FRESNO, CA — In an encouraging development for downtown preservation advocates, the nearly century-old Warnors Theatre successfully operated Sunday night for its originally intended purpose, hosting Los Lobos and Los Lonely Boys without being converted into luxury apartments, a brewery, an event venue called “The Foundry,” or an empty building everyone vaguely remembers being important.
The 2,100-seat theater, built in 1928, welcomed the two bands as part of their Brotherhood Tour.
Local historians called the event remarkable evidence that historic architecture can remain useful even after reaching an age at which most Fresno buildings begin attracting serious conversations involving the word “demolition.”
“For generations, experts assumed an old theater could only survive by sitting vacant while seventeen committees debated what to do with it,” explained one local preservationist. “Apparently you can just have shows there.”
The evening also produced what linguistic researchers described as Fresno’s highest recorded concentration of the word Los inside a single building.
Concertgoers praised Warnors’ ornate interior and historic atmosphere, with several residents reportedly stunned to discover that the building they had driven past for years contains an entire theater.
At press time, downtown planners were studying the radical possibility that other historic buildings might also become more valuable when people are allowed inside them.