opened as the Warner Brothers Western Theater, the flagship for the theater chain. The building and theater were built by the William Simpson Construction Company. After closing a year later, the theater reopened in the mid-1930s and was renamed the Wiltern Theatre for the major intersection which it faces (Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue). In 1956, the building and theater were sold to the Franklin Life Insurance Company of Springfield, Illinois. The Los Angeles chapter of the American Theater Organ Enthusiasts worked to restore the theater's 37-rank Kimball pipe organ—reputed to be the largest one in Los Angeles at the time—and held recitals there through the late 1960s and into the mid-1970s. However, the owners ignored the landmark building, and by the late 1970s, the Wiltern had fallen into disrepair. Only the intervention of a group of local preservationists saved the complex from being demolished on two occasions in the late 1970s, when the owners filed for demolition permits. (The preservation of the Wiltern was one of the Los Angeles Conservancy's first victories in its fight to preserve the architectural heritage of the city.) In 1981, the Wiltern was purchased by developer Wayne Ratkovich, who worked with architect Brenda Levin to restore both the theater and the office building to their former glory. Previous successes with the Fine Arts Building and the Oviatt Building renovations in downtown Los Angeles and the refurbishing of the nearby Chapman Market complex on Sixth Street convinced many in the city that they were the right people for the job. The renovation of the office building was complete by 1983, but the Wiltern Theatre presented a much more difficult problem and took another two years to complete. The theater had been poorly maintained. Many of the murals and plasterwork were damaged, many of the fixtures had been sold off or pillaged, and portions of the ceiling had crashed onto the ground floor seats. It had also been used as the primary location for the film Get Crazy, which caused further damage. To restore the theater to its original state required expert craftsmanship by A.T. Heinsbergen, son of the original painter, and some creativity to replace what had been lost. This included salvaging vintage Art Deco seats from the soon-to-be-renovated Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon. Furthermore, while it was originally designed and run as a movie theater, Ratkovich wanted to convert the Wiltern into a performing