Huntridge Theatre sold to adjacent furniture store

Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2001 | 10:04 a.m.

The historic Huntridge Theatre, a landmark at the corner of Charleston Boulevard and Maryland Parkway since 1944, has been sold for $925,000.

Mizrachi Refaela, owner of the adjacent Cima's Furniture store, purchased the theater on Tuesday, said a report airing on Las Vegas ONE, Cox Cable Channels 1 and 39.

After its heyday as a double-feature matinee house for such Hollywood premieres as "Witness for the Prosecution," attended by Marlene Dietrich and Frank Sinatra and "The Las Vegas Story," with Jane Russell and Vincent Price, the theater experienced ups and downs.

In its later years, the Huntridge featured beach party movies and horror films and served as a venue for alternative rock acts.

Eric Jordan, president of the Friends of Huntridge Theater Inc., said the $630,000 mortgage along with electric bills that ran as high as $2,000 a month in the winter prompted the decision to sell the theater.

"It's pretty bad," Jordan said. "Our whole point is to protect and preserve the Huntridge Theater."

Jordan said that covenants in place by the state will be honored. "The building cannot be touched, the sign and everything else, until 2017."

The state Cultural Affairs Commission had pumped $1.4 million into renovations at the theater since 1993.

The Huntridge had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1993 and on the state's Historical Register since 1999. The city of Las Vegas did not name it as a historic site.

Refaela said he does not know what he will do with the building once the sale is closed at the end of the year. For now, it will continue operating as a theater.

All options are open from a theater to a retail store, Refaela said.