(Here’s a teaser from the San Diego Uptown News article about The Observatory North Park, its partnership with Jefferson Elementary, and the Sing Along With Grease fundraiser. To read it on the Uptown News site, click this link.)

You are certainly aware of the buzz surrounding an upcoming event at the iconic Observatory North Park (formerly North Park Theater), wherein people nostalgic for the late seventies/early eighties participate in a boisterous homage to that era’s nostalgic notions about the fifties. You’re not? Oh. No, that’s fine; you probably just don’t get out much, what with the kids and work and all that. All the young scenesters are talking about it.  

Anyway, Friends of Jefferson Elementary, the non-profit community group that supports North Park’s neighborhood public elementary [disclosure: I’m a board member], is throwing a shindig: for ten measly dollars, you can join several hundred of your friends and neighbors in belting out your favorite tunes from “Grease” as you watch the original 1978 movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. Included in the price is your choice of either a) one serving of beer or wine from the theater bar (beer courtesy of the awesome Mike Hess Brewing); or b) two items from the popcorn/candy counter. All proceeds from the in-theater bar and concession stand go to Friends of Jefferson. In addition to the shenanigans inside the beautiful theater, North Park Historical society is arranging for some bitchin’ hot rods to be parked in front of the building for your ogling pleasure. This all happens on Sunday (party people may know this day by its other name: “Funday”), July 26^th. Doors open at 2:00 pm, and the movie rolls at 3:00.

To recap: hot rods. Danny. Sandy. Rizzo. Kinickie. Adult beverages. The song stylings of…you and your crew. All for a lousy sawbuck (that’s fifties lingo for $10 US). [ed note: get your tickets at the Observatory North Park website, or at the door.]

At this point you are probably thinking, boy, that Friends of Jefferson must be a powerful and well-funded organization to be able to have events in such a swanky and prestigious venue!

Powerful? Yes; if by powerful you mean “dedicated to the point of obsession and buoyed by the moral support of the community.” Well-funded? Um, that’s a work in progress.

Having completed the pitch segment of this column, allow me to proceed to the backstory, which is probably more interesting, and definitely has more lessons and morals and whatnot.

The story of the North Park Theater is long and fascinating. It was built in 1928 as a vaudeville theater and movie house, and quickly became a top-performing branch of the Fox West Coast Theater chain. State-of-the-art for its day—the first Fox theater with “Vitaphone Sound” and air-conditioning—it was the entertainment hub of the community. Alas, the sixties and seventies saw a decline in business for the neighborhood movie house as shopping centers and malls took over; and by the eighties, North Park Theater was virtually abandoned.

From 2000 to 2005, with backing by the City, the North Park Theater was resurrected to its former glory. But as an economic enterprise, it still floundered. Its owner, Lyric Opera, could not keep the lights on with ticket sales from musical theatre, and turned the keys over to the David Cohen and the Verant group in 2013.

The Verant group had owned West Coast Tavern, the restaurant in the front of the building, since 2009. The restaurant continued to do well after Cohen took over, and the theater side treaded water with a new format that focused more on bands.

And then, in January of 2015, the whole operation was bought out by Orange County concert venue, The Observatory. This came as a surprise to many, including the manager of West Coast Tavern, Paris Landen, who, along with getting a new employer, gained a new job description as the General Manager of both the restaurant and the theater.