If a dear friend were ill, you might wish for a chance to tell them how much they meant to you in case they didn’t pull through.
Something like that took place on Saturday — at a movie house. The occasion was the screening of “Only in Theaters,” a documentary about the Laemmle Theaters chain that is playing at, not surprisingly, various Laemmle theaters.
At the Claremont 5, some 125 people packed into one cozy theater for the matinee showing, there not only to see the movie (it’s pretty good) but to pay homage to the Laemmle family and to the Claremont 5. Its future is in doubt.
When the lights came up, president Greg Laemmle was introduced for the post-screening Q&A. He got a warm round of applause.
Many stood while clapping. Nobody yelled, “Down in front!”
Laemmle (pronounced LEM-lee) Theaters is beloved among Los Angeles County cinema fans for its devotion to independent and foreign films. Founded in 1938, the family-run circuit currently has theaters in West L.A., Santa Monica, Newhall, Encino, Glendale, North Hollywood and Claremont.
The documentary follows third-generation president Greg Laemmle in 2019 as he wrestles with selling the family business before deciding to stick it out despite declining attendance, thinking he owes it to fans and to the Laemmle legacy.
Greg Laemmle of the arthouse theater chain that bears his name. Filmmaker Raphael Sbarge’s new documentary “Only In Theaters” tells the story of the family since their first theater opened in 1938. (Photo by Peter Bennett/Citizen of the Planet)
Then the pandemic comes along and shutters his theaters for 13 months, causing a cash crunch in which a stressed-out Laemmle sells off the NoHo 7 and Pasadena’s Playhouse 7, and even his own home, to keep afloat. (Imagine Disney’s Bob Iger doing that.)
And yet, audiences are slowly returning and the chain is still operating, which counts as a triumph.
Patrons wasted no time during the Q&A. The very first question from the audience: “Is this theater going to close?”
“I don’t know,” Laemmle said. “We have a contract. We are in escrow.” But if the contract terms aren’t met, he continued, “then the theater would not close.”
A woman in audience shouted: “Yeah!”
The Claremont 5 property, listed for sale in 2020 for $6.5 million, found a buyer in 2021, but the deal isn’t yet final.
“The more people come, the more we’ll have the fortitude to say, ‘we’re going to stay,’” Laemmle concluded.
“Only in Theaters” director Raphael Sbarge, who joined Laemmle for the Q&A, admitted: “Many of us have gotten out of the habit of moviegoing. It’s easier to sit at home and push a button.” But he said: “It’s thrilling to see almost every seat filled here. Vote with your feet.”
Many of the questions were an elaborate thank you to Laemmle.
“I come here two or three days a week,” one woman said. “I love this place.”
“When I heard in the Claremont Courier that you might sell the theater,” another said, “I cried.” She added: “It’s improved my life to have Laemmle here.”
Mine too. The Claremont 5 opened in 2007 as anchor of an expanded downtown that includes a Le Pain Quotidien and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I was so excited, I even covered the Laemmle groundbreaking.
Finally, we locals said at the time, we wouldn’t have to drive west to Pasadena for a well-reviewed, non-blockbuster film.
“When we learned Claremont was getting a Laemmle,” a white-haired woman said during the Q&A, “it was really like winning the lottery. It was so great.”
Greg Laemmle, left, answers a question Saturday during a Q&A at the Laemmle Claremont 5 as “Only in Theaters” director Raphael Sbarge, center, and Mick Rhodes listen. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Before the Claremont 5, a Diamond Bar resident said, she and her husband used to drive to Pasadena to see a movie, browse at the adjacent Vroman’s bookstore and eat dinner, treating the excursion as “a cultural event,” as if they were going to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
“This is a major deal for us to have you in Claremont,” she said.
The woman who attends up to three times a week said she wishes the theater were better known. “I talk to people in La Verne and Ontario,” she said, “and they don’t know you’re here.”
“It takes money to make money, or so I’ve heard,” Laemmle replied wryly. “I wouldn’t know.”
The Playhouse 7 was sold to Landmark Theatres, another chain focused on independent movies. “They’ll do OK,” Laemmle told the audience.
The NoHo 7 is “likely to be torn down for a mixed-use development,” Laemmle said. “We’re operating it as long as we can.”
A groundbreaking took place in 2019 for an Azusa development that would have included a Laemmle. A decision on whether to proceed was needed in April 2020, he said, and the reeling Laemmle declined. However, he noted that the space, set aside for retail, hasn’t been leased, so occupancy is still a possibility.
What might replace the Claremont 5? The potential buyer, now on the third iteration of his concepts, is proposing two restaurants, a hotel and a rooftop lounge, according to City Hall.
The city’s Architectural Commission may see plans for exterior changes in early 2023. And the Planning Commission would need to sign off on allowing outdoor dining, use of the rooftop and the sale of alcohol.
Escrow could close only after the final approvals are given.
A taste of what we would be missing if the Claremont 5 shutters came before “Only in Theaters” during the previews of coming attractions: “Turn Every Page,” a documentary about historian Robert Caro and editor Robert Gottlieb; “Close,” a French-language coming of age drama; “To the End,” a documentary about climate change; and “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” the latest from director Alejandro González Iñárritu.
After the Q&A, Laemmle and about 30 of us reconvened in the plaza outside the theater.
“I realize how special Claremont is,” Laemmle said at one point. “If there’s anywhere we want to be in the Inland Empire, this is it.”
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I asked him to be more specific about how long the theater would be around in a worst-case scenario.
“The letter of intent calls for us to be here for at least six months from the close of escrow,” Laemmle told me and anyone listening. “We will be here through the middle of next year at minimum.”
There’s still time before the final credits roll. Vote with your feet.
David Allen writes Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, three feats. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.