I'm all for developing the Villa Theatre property as an entertainment center with shops and restaurants. I just want to see the "Theatre" left in "Villa Theatre". The Villa was built as a theater and that's the function it's best-suited for. If the current buyer really wants to build an entertainment center around the Villa, they ought to seek out and work with a group that wants to restore the Villa as a theater. A grand restoration of the theater is what everyone wants. There are ways that the Villa could be used for a mixed use of stage plays, concerts, classic movies, first-run films, and maybe even Cinerama. There are many options and they all ought to be explored.

It would be a tragedy to lose the Villa as a theater. Please allow the time for those interested in restoring it to it's original state to do so. Let's be a part of saving the experience of the big screen theater in America.

I would love to see the Villa as a theatre again!!!!!!!

We have lost too many of these treasures lately, and it is becoming a public relations nightmare for those who don't try to preserve them. Remember Indian Hills Theater in Omaha? A number of cities are now starting to realize that building cookie cutter shops and buildings doesn't set them apart from any other city. Why would tourists come to visit your city if it looks just like their own? Why would there be any neighborhood pride if every city looks the same? Once these treasures are taken away, there's no getting them back. The national trend is going towards saving these old buildings and creating new development around them, and those who don't realize that will suffer.

Dear Harmons;

As a locally owned business you especially should understand the importance of preserving Utah's heritage. The Villa Theater needs to remain in all it's glory, and that includes even the old oak phone booth that lights up when the door is closed.

Having trouble finding a buyer? Turn it into a historical sight, use it as a tax right off, a non-profit theater or talk Robert Redford into buying it.

As one of the last great remaining old theaters it must remain just what it is. You should be proud to be the guardian of such a great piece of history. Please reguard as something that can never be replaced, and once gone will always be regreted.

sincerely,
Maggie Metcalf

Dear Harmons:

Please do not allow for this wonderful theatre to become a furniture store. Too many of this country's beautiful movie theaters have been demolished, altered beyond recognition or divided into multiplex theaters.

As I understand it, this theater was still very popular before closing. As was often the case, theaters like the Villa, many Cinedome theaters around the Western United States and the Omaha Indian Hills Theatre, audiences still packed the house. I'm positive that if the Villa is reopened as a movie theatre, it will still be packed when the next "The Lord of the Rings" film opens.

Please reconsider your decision regarding The Villa Theatre.

Sincerely,

William Kallay

Please please do not sell our beloved Villa Theatre to a furniture broker from LA. If anybody at Harmons reads this I beg you, have some dignity and hold out for someone to buy the Villa that wants to restore it to a theatre. I really think if you do sell let that priceless bldg. be abused it will be the worst publicity Harmons will ever have.

There are fewer and fewer examples of historical architecture left in Salt Lake City. Especially examples of vernacular architecture that is still maintaining it's original purpose...Pioneer Playhouse Parking Garage for example maintains a facade, but not a theater.

I think that the forsight and vision displayed through preservation may not be recognized in the first generation but will commended in the coming years by many, many generations. Thanks for considering a move that will strengthen the value of not only your propery in the future but also that of the community.

I feel that it would be a tragedy unless the villa theater was restored to it's original state. If it is not, then the singular experience of the big screen theater will have all but died in America

The villa has been a landmark since I was a kid.

Sad times that a megaconglomerate will sell to the first buyer rather than use their strength to preserve our landmarks.

keep the villa alive!

Please no more fascodomies for Salt Lake. Preserve the theater as a theater.

I would like to see the Villa Theatre restored as a movie theatre. It it a rare gift that this structure still stands in the era of 'multiplexes'.

Please either keep the Villa Theatre as a movie theater or let it be a theater for stage plays (community theater). Perhaps the University of Utah would be interested in using it for their school's theater productions. The old suggested plans of turning the property into a small multi-plex movie theater area (and keeping the current Villa as it is with those) was the best idea I think.

Growing up in SLC I have admired and enjoyed the Villa Theatre me whole life. I attended many Saturday PTA movies their as a school child. That aside, the Villa Theatre is historically significant because of its architecture and its single screen design. The historical significance of this building should be valued and preserved. As the current owner I urge you to move in the direction of preserving the building and marquee in a manner fitting its history. It is unrealistic to presume that old buildings can be kept in their previous function, however it is possible to preseve it and use it an a way fittings its status. Please consider.

In the summer of 2001 I was a part of a group of Omahans who fought the plans of a local hospital to demolish our last-of-a-kind cinerama movie palace, the Indian Hills, for a parking lot. As usual, money prevailed and today we have a half-empty parking lot where once stood a landmark.

From my experience, the only way to persuade the owner to "do the right thing" is with money. Is there anyone in the Salt Lake City area with the deep pockets needed to save the theatre? Saving the fascade alone is not enough. Are there any Paul Allens out there?

Please re-open the Villa as a theatre. My children and I have so many great memories of the movies we've seen there.

Thank you

John Lamb

I think we'll all be glad later if we work to preserve this great old theater!

While we applaud any plan that preserves the Villa's facade and marquee, we encourage Harmons Grocery to seriously consider all proposals that would preserve the Villa as an entertainment venue, whether as a nightclub, cinema cafe, etc. The Villa is a true Cinema Treasure and Salt Lake City should find someway to preserve it.