The Sunset Theater Lodi

12/08/2023

You heard it here first. Family commitments have put me in a position where I am going to sell The Sunset theater and the lot where Alexander’s Bakerey was located. Included with the sale, if wanted, are the new letters for the Sunset sign, lots of the seats from the theater, the projector, the stones from Alexander’s ovens and the theater concession stand in as is condition.

The theater has previously been approved for addition to the National Registry of Historic Places by the United States Park Service and if restored the owner may earn a 20% dollar for dollar tax credit for costs of restoration to be used over five years.

All building plans as previously approved by the city and data from both sites are included. Data includes Lidar scan of theater before demolition.

The theater is an empty structure with concrete exterior walls and a roof that may have a few small leaks. No interior demising walls or flooring is present. All hazardous materials from both sites and been professionally removed and the sites are build ready. Sewer connections are made water is on site as is temp power. Drainage is installed to city system and underground supply line are in place to facilitate a quick construction of the retail and restaurant planned for the corner of Fairmont and Lodi Ave.

This is a chance to buy the property as is for less than half of the money invested in the cleanup of the site. For more info contact Karen Chandler and Bokides Hesseltine real Estate in Lodi

02/08/2023

We have stopped progress and I must say that sometimes life gets in the way of a good plan. I’ll try to keep you all updated as to what will come.

09/29/2022

Anyone notice our new Marquee installed? I’ll try to stop by today for some photos if you haven’t seen it yet.

04/27/2022

Tonight I speak to the Lodi Historical Society abou the history of the Theater and the man with the vision who built it for us all to enjoy. See you at 7pm at Hutchins Square Holz room.

03/02/2022

We got our permit to begin underground work at the theater lot and bakery site. The theater marquee should be rebuilt within the next couple of months and the sign reskinned and lights installed. 👏👏👏

12/20/2021

The sign colors are finalized and will be beautiful. The edge facing Lodi Ave will be yellow as will the cutout boxes. Letters are red.

Since the old seats don’t have correct spring pressure for modern ADA standards they all need to be replaced. Here are a couple of choices, high back or low back and with different colors. I prefer the bright red chair in person but with the high back design of the darker chair. What do you think?

12/04/2021

It has been two years since we purchased the Sunset and I know things are not progressing as quickly as I hoped. It is official we will not be open for this New Years Eve. 🤣

If you could see the inside right now you would not recognize the place. Only dirt for floors, no dividing walls just open space from dirt to roof & wall to wall.

Good things take a while and this will be a good thing. I hope we get the rest of the permits soon. Btw it looks like the underground work should begin next month to start the drainage, sewer, water and gas lines for Sunset on The Avenue Bakery. Then we will build the pad and pour concrete shortly thereafter.

11/12/2021

Today we begin the restoration of the marquee and sign. Coming soon will be “coming soon” signs.

11/05/2021

I believe it will be ten days or so before we begin the restoration of the iconic Sunset sign. 52 feet of letters, panels transformers and wiring to come down. The new letters have been made all the colors picked out and the panels are itching to be fitted. New LED “neon” to replace the old and lighten the load. This will ensure less maintenance for the next 25 years or so.

Thank you for being so patient. Good things take time.

10/07/2021

Thanks for all the support from the people of Lodi and the surrounding areas! I swear we will start rebuilding as soon as we can.

07/04/2021

Happy Birthday America! As soon as permits are issued for construction we will begin. The first relighting of the sign should take place by November. Great things just don’t happen overnight.

05/14/2021

I just want to offer a quick apology for the traffic disruption on Lodi Avenue as we tear out the sidewalks in front of the theater. I know it seems like a long time but very soon we will have this stage of construction done. Repaving of Lodi Ave begins at the end of the month so we must complete the sidewalks curb and gutter quickly.

Within a couple of months the power lines will come down and you can expect a few more days of one lane traffic on east bound Lodi Ave as we refurbish the iconic Sunset sign.

SOTA (Sunset on the Avenue) will live again!

04/07/2021

Took a little trip to Ornamental Arts and Design in Sacramento to check on the sign progress. All is looking good but man when you see a 52 foot tall sign laying on a warehouse floor it takes up a lot of room. Thanks Fernando Duarte for the tour.

03/29/2021

Underground work starts this week. Sorry for any disruption to the traffic flow as we run new electrical lines underground and tie into water, gas and sewer over the next few weeks.

As soon as that is done we will demo Alexander’s and start the sign restoration. This is getting real!
Photos tomorrow I promise

03/12/2021

You may have seen a few fire trucks at the Sunset and Alexander’s parking lot the last few days, everything is fine.

We loaned out Alexander’s to the Lodi Fire department for a few days for training. They have been practicing smoke rescues and roof penetrations. I hope they never need to use these skills at your home or place of business but if they do they will be better trained to do the job.

SOTA is coming soon. This was our last chance to allow Lodi Fire in before we start work on the underground power water and sewer and then proceed to demolition of Alexander’s. A fitting end for a building that gave so much to the community to once again give what it can to help better Lodi.

Thank you Karen Chandler for the great photos.

02/17/2021

Here is the long version I had trouble posting yesterday

https://www.kcra.com/article/sunset-theater-in-lodi-is-getting-national-recognition/35519893

Local developer Terry Clark bought the building a little over a year ago with big plans to restore the place into a center for the arts and a gathering place for weddings and receptions. Now, his vision has been rewarded.

02/14/2021

Lodi Historian Lisa Craig after a year of effort has reported the following:

“Hopefully of interest to you all... the Sunset Theater has been determined by the National Park Service and the California Office of Historic Preservation as eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. One of only a few properties in Lodi to have submitted for and received that honor. Thanks Terry Clark for what you're doing to save Lodi's heritage.”

01/16/2021

Well not exactly a Sunset Theater update but right next door. We have received a permit to remove Alexander’s Bakery. This will allow us to move forward with the demolition and clearing of the site, the first major step toward transformation into the Sunset on the Avenue building. SOTA will house 4400 sq feet of retail and a 4000 sq foot bakery/ restaurant. Think Boudin or Panera but with a bar.

Have a snack before a show or stop by mid week for a meal and a glass of wine. We already have a baker who is excited to open and begin serving Lodi fresh made soups, sandwiches, sharing plates and of course breads and desserts.

Support lodi support SOTA!

Thank you

Terry & Toni Clark and Family.

11/30/2020

Plans have been submitted to the city for approval by the building department. This may take a couple of months for them to complete. In the meantime we are moving forward with removing the electrical wires from the front of the theater. Going underground will really clean up the sight lines from upstairs on the VIP deck over the lobby.

10/23/2020

To the person or persons who witnessed someone breaking into the Sunset Theater and called the Lodi PD to the scene yesterday Oct 22 at 4:00 pm thank you. While the theater is basically empty there were electrical distribution boxes inside that apparently were very inticing to a thief. Oh and they stole the alarm too.

I wish I had a description of the thief. I do know they must be skinny as the hole they came in through was smaller than the one they came out.

10/05/2020

Hey everyone in District 5 of Lodi. I just spent the last hour and a half talking the ear off of Hector Madrigil one of your candidates for City of Lodi City Council. First of all the man can listen. He asked pointed questions and took notes. While I am usually shy and reserved about my opinions Hector seemed to care. If he listens to you as much as he did me he will be a great representative of your district.

I don’t know the candidates and I can’t vote as I live outside of Lodi but he seems like a very nice young man with some good ideas.

09/13/2020

The day a lot of you were waiting for is here. While plasma cutting up the ovens at Alexander’s we came upon the last loaf of bread from the bakery.
Do I hear an opening bid of $50.00?

Just kidding please do not try to buy this bread.

Oh and yes we saved all the bricks that the bread was cooked on but that is a subject for another day.

08/27/2020

Major event announcement! We got the adjacent building to replace Alexander’s approved by the Lodi SPARC. I would like to thank the members of the community who spoke out. ❤️

08/21/2020

Sorry we have been so quiet on FB lately. Next week we go before the Lodi SPARC to get city approval for our plan to redevelop the site and reopen the Sunset Theater Community Center. Fingers crossed 🤞 !

Alexander’s is cleaned out and no longer a hazardous site. We are awaiting approval for the removal of the building. If you know anyone with pull at PG and E please ask them to green light 1100 West Lodi Ave work order to seal off natural gas to the site. Without a small miracle it may be several months before they show up.

07/21/2020

You may have noticed some drawings on the theater that look like new windows. They are not windows. We were simply scanning the concrete and marking the rebar patterns within to keep the engineering people happy and satisfied that the building still has a long life ahead of her.

07/17/2020

Well I didn’t expect this. Lots of people have been asking for one of the Famous Bricks from Alexander’s oven. Here is what we found. There is one steel oven about fifteen feet wide by forty foot long and inside is a geared system with moving shelves. The shelves rotate from back to front on a Ferris wheel type drive. Low and behold the shelves appear to be made of some sort of ceramic, whether it is brick or concrete I can not yet tell. We will attempt to remove them intact so we can find out what is going on with the famous Brick Oven of Alexander’s

07/09/2020

The timing couldn’t be better. After a eight month delay we will finally be closing escrow on Alexander’s Bakery this week. Thanks go out to Mike Collins, the Mondavi family and the San Joaquin county court system.

Securing the site allows us to move forward with Lodi Planning next month and with demolition of the site to clear the way for the Sunset On The Avenue development.

07/08/2020

We finally made it into Epoch Times

https://www.theepochtimes.com/woman-reunites-with-her-wallet-lost-in-1962-at-a-movie-theater-its-unbelievable_3397056.html

Never give up hope is a well-worn adage. But after almost 60 years, you could be forgiven for ...

07/04/2020

Here are a few more posts showing the bones. These are taken from the projection booth looking down. As you can see the wall between the projection room and theater is gone and all that remains is the upstairs floor. I won’t be able to add very many more of these as we are down to just a couple of interior walls.