A half-dozen fan-boys hopped from a van and peered into the long-shuttered Rialto Theatre, a South Pasadena landmark featured in the award-winning movie “La La Land.”

“Yeah, they are from a Hollywood tour group,” Lawrence Fudge, pastor of Mosaic South Pasadena said last Wednesday while overseeing men working on sound and lighting inside the spacious auditorium where the church holds Sunday services. “We get them all the time.”

A member of Mosaic church worships inside the Rialto Theatre during a church service in South Pasadena on Sunday, March 18, 2018. The movie theater closed in 2007. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Mosaic, a church with multiple locations across Los Angeles, has leased and will be restoring the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 which has been closed since 2007. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

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Rev. Lawrence Fudge, head pastor of Mosaic South Pasadena, stands outside the church’s new home at the historic Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

The Mosaic church band plays inside the Rialto Theatre during a church service in South Pasadena on Sunday, March 18, 2018. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Mosaic, a church with multiple locations across Los Angeles has leased and will be restoring the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 which has been closed since 2007. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)



Carlos Pimentel, a singer in the the Mosaic church band performs inside the Rialto Theatre during a church service in South Pasadena on Sunday, March 18, 2018. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

The Mosaic church band plays inside the Rialto Theatre during a church service in South Pasadena on Sunday, March 18, 2018. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Architectural details inside the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 which has been closed since 2007. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Mosaic, a church with multiple locations across Los Angeles has moved into the historic Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The theater, which was built in 1925 hasn’t been open since 2007. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Work begins on the one of the storefront spaces adjacent to the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Mosaic church is planning on restoring these spaces into a restaurant and cafe. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)



Rev. Lawrence Fudge, head pastor of Mosaic South Pasadena, sits inside the church’s new home at the historic Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Church goers hang out outside the Rialto Theatre before a church service at Mosaic in South Pasadena on Sunday, March 18, 2018. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Church goers hang out outside the Rialto Theatre before a church service at Mosaic in South Pasadena on Sunday, March 18, 2018. The theater, which was built in 1925, hasn’t been open since 2007. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Architectural details inside the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 which has been closed since 2007. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Rev. Lawrence Fudge, head pastor of Mosaic South Pasadena, stands outside the church’s new home at the historic Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)



The Mosaic church band plays inside the Rialto Theatre during a church service in South Pasadena on Sunday, March 18, 2018. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Rev. Lawrence Fudge, left, prays with members of Mosaic’s church band inside the Rialto Theatre during a church service in South Pasadena on Sunday, March 18, 2018. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Church goers hang out outside the Rialto Theatre before a church service at Mosaic in South Pasadena on Sunday, March 18, 2018. The theater, which was built in 1925, hasn’t been open since 2007. (Photo by Nick Agro, Contributing Photographer)

Attracting looky-loos is easy.

Since the 2016 movie’s release, everyone is buzzing anew about the massive, two-story building that’s stood at Fair Oaks Avenue and Oxley Street for nearly a century – but has been closed since 2007.

Mosaic’s goals go deeper than repairing stucco and replacing carpet. The hip house of worship – which also operates in Hollywood, Venice and Mexico City – aims to make the 93-year-old theater a community treasure that attracts locals and visitors, not just church-goers.

One way they are trying to accomplish that is by restoring and filling two side-spaces attached to the building and opening them to the public seven days a week. One would be a high-end restaurant and the other a trendy cafe selling lattes and pastries.

The church is taking sublease offers from prospective tenants, including several restaurateurs, said Erwin McManus, senior pastor and founder of Mosaic. The unique church will open a new campus in Fullerton on April 1 – Easter Sunday – called Mosaic Orange County, Fudge confirmed.

Mosaic signed a 15-year lease in May with the Rialto’s owner, Izek Shomof, to restore this 1925 single-screen theater to its original luster – or as close as possible. After completing initial renovations and receiving a conditional-use permit from the city, it has hosted services inside the Egyptian/Moroccan-themed auditorium every Sunday since late October. Attendees grew from 250 to 700 Sunday worshipers, including two morning services, Fudge said.

To solve the parking issue, Mosaic negotiated agreements with a parking lot behind a brown office building four blocks to the north at 625 Fair Oaks Ave., as well as some other surface lots north of the theater and west of Fair Oaks, Fudge said. The number of spaces is more than what is needed, he said. Church-goers are encouraged not to park on Fair Oaks Avenue.

Though the restoration process is slow, Mosaic’s leaders said they are moving quickly to establish new, modern commercial uses for the space, including eateries of the highest quality, McManus said.

“We are developing something (cafe, restaurant) that will be here seven days a week,” McManus said. “We are actually doing it for South Pasadena, we’re not doing it for Mosaic.”

Like the old days?

McManus has a background that straddles film, tech and fashion. And Fudge has worked in business development.

Together, they are trying to erase some negative vibes coming from some shop owners who are worried about the availability of parking on future event nights – and from disappointed locals who wanted to see the theater restored for screening movies, not spreading religion.

Running a first-run movie theater is not in the plans, Fudge said. Theater operators have inquired about the site but turned it down, saying a single-screen theater won’t pencil out in today’s world of multiple-screen megaplexes.

But does the church like the idea of showing art movies on other nights, not on Sunday?

“We do. Those are fun events that in time, the opportunity will come for that,” Fudge said.

A week before Christmas, the church showed the Frank Capra classic “Its a Wonderful Life” and sold 700 tickets. Fudge said 500 were not from Mosaic members.

The church hosted a concert recently that did well, too, he said.

The commercial establishments would add to community use, McManus said.

Such uses were part of the original Rialto, said Escott Norton, founder of Friends of the Rialto who first went to the theater when he was 8 years old. The theater opened on Oct. 17, 1925. Three years later, a food establishment called The Rialto Sweeteria opened in one of the storefront spaces currently for lease, according to a city report.

“I’m guessing it was a candy shop,” Norton said.

A restaurant occupied the north space in the 1980s and 1990s, Norton said. On the south, there was a comic books store, a barber shop and most recently, a locksmith, he said.

“I’ve sent them people who run food and drink establishments. The church is interested. I am interested and the community will benefit,” Norton said. “We are trying to get the theater active, as well as preserved.”

A mishmash of styles

The 1,200-seat theater was designed by architect Lewis Arthur Smith, known for designing such theaters a the Vista in Los Feliz and the Highland Theater in Highland Park.

The Rialto, regarded as L.A. Smith’s masterpiece, was often called an oddity, blending Spanish and Egyptian revival styles. Some called it an architectural mishmash.

The Rialto opened with the premiere of the Universal Pictures movie, “Whatever Happened to Jones?”

It once contained a house organ for use in silent films, but adapted to talking pictures a few years after opening. The theater also hosted vaudeville acts into the 1930s.

In 1978, the Rialto was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The last movie shown before it closed was “The Simpsons Movie” in 2007. It was one of the last single-screen movie theaters in Southern California.

Architectural Resources Group of Pasadena, hired by Mosaic, wrote a plan for restoration that was presented to the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission on Thursday. ARG said the auditorium is mostly intact. It seats 672 people on the orchestra level and 481 in the balcony for a total of 1,153, the report stated.

Other parts of the theater have been remodeled, including the lobby, ARG reported.

The auditorium “has been well-preserved,” with a 30-foot deep stage framed by paintings in relief. Its design pecadillos are plentiful:

A cross-section running horizontally, known as the lintel, includes abstract patterns of leaves with “a gargoyle mask with lighted eyes” in the center.

A naked female torso with wings frames the organ chamber, something ARG suggests is a notorious harpy of Greek mythology – a half woman and half bird.

Egyptian-inspired winged sphinxes are set into the frieze.

Fudge pointed to the chipping paint on the pillars, the discoloration on the painted lintel and some scattered cracks. But the structure is strong, he said.

“Everyone thought the building was condemned and was going to fall over but that is just not the case,” the pastor said. “City officials said this would be the last building in South Pasadena to fall down.”

What’s in a name?

Mosaic thinks of itself as a church that welcomes all people of all backgrounds into one picture, piece by piece.

On the building’s famous marquee it says “Mosaic” and omits the word “church.”

Just past the original ticket booth are the words “Believe in Love” in neon. Its website looks a lot like a high-tech company, with live-streaming videos and statistics about social-media views alongside testimonials from the faithful.

McManus sees the building as a metaphor for people entering his church seeking renewal: A once-alive place that’s been damaged but can be restored to life.

“We are a perfect culture for this space. Just take our name: a mosaic is an art form, pieces are brought together broken and fragmented to create something beautiful, especially when light strikes through it,” he said.

McManus had his eye on the place for many years, including the last decade when Mosaic held services in a rented space in Pasadena, at the William Carey International University.

But it wasn’t until he was diagnosed with prostate cancer that later spread to the gall bladder and lymph nodes that he was able to seal the deal.

After surgery at Huntington Memorial Hospital and during follow-up doctor visits, he’d walk over to visit the old theater.

After he saw “La La Land,” the metaphor of the old theater as a lost dream – or lost love in the eyes of Oscar winner Emma Stone’s character, Mia Dolan – resonated with him.

“I think it enhances the role of the church when it takes something that has become a symbol of a lost dream, a reminder of the past, and then becomes almost a gift to the future,” McManus said.

“If we create something beautiful here, if the environment is compelling and astonishing and surprising, it opens people up to realize faith isn’t something in some kind of sacred building,” he added, “faith is a part of everything we do.”