South Orange County’s Miramar Theater May be Saved
The Miramar Theater in North San Clemente at the end of the Pico Ave entrance to our city may be saved and not torn down after all.
But there are no guarantees. Mark Spirrizzi, the new owner of the Miramar Theater, claims that he wants to maintain the integrity of the Miramar Theater building, but one wonders what kind of money it will take to restore the playhouse.
For years, the building has been left to rot and host graffitti. Inside, transients and the homeless used it for shelter and a bathroom. The inside, basically, is trashed. How one can realize a profit from this building, after already paying $5.3 million for the location, is anyone’s guess.
Spirrizzi says he’d like to see the Miramar revert back to a movie theater, and a combination polayouse and concert hall. He’d tear down the bowling alley and build something else in its place, and in back of it.
He’s even thinking of a second story restaurant, with perhaps outdoor balcony seating, but one wonders where he’d have patrons park and there is very little parking in that area, even though there is a very large parking lot down by the old train station platform.
He feels the Miramar Theater complex could become a south Orange County resort destination, what with the train passing close by and the nearby beach which people would already be coming to San Clemente to enjoy. Still, aside from “art films,” which usually include nudity and about which some religious right residents might complain, a small theater like the Miramar cannot seat enough people to make it worthwhile for a big name entertainer or big first run films to show there.
Nothing has yet been submitted to the city and the Historical Society is beside itself with glee, noting that Spirrizzi SAYS he wants to preserve the Miramar. We will wait and see, because it would seem that whatever is done with the Miramar property, it would have to be FINANCIALLY VIABLE. And nothing that has been said so far would indicate that it would be. However, we sincerely hope that the Miramar Theater CAN be saved and once again become a focal point in South Orange County, CA.
Marc Spizzirri, co-owner of the San Juan Capistrano-based Family Automotive Group Inc. chain of dealerships, is the new owner.
Visit my Orange County real estate site before you leave.
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