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Entertainment happens in gathering places, which is what officials are trying to discourage to combat the novel coronavirus.
When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March, few people could have imagined a world without places to go for entertainment: no amusement parks, no multiplexes for movies, no theaters or festival grounds for concerts, no casinos.
But not only did all those venues close, most haven’t reopened. And as we head into fall, no one knows when they will come back.
They are part of what Adam Fowler, director of research for Beacon Economics, calls the creative economy.
“They are just on ice at the moment,” he said in a phone interview. “And there has not been quite the focus as there has been for other industries. Think about airlines and hospitality, those kinds of things.”
Under California’s new color-coded guidelines for reopening, indoor entertainment venues are classified as nonessential. In Southern California, most counties are rated as having widespread risk, coded as purple. Orange County succeeded at getting its COVID-19 case level low enough to get a substantial risk rating, coded red, and is allowed to open movie theaters at 25% capacity.
To reopen most indoor venues with modifications, counties need to reach minimal risk level, coded yellow. For most counties, the ability to advance to that level is weeks or months away.
Fowler said that until the economy is able to bounce back, a lot of entertainment companies are in survival mode.
“An economy without arts or culture isn’t going to be an economy a lot of us are going to be super excited about,” Fowler said. “We want to make sure we haven’t totally decimated that sector.”
The creative sector is apt to be treading water until there is a COVID-19 vaccine, he said.
But on the bright side, “The talent is here in Southern California, so that gives us a longer term advantage.”
Theme parks itching to open
California theme parks are still on the lift hill of a roller coaster ride called the Coronavirus Cyclone that promises to deliver a series of unknown twists, turns and loops that could affect the state’s major tourist destinations for years to come.
Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood and other California theme parks have been closed for six months and are stuck in a holding pattern awaiting guidelines from the state on safely reopening.
On Monday, Sept. 14 — exactly six months after Disneyland and Disney California Adventure closed — the California Attractions and Parks Association, a trade group representing the major theme park owners, called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to allow parks to reopen. The clamor for reopening racheted up Wednesday, with the mayors of Anaheim, Buena Park and Garden Grove also urging the state to issue guidelines for how parks could resume operations.
Newsom responded last week by saying an announcement on theme parks is coming soon.
“I’m not here today to make that presentation, but want folks to know we are actively working in a number of sectors and we’ll be making public the fruits of those negotiations and those efforts very, very shortly,” the governor said during a Wednesday news conference.
A few California theme parks, including Knott’s Berry Farm, SeaWorld and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom have partially reopened with limited-time, reduced-capacity special events. Others, such as California’s Great America, have given up hope and closed for the rest of the year. Legoland and SeaWorld have been able to reopen their indoor aquariums under state guidelines. Disney, Universal and Knott’s have reopened outdoor shopping malls located next to their parks. But roller coasters, shows, rides and attractions remain idle.
The impact of the extended coronavirus closures on California theme parks has been devastating. Thousands of employees have been furloughed, with layoffs following as closures stretched from weeks into months. Financial losses have reached the tens of millions for major players like SeaWorld and Six Flags and the billions for industry leaders like Disney and Universal.
The future of California theme parks remains clouded. With summer spoiled and Halloween wrecked, parks have already begun canceling Christmas events. The proposition of California theme parks not reopening in 2020 — which seemed improbable if not impossible in July — is now very real.
Financial analysts are already calling 2021 a “lost year” for theme parks, with a full recovery not expected until 2023. The good news: The resilient theme park industry is expected to rebound strongly once travel returns to normal and a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available. But that assumption ignores a great unknown: How will people’s habits change in the years and decades to come after the pandemic fades from the headlines?
Return of the drive-in
Drive-in movie theaters, which were on the endangered species list, saw a sudden burst in popularity as summer arrived. Decades-old drive-ins such as Vineland in the City of Industry and Mission Tiki Drive-In in Montclair were suddenly getting first-run films and local premieres, followed by pop-ups showing movie classics.
The appeal was built-in social distancing. People could get out of the house and see movies in a communal setting and still be separated from strangers.
Drive-ins weren’t just for movies. Musicians, promoters, and even stand-up comics saw possibilities in the outdoor venues.
Early on in the pandemic, artists like Coldplay, John Legend and Diplo began streaming live sets from empty venues or their homes via a variety of social media platforms. Big-name stars such as Garth Brooks and Metallica exclusively filmed concerts, which were then screened at drive-in theaters across the country.
Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness performed one of Southern California’s first ticketed drive-in shows in the area at City National Grove of Anaheim’s Drive-In OC. The series has since featured performances by Fitz & The Tantrums and Common Kings. Its first drive-in comedy show with Iliza Shlesinger will take place in October.
Levity Live, which operates the Improv comedy clubs, began doing drive-in comedy shows on the rooftop of a parking structure near its location at the Irvine Spectrum Center last month. It sold out shows with comics like Brad Williams and recently added nights with Joel McHale, Craig Robinson and Felipe Esparza.
The So Cal Drive In concert series kicked off on Aug. 29 in Commerce with a sold-out show featuring East LA rock band Los Lobos. Concerts In Your Car, which includes locations at the Ventura and Del Mar Fairgrounds, has hosted numerous concerts and comedy shows.
Huntington Beach reggae outfit Dirty Heads and country star Chris Janson have upcoming evenings at both locations. Hip-hop group Cypress Hill will be doing two shows Sept. 26 at Rubidoux Drive-In Theatre in Jurupa Valley.
Connecting with fans
With thousands of concert venues shuttered since mid-March, promoters have switched to live streaming compressed versions of their festivals. Companies such as Beverly Hills-based Insomniac Events have connected with fans throughout the pandemic via multi-day and multi-artist virtual events
A portion of the proceeds for a number of the ticketed live stream events has been donated to nonprofits organized to help keep smaller venues afloat during this unprecedented shutdown.
But such shows are a stopgap and don’t replace the big arena shows that have been postponed or canceled.
Goldenvoice, the Los Angeles-based promoter that puts on the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio, hopes to bring them back in April, but has furloughed or laid off most of its staff and has given them no indication about when they’ll come back.
Beverly Hills-based Live Nation has also laid off employees after revenues in the second quarter dropped 98% to $74 million from $3.2 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Insomniac Events hopes to get back into the live festival business in 2021. It recently announced that it will bring back its Nocturnal Wonderland to Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernardino next fall and wants to launch an event called Day Trip in San Pedro in July.
Casinos without buffets
Inland resorts on tribal lands were among the first entertainment businesses to reopen in the pandemic.
Most closed in mid-March and stayed closed through at least late May. Some, such as Pechanga Resort Casino near Temecula and San Manuel Casino in Highland, announced layoffs and furloughs of their employees.
The casinos have since reopened with a variety of safety measures in place, including turning off some slot machines, reducing the number of players at table games, and installing dividers to separate players and dealers.
All require that guests wear face coverings and have their temperature checked before entry, and many have prohibited smoking indoors.
Casinos for the most part have curtailed their entertainment offerings for the next few months. Some have announced that all their major indoor concerts and shows have been postponed until 2021.
Some are bringing in cover bands, but often the shows are held outdoors and at limited capacity ensure people are distanced or, if they’re indoors, are usually smaller shows with a smaller audience that can be spaced out.
Buffets, a reliable way to draw in customers, are endangered.
In an interview in late May, Jeff L. Grubbe, chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, said they may never return.
Simon Farmer, executive director of marketing for Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, said in an earlier interview they may not return in the way that people have traditionally known them.
Harrah’s Resort Southern California in Valley Center already has done away with its buffet, turning a portion of the space into its new fast casual Italian restaurant, Che Bello.
Staff writers Kelli Skye Fadroski, Alex Groves and Brady MacDonald contributed to this report.
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