Basic HTML Version
plans, to build a church-auditorium for public-services, in
connection with the office building to house the radio and
publishing work. We may not be financially able to construct it
all at once. The church auditorium may have to be delayed six
months or a year. This---and whether we undertake to build our own
auditorium for public services at all---will depend largely upon
YOUR advice and that of our other Co-Workers in the Los Angeles
area.
You probably know that two and three years ago I often
held public services in the Biltmore theatre. Attendance there
usually ran from a thousand to seventeen hundred. Once or twice,
when the Biltmore was not available, I spoke in one of the halls
down at the Embassy. But each time there the attendance fell away
off, and many told me it was because of the location. Anyway, the
Biltmore has not been available since. It seems there are no
really desirable downtown locations available, and rent is very
high when they can be secured. Now of course I realize we could
never hope to enjoy crowds of 1,700 such as I have had at the
Biltmore, in a location of our own out in Pasadena. In fact, we
cannot afford to build an auditorium that will even seat more than
a fraction of that number. What I have in mind at present is a
modest, but attractive and substantially-built auditorium seating
in the neighborhood of 250 or 350 people. Anything larger will
cost considerable money---even this will take several thousand
dollars. Yet, in selecting the site, I want to be sure to locate
in the most accessible, and desirable possible location in
Pasadena.
You'll understand, of course, that a central downtown
location would be prohibitive in cost. The ground for such a
location would cost several times as much as the two general
locations I have in mind. For our office there is no need to build
in an expensive downtown location. One object in building is to
escape having to pay rent in downtown office buildings where space
is charged according to LOCATION where most people come, such as
required by doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc.
So now to get back to the two general sites we are
considering at present. Site #1, as I said above, is on the bus
line between Pasadena and Glendale and Hollywood. It occurred to
me that this location might be MORE convenient for our radio
friends in Glendale and Hollywood (and they are MANY), than the
other location over in the central part of Pasadena. Those coming
by bus from Glendale and Hollywood would have to transfer to a
local bus after arriving in downtown Pasadena, to reach site number
2. Also, those driving their own cars would find site number 1
about two or three miles closer from Glendale and Hollywood, while
those driving from Los Angeles would find it shorter to cut off the
Seco Parkway at Avenue 64 and come to location (1), than to go on
in to Pasadena and out to Colorado and Hill.
On the other hand, site number 2 is much more centrally-
located for most of our friends in Pasadena---and it must be
remembered that when services are held in Pasadena a higher
percentage of Pasadena listeners will come than Los Angeles,
Glendale and Hollywood listeners.