As I've worked on the villatheatre.com web
site over the last couple years I've always kept a close
watch on my e-mail, hoping that some day I would get a
message from someone who wanted to buy the Villa and keep
it open as a theater.
That very thing happened on 4 February 2003. I
got an e-mail from a film collector who was looking for
a “well-preserved old theater” to buy. For
the next couple days I answered his questions about the
theater. My last message from him was on Friday,
7 February 2003. When I went home for the weekend
I was excited that something good might finally happen
for the Villa.
On Monday I got an e-mail from a former employee
at the Villa. The subject line read “Farewell” -
the theater had been sold and would close. My hopes
from just a couple days before were immediately dashed. The
film collector who had contacted me was only in the thinking
stage, and I wasn't even sure if he would decide to try
to buy the Villa. The buyer had to be someone else.
On 19 February 2003, the day after the Villa
closed, I got an e-mail from a group that wanted to restore
the Villa to its 1950s glory. The theater would show
classic movies, live entertainment, and maybe even Cinerama. They
had actually been making plans around the Villa for some
time but only became aware of my web site after the news
broke of the theater’s closing. Harmons Grocery
announced they were the new owners of the Villa and it
was said that they were willing to work with the Utah Heritage
Foundation on "re-use" options for the theater. Once
more my hopes went high.
But trying to save the Villa Theatre is nothing
but a series of ups and downs. On 1 March 2003, I
got an e-mail from yet another group interested in the
Villa. Unlike the others, this group wanted to convert
the Villa into a private club. My contact with this
group was excited about the Villa building and seemed to
appreciate the historical value of the theater. Even
though I disliked the idea of the Villa becoming a night
club, I answered their questions about the building as
best I could - after all, they fall into the third position
on my list of options for saving the theater.
I still kept trying to find someone who would
run the Villa as a theater. I sent an e-mail to a
theater chain that I thought had a good chance of operating
the Villa profitably for first-run movies. I thought
I might not get a reply (that's the typical response I
get when I try to contact someone about the Villa), but
to my surprise I got an e-mail saying that they had already
been trying to contact Harmons about the Villa.
I later heard from someone in the industry
that this theater chain was negotiating with Harmons to
re-open the Villa. I thought things were going well
and went back to work on some other personal projects that
I had been neglecting. Some time passed and I had
no news, so finally I contacted this theater chain again
and was amazed to hear that no-one had ever returned their
calls about the Villa. There was no negotiation taking
place.
I eventually found out that a sale was already
in progress on the theater. The night club group,
having lost the previous location they had planned on,
was ready to buy - while the other groups were still in
the early planning stages. Those interested in re-opening
the Villa as a theater never even got the chance to try.
If the current sale on the theater is ever
finalized (the date keeps getting pushed back), then I
wish the new owners the best of luck and I hope that the
Villa becomes the entertainment hot spot they envision.
But for me, a sore spot will always be the
fact that the Villa never even got a chance to return as
a theater. On July 28th I got an e-mail from a theater
organ collector from Florida. He was looking to buy
an old theater with a stage and enough room to pursue his
favorite hobby. I'm sure that if we gave these groups
a chance that one of them, or a combination of them, could
find a profitable use for the Villa as a theater.