NORTH HOLLYWOOD : El Portal Theater Nears Designation as Landmark

The venerable El Portal theater, which has housed more controversy than theater in recent years, will probably become Los Angeles’ newest Historic-Cultural Monument.

The designation for the North Hollywood theater was approved by a City Council committee earlier this week and is scheduled to come before the full council on Tuesday.

The council almost always approves committee decisions on historic-cultural status. But the holder of El Portal’s long-term lease, Bernard Kaufman, said he might speak against the designation at the meeting. “I just have not made up my mind on that yet,” he said.

The move to give the building historic-cultural status was started by Jeff Nelson, a UCLA student and part-time proofreader of technical manuals. “I have lived in the area for the last seven years and I was intrigued by the architecture of the El Portal,” said Nelson, 32. “I thought it should be preserved.