Back in the Saddle

(From left) Palm Springs City Council members Geoff Kors and Dennis Woods are joined by Mayor Christy Holstege in applauding a $5 million donation check toward the restoration of the historic La Plaza Theater revealed by J.R. Roberts during an Oct. 20 press conference in front of the theater.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CARL SCHOEMIG

One phone call and a signature to a $5 million check allowed former Palm Springs City Council member J.R. Roberts to stand before the 1936 La Plaza Theatre on Oct. 20 and announce, “We’re back” in downtown Palm Springs.

That exclamation means efforts to restore the historic theater have taken a dramatic shift from a virtual standstill imposed by the coronavirus pandemic over the past 19 months to full throttle. Emmy award-winning television director, producer, and writer David C. Lee’s single donation has reenergized not only Roberts, but the whole campaign. Additional donations will be sought to fully fund the restoration process, which may require $10 - $12 million to complete.

“This is an enormous change and this guy is wonderful,” Roberts says. “He's doing it for no promotion, for nothing. He simply wants this to happen. I'm kind of blown away by it. It still makes me nervous to have a donation like this, you know? I'm really excited.”

Lee, whose best-known work was on the sitcoms like The Jefferson, Cheers, and Fraiser, has received 18 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations and won nine times. A native of Claremont, California, Lee bought the former Dinah Shore home in 2002 in Palm Springs and sold it to a group of real estate agents in 2009. Leonardo DiCaprio bought the home in 2014 and it’s currently a vacation rental and also listed for sale at $8.6 million by realtor.com.

Lee initially donated $25,000 when fundraising efforts for the La Plaza Theatre began two years ago, says Roberts, who has known Lee for years. During the past year, La Plaza re-emerged as a topic of conversation when Frank Jones, publisher of Palm Springs Life, announced plans to conduct Oasis Music Festival and use the theater as a home base for what was initially an October event and later moved to Jan. 27-31 in 2022. A portion of the festival’s proceeds will go toward the theater’s restoration.

In July, the Palm Springs City Council approved a $50,000 expenditure to repair and update the theater for the music festival. At the same time, Harold Matzner, chairman of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, proposed to lease the theater for 25 years and was willing to pay $1.6 million for use of the space, but would not commit to restoring the structure.

Two weeks ago. Lee called Roberts to get an update on the situation. “I was frank with him,” Roberts recalls. “I said, ‘I’m not exactly sure where the city is going to go.’ For a while there was a consideration for a lease for the Palm Springs International Film Festival and I said, ‘I don't know what my part in this will be. My interest in this is restoring the theater.’ And he said, ‘Would five million dollars keep you doing it?" And I said, ‘Why yes, sir, it would. In fact, I'll marry you.’”

For his donation, La Plaza will add Lee’s name to become the David Lee La Plaza Theatre, Roberts says. Lee will write a check for $3 million to start, and then for the remaining $2 million, Roberts says Lee will match donations in $500,000 increments.

“So every time we reach half a million in new donations, he will match it,” Roberts notes. “If it's normal fundraising it could easily take another year or two to raise all of these dollars, but the good news is we can perhaps start some of the work. I mean, we're halfway there already. So we can actually start doing things here in that time, and I'm excited about it.”