Covina Entertainment and Nightlife
Community festivals, a busy downtown and the largest movie theater in the area combine to give Covina a well-deserved reputation as a fun place to spend a night on the town.
The dazzling AMC 30 Theatre is the largest multi-screen complex in all of Los Angeles County, with 30 screens and 5,000 seats. With more than 1.8 million visitors per year, the theater rapidly has become a popular destination for San Gabriel Valley residents and visitors alike.
For a laid-back night out, try the Covina Farmer’s Market and Family Night at the Civic Center Park downtown. This summer event includes a farmer’s market, crafts, food and plenty of family entertainment.
And if you’re looking for a little magic, Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Magic Mountain and Raging Waters theme parks are conveniently located nearby.
Arts and Culture in Covina
Whether it be performing arts, visual arts or a concert in the park, Covina has what you are looking for. Visit the exciting Covina Center for the Performing Arts. Because of our unique seating plan, we will have the ability to utilize Equity actors under the 99-seat Equity Waiver Plan. Our loyal fans will appreciate our new slogan “Every Seat is the Best Seat in the House,” guaranteeing the performances you see will long be remembered!
STAGE ARTS REPERTORY is the CCPA home-based company of first-rate and professional actors, designers and directors. This strong group of people will be producing top-notch professional productions for the main stage, including new and classic musicals, drama and comedy.
In addition to the STAGE ARTS REPERTORY “Main Season Productions,” the center’s Arts Calendar will include a CELEBRITY SERIES hosting professional name artists, CABARET in the CHAMPION CIRCLE for “Blues and Jazz,” and a SATURDAY AFTERNOON MOVIE SERIES.
The Center will also serve as the primary performing center for our schools, local performing groups and be available to businesses to host conferences and seminars of their choice.
Best of all is “The new Banquet Facility” — to see it is to believe it! The best of everything — crystal, china, silver and a vast array of gourmet meals to chose from to personalize your special evening. Marble and sparkling chandeliers with hand blown glass and top of the line dining, with available quality entertainment on request.
The Covina Center for the Performing Arts building can also facilitate specialty weddings on stage with elaborate drops and lighting, and many scene and theme selections. And finish off the special day or evening in the banquet room. If it can be “Dreamt Up,” the center can produce it! This beautiful facility will also house a one of a kind collection of original art pieces dating from the early 1900s on loan from the Champion Family Foundation.
The Banquet facility will be available all year-round with reservations for that very special memorable occasion.
The Champion Circle Cabaret room above the main stage in the Center will also be available for meetings, conferences and private parties. Access to what’s going is available at www.covinacenter.com.
The Performing Arts Center will house a vast, private, one of a kind, original antique collection of copper etchings. These lithographs, dating through the 1790s and 1800s, depict various Shakespearian scenes from the classics, such as The Tempest, King Lear, Winter’s Tales, Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet, on loan from the Champion Family Foundation. Also on loan from the Champion Family Foundation is a wonderful original series of turn of the century posters depicting the history of film, dating back to the original moving pictures. The third collection on loan from the foundation is an extensive original turn of the century collection of theatre magazine covers, from Theatre Magazine Publication.
The Covina Center for the Performing Arts will host a viewing of original local artists’ work in an on-going schedule throughout the production season, for the public’s enjoyment.
Another great arts educational program Covina and the San Gabriel Valley will enjoy is Young Actors Workshop. For youth ages 8-18, this program will cultivate acting, dance and singing skills through workshops, classes and performances.
School Night at the CCPA will bring students together from the area school districts to selected performances, and provide the opportunity to interact with the actors and production staff to learn more about the creative process.
Stagecraft Training, for students and adults, will be a hands-on learning experience, covering sound, lighting, set design and construction, properties, costumes and scenic/set painting.
Golden Years Players, for seniors and professional actors and would-be actors, to have the opportunity to perform on stage.
Artists-in-Residence, offered to graduates of local colleges and universities will enable exceptional designers and directors an avenue to develop their craft as resident artists with Stage Arts Repertory for a season.
All these wonderful opportunities will soon be available to our Covina community and the surrounding San Gabriel Valley.
THE FRET HOUSE, 309 North Citrus Avenue in downtown Covina. 626-339-7020.
The Fret house is celebrating their local spot for musical equipment, lessons and entertainment, and has a full Acoustical Concert Series Schedule of wonderful musical events throughout the year. In a very small intimate setting downstairs at the Fret house, you can enjoy a variety of musical events. For updates on what’s going on over there go to www.frethouse.com.
You’re always welcome at the Covina Public Library. They are open every day except Sunday, and are located at 234 North Second Avenue, two blocks north of Badillo and one block east of downtown Citrus Avenue.
The library features a computer center that has 12 Internet workstations and six Publishing Center workstations. These machines are reserved by scanning your Covina Public Library card at a barcode reader. You can access the Internet or use databases provided by the library, including useful tools like Reference USA to prepare mailing lists. The library is an Internet hotspot and they have places where you may comfortably use your laptop.
They also have books on all topics, including many on small business and management. They lend all types of nonfiction and fiction, DVD’s and CD’s, and current magazines and newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal and Investor’s Business Daily, which are available in their browsing rooms.
Covina residents have always loved a good book — they had a library before the city was even incorporated.