“The Highland Theatre has been an important community hub for us here for a long time,” Tijerina said. Tijerina said that the long-standing theatre is not only a nostalgic sight but also a draw in its own right. “From first dates to hanging out after school with friends, seeing the latest movie with your family, attending the Highland Park Film Festival, or even a premiere.” “Thinking about Highland Theatre tends to bring back both a sense of nostalgia and a sense of the present because many of us still make new memories there regularly,” Tijerina said via email. Jamie Tijerina, the president of Highland Park Heritage Trust, said the theatre is very important to long-term residents of Highland Park and the surrounding neighborhoods, many of whom have fond memories there. “As times have changed, this specific theatre remains classic,” Ramirez said.

The sale does not include the theatre business itself, and the façade of the building cannot be altered.Īnthony Ramirez, a theatre staffer, said that with the recent spate of theatre closures, Highland Park’s sole discount cinema has stood out as a link to both the history of the community and cinema itself.

Located at 5604 North Figueroa St., the building’s 99-year lease expires in 2023. The Highland Theatre building, a Historical-Cultural Monument and home to a discount cinema since 1925, has been listed on the market. 1940.Highland Theatres in Los Angeles, CA. In 1940, Pearl installed additional RCA sound equipment in the (now) 1150 seat theater.“ (Motion Picture Herald. The Bulletin of the Chicago Medical Society V33 cites the Alycon for installing systems so the “hearing impaired” could listen to “Talkies.” The thief covered the assistant manager, Saul Greenberg, with a blanket before locking him in the washroom. In January 1928, a “bandit” robbed the safe and fled with $2100, 3 days income. Pasadena, Calif: Showcase Publications, 1985.) Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ. The 1925 theater installed a “3/13” Barton Organ. 3, 1925), citing lawyers for both parties. Shortly after the opening, owners William and Bertha Pearl executed a 15 year lease for both the Alycon and Pearl for 35,000$/year to the Highland Park Theater Co, according to the Chicago Tribune (Nov.

(Surely if the City cared, some improvements to meet fire code could have kept it open.) The other factors make up the typical recipe for losing an old theater, so far as I can see.Īdditional history below credit Highland Park Historical Society. The weird chapter of the theater being owned and run briefly by the City is fun to discuss but not really relevant.

Their communication efforts were not helped by the fact that the theater’s historic architecture and charm had been totally compromised and papered over decades prior, so that hardly anyone could muster any sentiment for the building. Meanwhile, Alcyon Foundation could not generate sufficient interest in the community in having and preserving a vintage theater. Too many screens in too small a geography. I spoke last summer to Willis Johnson, owner of Classic Cinemas who saved a good number of theaters in the Western Suburbs, and basically he said the primary factor that sealed the HPT’s fate was when the city allowed Landmark to build its multiscreen theater practically next door at Renaissance Place.

Highland park theatre