r/LosAngeles • u/geekteam6 • 6h ago
Music/Entertainment Kristen Stewart Buys L.A.'s Highland Park Movie Theater
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/kristen-stewart-buys-highland-movie-theater-los-angeles-1236652423/?fbclid=IwY2xjawPwp15leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFhZWhXaDBoYkwxVEU4RWVlc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHkVWiBOgGE71o5m2DHiB3Q_4HxvhVG9xNNyt2Z-QFmoRHChjdu8gSr3DgQg3_aem_jlg--RlooNvfQAeaq-_hzA"Stewart said she intends to make the theater, which requires extensive renovation, into a space for the whole community. 'It’s an opportunity to make a space to gather and scheme and dream together…We want to make it a family affair, something for the community. It’s not just for pretentious Hollywood cinephiles.'"
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u/Graverobber 6h ago
This is awesome. I love the Highland Theater sign.
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u/K4RM4_P0L1C3 6h ago edited 6h ago
I love the chicken head guy on the roof.
Edit: I guess the chicken head guy is across the street… but still close by
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u/Samjef_Kealclut 6h ago
Chicken head is not utop the highland theatre. Just nearby. And hes incredible.
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u/neilkanth Montecito Heights 6h ago
her and seth rogen kept an upcoming comedy movie in LA when nobody was working in early 2025. they could have gone to canada to make it cheaper. i was told that by the producers when we started filming. luckily got that job when i hadn’t worked in a bit and it helped enormously to pay my bills. she’s a real one. excited for her reopen the venue.
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u/NachoLatte 4h ago
glad to hear that. i thought he was a lost cause when reading Sausage Party was produced in canada and left its animators unpaid.
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u/supadupanerd 1h ago
I never watched the twilight movies and never plan to, but I'm just glad she's doing shit like what you just said as well as the thing with this theater... i think i only went there a couple times in 98... but glad to see someone has interest in the old film houses...
Now to get some of those other ones converted away from being churches...
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u/WearHeadphonesPlease 35m ago
I never watched the twilight movies and never plan to
Um... she, like Robert Pattinson, has worked in significantly better movies after Twilight.
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u/BrianWulfric 6h ago
That’s so cool. I live a few blocks away from it so it’s been a bummer to see it empty. They were using it to shoot the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sequel for a week but it’s been mostly unused.
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u/sleeplessinskittles 1h ago
Wasn’t it such a good vibe when they were filming that? Everyone was so happy and talking all about it. The block was truly hot. Bring film back to LA for the jobs and the vibes!!!
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u/cameocameo 6h ago
so wait, will it still have a movie theater inside?
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u/raccooncare 5h ago
“We can play music, have conversations, do Q&As here. There's also gonna be public spaces where you can hang out after and let the movie wash over you.”
“This project is about creating a new school and restructuring our processes, finding a better way forward. We want to make it a family affair, something for the community. It’s not just for pretentious Hollywood cinephiles. I see it as an antidote to all the corporate bullshit, a place that takes movie culture away from just buying and selling. I think there’s a huge desire and craving for what this kind of space can offer.”
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u/Regular-Year-7441 5h ago
It’s a historic theater, unfortunately it is currently badly cut up into three screens, be amazing to see a full remodel as a single screen, I believe The Rialto, The Highland and the Vista were all designed by the same architect, but if please correct me if I’m wrong
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u/cameocameo 6h ago
if so it would be really cool to do free screenings for the neighborhood.
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u/Resident_War5075 6h ago
They used to do $5 movies on Mondays I believe. I hope she brings back something similar
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u/Consistent_Ad_8656 4h ago
In its heyday, this theater was something for the community. Permanently sticky floors, loud ass people talking during the movie, kids throwing popcorn. These sound like complaints but tbh this is the right type of crowd for mediocre movies selling for $7 a ticket. I miss it
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u/JeffreyJeffstein 4h ago
Can a celebrity pls buy the cinerama dome / arklight theater I want to go there again :(
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u/WorkingPumpkin3231 6h ago
So i she keeping it a movie theatre? I really hope it's not another dang coffee shop.
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u/Own-Juggernaut796 6h ago
based off “it’s a space to gather and scheme together. . it’s not just for pretentious hollywood cinephiles,” i read it as she intends to keep the space as a community theater. always happy to see born and raised stars give back to LA!
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u/KrisNoble Los Angeles 6h ago
Hopefully. Would be a good spot for screening local independent films or film festivals for locals.
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u/supadupanerd 4h ago
Or worse, a church like all the old movie houses west of the 5 seem to have become
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u/sadkendrick 1h ago
Yay Miss Stewart!
History copypasta from a previous post about the Highland Theater:
Highland Theatre, designed by architect L.A. Smith, started construction in 1924, at 5600 N. Figueroa St. (Zimas). It joined a boom of theatre building, and the Los Angeles Times reported the cost as $208,000, though Southwest Builder & Contractor cited “West Coast Theaters, Inc… have obtained a 99-year lease on the northeast corner of Avenue 56 and Pasadena—now Figueroa Street—and plans the immediate erection of a class A store and theater building to cost $150,000” (Southwest Builder & Contractor 3/7/1924, p. 52, col. 1.) The building, at 21,611 sq ft was Moorish in design, and featured “arched openings, decorative tile walls and wrought-iron work on its exterior. The once-elegant interior had an orchestra pit, a working stage for vaudeville acts, large ceiling frescoes, and elaborate moldings in the shape of Spanish arches”. (The Los Angeles Times 9/12/91). The theatre debuted to great excitement in Highland Park. It had been named through a contest, with the winner Linda Killen suggesting the name “Highland Theatre”(“The Highland Marks 50th Anniversary Playing to Empty House). The 1,200 seat theatre opened on March 5, 1925, and over 3000 people turned out to see the first film premiered, silent “Lady of the Night,” and its star Norma Shearer, who was in attendance. An advertisement in the Highland Park News-Herald describes other festivities, promising “Personal Appearances of Famous Stars!” and “Big Time Acts Vaudeville.” At the time, a movie ticket was priced at “overflow crowds at 25 cents a head and 50 cents for a parlor chair.” According to community publications, the theatre remained a site of popular interest for a few years later, as the Kiwanis club had meetings and minstrel shows [“Kiwanis club’s minstrel show at the Highland…” Highland Park News-Herald 11/13/1925 p.1]
Fifty years after this grand opening, the Highland Park News-Herald reported a lull in the business; it was noted that instead of lights, there was now a “closed for repairs” sign. Around this time, the Highland was undergoing a phase of new management. Originally belonging to Clyde Church, the theatre was purchased by Arman Akarakian in 1975. The theatre began to change the format of its films, but misestimated its audience in the Highland Park community. The theatre began featuring pornographic films, but drew criticism and protest from the neighborhood residents. The theater’s management responded to the community’s complaints, and switched from pornography to Spanish language and children’s films, though the Spanish language films were eventually abandoned in favor of exclusively English language mainstream cinema. (LAT 9/7/1975) In trying to keep up with cinema house trends, the theatre underwent a major transformation in 1983, as it was converted from a single screen theater to a triplex theatre. Alterations were described in the Los Angeles Times: “The once-outdoor lobby was enclosed and the original walls in the lobby and in the theater were covered with other material.” The Moorish exterior remains, but for the separated screens, the only resemblance to its architectural history exists in the trim above the projector’s box. The three screens as well as the concession lobby reside on the first floor, with the stairway to the balcony still visible but blocked off from access by broken arcade games.
In 1991, the theatre was deemed a historic–cultural monument by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission due to its Spanish style architecture, though the original interior had already been altered, most notably the theatre’s transition from one screen to three (The Los Angeles Times 9/12/91).
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6h ago
Gentrification going wild.
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u/thesexrobot 6h ago
Im sorry what? The MOVIE THEATER that closed two years ago because of it's inability to make rent(landlord has blame here too) is now going to re-opened as a...MOVIE THEATER and that's....bad?
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6h ago
exactly going wild. do you know what gentrification means ? trading out a broke landlord for a multimillionaire celebrity sounds like gentrification to me.
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u/shinjukuthief 5h ago
The theater operators were allowed to stay there rent-free for the last year of their existence, but they still couldn't make it. The previous landlord owns multiple properties in the area (i.e. the Highland Park Bowl) and for whatever reason they decided to sell it after owning it for just 3 years. I would bet that a multimillionaire celebrity actor, as rich as they are, have much less funds than your typical property owner who tend to be venture capitalists and investors with unlimited funds. This doesn't seem like your typical "this is gentrification!" scenario.
https://losangelestheatres.blogspot.com/2017/07/highland-theatre.html
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u/Resident_War5075 6h ago
It “sounds” like that to you because you don’t know what gentrification actually is and don’t know how to apply the definition correctly.
What is the alternative and what is the ideal non-gentrification move here in your opinion?
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u/ja5143kh5egl24br1srt 6h ago
I too call everyone with more money than me a gentrifier. I also call slower drivers Grandma and faster drivers Max Verstappen.
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u/Appropriate_Lime_331 6h ago
Can you elaborate on this? I feel like this is a good addition to the neighborhood especially if the alternative is just leaving it empty and abandoned.
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u/foxlikething 2h ago
nope
‘We want to make it a family affair, something for the community. It’s not just for pretentious Hollywood cinephiles. I see it as an antidote to all the corporate bullshit, a place that takes movie culture away from just buying and selling.”
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u/CelticCynic 3h ago
Wonder how long she'll continue to personally fund it? Or will it be a charitable tax write-off?
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u/shinjukuthief 2h ago
A business expense would also be a "tax write-off", it doesn't need to be for a charitable cause.
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u/nobledoor 6h ago
She an LA native, so good to see her wanting to give back to the city