Fontana’s former Center Stage Theater closed in August 2022, with City Hall telling me that the city-owned venue would be gutted, renovated and reopened as a Sammy Hagar-affiliated concert hall, and served by a new 300-space parking structure, in time for Memorial Day 2023.
A Fontana reader emailed three days after Memorial Day. Apparently she had marked her calendar.
“As of today it does not look like anything has been done,” she reported. “There is no parking structure. There are homeless people sleeping in the entrance. What happened to it being refurbished and creating a new venue for Fontana?”
Privately, I had been skeptical the city could accomplish all this in under 10 months. But it was a surprise to learn that after 10 months work wasn’t even underway.
But let’s look at the bright side. With no concerts going on, no neighbors can file a noise complaint.
They could, however, file a noise complaint about interior demolition. It’s finally started.
Fontana’s deputy city manager, Phil Burum, told me his original timeline was too aggressive but that a lot of progress has occurred behind the scenes with design, architects, contracts and more.
“Everything takes longer than you think and costs more than you expect,” Burum admitted.
Center Stage is out as a name, by the way. When native son Hagar signed on in October, he agreed to help “brand” the venue.
The new name: Stage Red.
The full version: “Stage Red — A Sammy Hagar Venue.”
As Hagar is nicknamed the Red Rocker, Stage Red is a subtle nod to him without limiting the types of entertainment that might be offered, Burum explained.
The opening is set for March 9, 2024 with a concert by Hagar as the main event. “It’s on Sammy’s schedule,” Burum said. That means Fontana has to deliver.
The art deco building along downtown’s Sierra Avenue opened as a movie house in 1937 and has been used for dinner theater in recent years.
Burum and I went inside. A crew was at work taking down the speakers and lights in preparation for upgraded tech. Hey, activity! Interior construction should start Oct. 1.
The theater will hold around 320 with a standing area in the pit and more expensive seating in a cocktail area, a mezzanine and a second level, Burum explained.
It’s being designed as a premium experience for performer and audience alike.
Why? The goal is to entice performers to venture out to Fontana, 50 miles east of L.A. And, with all due respect to Fontana, that’s going to take some enticing.
A meet-and-greet area for big spenders is planned. Top-notch video recording equipment will be installed to document each show. A green room backstage will be, Burum bragged, “bigger and nicer than Staples Center.”
Stage Red might host two or three concerts a month to start.
“We’re going to be a nostalgia-act venue, mid-’70s to early 2000s,” Burum said matter-of-factly. “I’m not going to get Billie Eilish. I’ve accepted it.”
Burum said there are well-heeled fans who would drive in or even fly in to see some of these acts in a plush venue, where price levels for tickets might range from $150 to $600. An added inducement is the connection to Hagar, who by contract will perform annually at Stage Red for five years.
To further the connection, Hagar is “starting to pick out his own personal memorabilia he wants to display at the club,” Burum said.
A four-level parking structure will rise behind the theater to serve downtown, including community concerts at nearby Miller Park. A $12 million construction contract was awarded in June for the 320-stall structure, which should open in late 2024.
The theater renovation is pegged at just above $3 million. Half is from American Rescue Act funds with the rest from the City Council and San Bernardino County.
Mayor Acquanetta Warren said she’s firmly on board, even though the result won’t be the community venue she had envisioned when we spoke last summer.
“It’s going to be an entertainment venue. That’s going to be big for our town. We don’t have that,” Warren told me by phone. “We’ve got to stay with the business plan. At that time we didn’t have a business plan.”
Warren said an arts and entertainment district is a long-term plan for downtown with Stage Red as an anchor. But first, “we just have to get it finished,” she said of the theater.
“It’s real,” the mayor added. “I stood outside Friday and was excited — because I heard noise. It’s happening.”
March 9, 2024. Mark your calendars. And if nothing happens, email me.
Art in the Hills
Still reeling from the recent discovery that Chino Hills (incorporated as a city in 1991) has history, I’m now confronted by the existence of an arts scene of sorts. That’s official with the recent opening of the Downtown Art Gallery, a space in the Shoppes at Chino Hills outdoor mall — not a downtown, but close enough — to be operated by the Chino Hills Community Foundation.
Ten painters and photographers have their work on display in a retail space that originally was home to a Lululemon clothing store and since its close has had a shifting array of short-term tenants. The foundation has been given the space at no charge.
Volunteers prepped the space and will staff it twice a week during times of high foot traffic: 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays during the Farmers Market and 6-8 p.m. Fridays.
“It’s a big leap of faith,” Peter Rogers, the mayor and head of the foundation, told me at the opening. “The Shoppes could lease this space in two months and we could be out.”
Reflecting his dual roles, Rogers confided that while as mayor he wants the retail market to bounce back quickly, as president of the foundation he wouldn’t mind a more gradual return.
St. Louis bound
I’m off for my annual trip home to see family. Since August 2022 I’ve missed only one column, and that was due to illness last December, but all streaks come to an end. Look for me back in print and online on July 26. Since I’m absent so rarely, I thought it best to explain in advance. I know how you worry.
David Allen writes Wednesday, full stop. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.
