Plans Shown for Cal State Arts Complex

The unveiling of plans for a new fine arts complex at Cal State Los Angeles was celebrated Tuesday with jazz dancing, a musical fanfare and the presentation of a $500,000 check--the first installment on what officials said will be the largest private cash donation to any Cal State campus.

The check came from Los Angeles architect and Cal State trustee emeritus Charles Luckman and his wife, Harriet. They have pledged to give $2.1 million to the theater and art gallery project, which will be named after them and be built in a Mayan style to reflect the Mexican contribution to Los Angeles culture.

“I felt there has been so much emphasis on the business and down-to-earth approach to life that it was time to take a deep breath collectively and remember what we established in this country was a culture,” said Charles Luckman, who was a Cal State trustee from 1960 to 1982, including two years as chairman.

Halfway to Goal

The state is committed to paying $14 million for the $21-million complex. Cal State officials said Tuesday that they are about halfway to their goal of raising $7 million from private sources and are hopeful they can obtain the other half in time to begin construction by late this year or early 1989. Construction is expected to take 14 months.

In addition to the Luckman pledge, other major contributions include $600,000 from the Ahmanson Foundation and $500,000 from the J. Paul Getty Trust. “We feel much of the heart and future of Los Angeles is right here on this campus,” said Robert Ahmanson, president of the foundation that bears his family’s name.

The project will be built next to an existing theater and student union on a hillside on the northwestern corner of the campus five miles east of the Civic Center. It will include a 1,200-seat theater, a scenery shop, two rehearsal halls, an “intimate theater” that can accommodate an audience of 100 to 300, a 7,000-square-foot art gallery and an outdoor sculpture court. Linking these will be an open-air “Street of the Arts,” a terraced promenade with columns and fountains that Cal State L.A. President James M. Rosser said will be the new main entrance to the school.

Employs Mayan Motif

“This is a wonderful day for Cal State L.A. and the whole Cal State system,” Rosser told about 70 people who gathered on a flower-bedecked campus courtyard for the unveiling of the architectural model. Designed by the Luckman Partnership, the firm founded by the donor, the proposed structures will be covered with brick patterns influenced by Mayan designs found in the Yucatan region of Mexico.

Also attending the ceremony were Cal State Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds, Cal State Board of Trustees Chairman Dale Ride, assistant director of the Getty grants program Deborah Marrow, Ahmanson Foundation director Lee Walcott and author Irving Stone, who is a close friend of the Luckmans.

Student dancers and musicians from Cal State L.A. and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts performed before and after the ceremony. The high school, which is located at the university, will be able to use the new facilities, officials stressed.