act. His Singing in the Rain co-star Debbie Reynolds (who grew up in Burbank) and Marilyn Monroe (who attended sixth grade around the corner at Lankershim Elementary School) were among the thousands of neighborhood residents who flocked to see movies there; both are now memorialized in the names of El Portal’s stages. Cher sold concessions at the theater in the 1960s. Dozens of stage and screen luminaries — including Bea Arthur, Sally Struthers, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Charles Nelson Reilly, Rip Taylor, Adrienne Barbeau and Ed Begley Jr. — have performed there over the years, some returning multiple times. “I think there’s something about this place that when you get here, you don’t leave,” managing director Ann Potenza says. “It finds a reason to bring you back.”
Potenza is referring not only to the theater’s performers, audiences and legendary ghost sightings, but also to her own history. After she and her husband produced their first play at the El Portal in 2000, she found herself returning in many capacities over the next two decades of her career before assuming her current role this past January. As a Valley resident for more than 30 years, she says the theater has a historical depth she’s rarely seen in the area. “I want to feel close to history, so I think that’s why I fell in love with this place.” She now stands ready to take the reins from retiring executive director Pegge Forrest, who at 95 is only a half-decade younger than the theater she’s served for the last 26 years and is a font of stories about its star-studded past.
The driving force behind the El Portal’s modern era, Forrest was hired in 1998 by Bob Caine, managing director of the Actors Alley theater company, which had taken a master lease on the theater in 1992 only to see it damaged two years later by the Northridge earthquake. As the building underwent five years of rebuilding, Forrest came aboard to oversee public relations and marketing for its highly anticipated reopening. She orchestrated a grand opening event in January 2000 featuring O’Connor, Channing and other celebrities, followed by the premiere production Over the River and Through the Woods, starring Carol Lawrence and Joe Campanella. After Actors Alley folded a year later and the El Portal’s lease reverted to owners Bernard and Judy Kaufman and Gary and Shari Goodgame — who had bought the building from the Guy Weddington estate in the early 1990s — they hired Forrest to remain with the theater as its manager. She brought in Jay Irwin, who had previously served as a house manager, to join her as part of the management team. Together, through hard work, dedication and perseverance, they ensured the El Portal flourished as a vibrant live performance venue. Irwin retired in late 2025, and Forrest plans to follow suit at the end of 2026. “This is our pride and joy, living here with this,” she says, gesturing around the El Portal’s lobby.
Comedian, former NBC weathercaster and longtime Toluca Lake honorary mayor Fritz Coleman agrees, calling the El Portal “my second home.” He’s performed multiple shows there over the years, including his one-man comedy act Unassisted Residency, which has been running monthly in the Monroe Forum for the past four years and counting. “I just love this theater, because of the history,” he says. “Everybody that performs here just loves the architecture, the sound, the structure of the theater, the stage — it’s just the best.”
Coleman isn’t the only El Portal mainstay with roots in the neighborhood. The Kaufmans and Goodgames also live in Toluca Lake, as does Forrest. “Speaking as a Los Angeles native, Toluca Lake is the best community I have lived in,” Gary Goodgame says. “The support of the entertainment community is amazing. We moved here 25 years ago from Hidden Hills and we enjoy all that Toluca Lake has to offer us — especially the great restaurants. The history and the people who live and have lived in Toluca Lake are really great!”
Even as the landscape of the area shifted around it, those strong community connections have helped the El Portal weather changing times and multiple crises. Reflecting on the theater’s century-long history, Goodgame highlights its resilience. “We survived the ’94 earthquake, 9/11 and COVID,” he notes. “I’m proud that we have endured. We’re still here!” Adding that he sees the El Portal serving as “a civic center for North Hollywood, Toluca Lake and the San Fernando Valley,” he says his goal is to preserve this local treasure “for the next 100 years.”
In honor of this year’s milestone anniversary, the El Portal team has been exploring the theater’s history and finding ways to synthesize and celebrate its diverse past. “We had vaudeville, we had film, we had live shows — every type of theater, so we’ve been trying to bring a lot of that back,” Potenza says. On November 28, the El Portal will host its centennial gala, featuring Coleman as emcee and performances telling the story of each decade of the theater’s storied past. “We’ve been really fortunate; there have been a lot of 100th anniversaries in L.A. recently,” Potenza says. “This year is really special. It’s amazing how much was built [around 1926].”
Despite the challenges of operating an arts venue in turbulent times, the El Portal continues to not only survive but thrive, and its supporters are passionate about sharing its story. “There are a lot of people that know about us, and there are a lot of people that don’t know about us,” Forrest says. “We just kind of want to put the theater a little more on the map.”
Potenza shares that she’s seen a resurgence of interest in attending live events, particularly among younger generations. “We’ve noticed that people are hungering to connect with other people again. You aren’t just drawn to see a show because you love the music, you love the comedy, you love the tradition of it. It’s because you are all experiencing it together. The El Portal gives you a place to find out that these things have lasted because they’re timeless, and everyone wants that connection.”
Coleman agrees. “Right now, because of the social divisions and the political divisions, people want to come somewhere and be around other humanity and not be reminded of how dark it is outside… You’re giving them a little quality of life.”
“You know how everything old comes around again, and gets rejuvenated with new twists on it?” Potenza asks. “We feel like we’ve had many lives here, all those chapters, and we’re hitting the 100-year mark. And it’s like, what’s going to outlast all of us here?” The answer to that is clear: The El Portal’s story, a testament to the power of creativity and community, represents a legacy that will continue to touch local residents’ lives for years to come.
For more about the history of the El Portal Theatre, read “A Doorway to the World of Entertainment.”
