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Historic Fremont Theatre closing its doors

January 31, 2013

fremontAfter 70 years of service, the Fremont Theatre will be closing its doors after the last shows tonight, the theater’s management announced on its Facebook page.

“On behalf of everyone who has been with the company over the years, we’d like to thank each and every one of you for your support,” the Facebook post says. “You were as much part of this place as we were.

“We’d like to send a special thanks to the general manager, Mark Scaccianoce, for all his hard work and dedication in making the theatre the best he could under the circumstances he was given.

“So come by, take some pictures, or share some memories on here about your good times at the Fremont.”

 


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At least Rossi didn’t pay someone to have it torched like the owners of the Obispo Theatre did.


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All one has to do, is follow the money trail to fully understand the destruction of small town America.


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I remember early to mid eighties and midnight movies. Fun times.


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The owner wants to put an IMAX in the parking lot behind the building (entered from Higuera). So they are likely negotiating a new deal with someone who might even run it in the interim. None of that is a problem.


That problem is that we saw what happened with the Motel Inn. This is a project which is only made possible by the massive increase in the money supply that’s starting to occur as a result of the money from the banks trickling down. The bubble has been reinflated yet again. But once again it will deflate and these are the kind of projects that collapse first. Even with the massive financing suddenly becoming available, are they going to be able to find someone who will run it in the interim (until they expand it)? Will it be maintained?


These are the potential problems when “big ballers” roll like this.


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Another greedy ~!@#$%^&*()_+ downtown landlord! What are they going to do? Butcher it up into a half dozen smaller theaters?


I know! Maybe the current owners (King/Rossi) can sell it to the Copeland Boys. They can knock it downand build a parking structure that they can then lease to the city.


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SamLouis…

Just because you, me included, aren’t wealthy enough to own The Fremont doesn’t make those who can greedy downtown landlords!


I wondered why are you against people of wealth?


I’m pretty sure King/Rossi will do something good with the theater…!


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Rob Rossi has done more to save and restore old SLO that anyone in this county. This theater would have been closed years ago except Rob Rossi put the money up to save it. Just because he has money doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about the history of the this county. He saves history whenever he can. If you go to his office sometime, you will see the bar mirror from the Irishmen Bar on the wall behind his desk. The Santa Margarita Ranch has many historical features that were saved only because of Rob Rossi. It certainly wasn’t because he could make more money by saving them. I want to thank Rob Rossi and John King for decades of spending their own money to preserve as much of SLO County’s past as possible. That being said, I don’t thing the Fremont will be closed for long.


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Oh, you misunderstand.


It’s not about you or me. It’s about greedy landlords who demand such high rents that the people renting their building cannot make a go of it. What’s the result? An odder and odder mix of businesses. More bars, more revolving restaurants and more corporately owned gift shoppes catering to tourists. In the meantime, Downtown SLO is no longer Downtown SLO.


In the case of special purpose buildings like the Fremont, they cannot be easily “re-purposed” like other structures so they hobble-on until they close. I have absolutely no question that the owners of the Fremont would bulldoze it in a heartbeat if they could turn a better buck by doing so.


And that’s a shame.


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Downtown SLO hasn’t been the same since the City banned Thursday Cruise Nite back in the 70’s.


I spent more money on an average Thursday night in downtown SLO at the various small shops then I did all last year.


Good luck SLO with your eco-unfriendly Farmers Market that generates more air pollution from the numerous BBQ’s than a whole line of cars sitting in a drive-through line.


As for the “greedy landlords”, I bet you wish you were one of them.


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Hehehe, “eco-unfriendly” BBQ’s? That’s a new one for me. I suppose FIRE is pretty unfriendly to the environment… in a ideologically twisted way.


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Now this calls for a huge round of applause for the SLO city council and their boneheaded city execs like Licktig and Dietrick. Lets here a rousing round of applause for Marx, Smith, Carpenter, and Ashbaugh and especially for the pencil neck whose headed for Guadalupe, Andrew Carter


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Why do you blame them? This is a huge bummer but I don’t know what the politicians had to do with it.


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I don’t like most of SLO’s politicians, either, but I am failing to see how they are responsible for this. Government does stifle business, true, but thankfully they do not have the best and brightest (never have) and the productive sector often works around them. Sometimes they don’t and places close… it’s the nature of the beast.


I will miss this theater (even though they had coach class seating).


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It’s “Lichtig” and “who’s”, ya retard.


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If you can’t pay the lease you can’t stay open…too bad. I saw Butch and Sundance, Jaws, and many other movies there.


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Jaws ran at the Obispo.


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