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As Brain Dead celebrates 10 years in an 82 -year-old theater, we take a look at the messy history of the screening spaces that came before it, and what Brain Dead Studios is bringing to the L.A. community today.
Why it matters: Brain Dead founder Kyle Ng was worried about ongoing movie theater closures taking community spaces away from creatives and artists. The small brand has always blended film and fashion, and is dedicated to keeping this theater's lights on.
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Brain Dead is a fashion brand that’s been around Los Angeles for 10 years now, and has stores in Tokyo, New York, and London. You’ve probably seen its skate and post punk inspired pieces on cool kids around the city: graphic tees, fuzzy sweaters, A24 collabs. (If you look closely, you can even catch a Brain Dead shirt on oldest daughter Margo in the Despicable Me 4 trailer.)
You’ll also see their logo on the marquee of the old Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax, or, as it’s known now, Brain Dead Studios.
The company’s founder, Kyle Ng, took over the 82-year-old theater and reopened it in October 2020. The venue came with quite a bit of baggage that we’ll get into later, but Ng said he was driven by his love of indie film and concerns about the many theater closures during the pandemic.
“It was from film and music that I learned about anything about fashion,” he said. “We need to keep places like this alive to inspire generations.”
The 163-seat theater has digital and 35mm projection capabilities, and sits just up the street from the iconic Canter’s Deli. There’s a retail showroom upstairs and a patio and cafe, Heavy Head, in the back. It’s an inviting space.
“I realized that I wanted to create a place where it was more inclusive and more inviting to an audience that maybe never felt like they were being spoken to by the repertory cinema,” Ng said.
Ng came to Los Angeles to work in film shooting music videos after being inspired by picking up a copy of RES magazine. He was hanging out with Rick Stello in the import DVD section of Meltdown Comics, picking up official releases of international films like Oldboy and Battle Royale.
“Through curiosity we learn and get excited about different things we've never learned about,” said Ng. That curiosity that led him from comics and music to film and fashion. Now, with the movie theater, Ng said his team can “take risks and do things to make the theatrical experience a little different.”
Brain Dead Studios has screened docs for the skateboarding community, hosted Magic the Gathering tournaments and created fashion collaborations with some of the films it’s screened, like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
And it leans on its audience for feedback.
Like many repertory theaters in 2024, the Brain Dead audience is young. If folks sign up for a monthly membership at the theater, (that’s $28 a month for unlimited film screening tickets and a 10% discount on clothing and concessions) they’re invited to write in with films they’d like to see.
“Most people wrote old titles,” Ng said. “And the cool thing is that old titles is so subjective to our audience because an old title might be Lost in Translation or it might be a '90s film.”
He noted that Sofia Coppola movies sell out, screenings of films like Speed Racer sell out, and anime will always garner interest.
It’s a connection to the theater’s past as a revival house, but with a slightly different niche.
The movie theater originally opened in the 1940s, built by John Hampton and his wife Dorothy. According to theater historian and film professor Ross Melnick, Hampton was a “massive silent film nut, if you will,” and loved silent cinema growing up in Oklahoma.
The Silent Movie Theatre was a classic mom-and-pop operation — Dorothy sold tickets and worked concessions, while John was in the projection booth screening his collection of silent film prints.
By the '40s, silent cinema was old news, so the theater filled a niche. Hampton’s collection was huge — an archival treasure trove of a medium known for being difficult to preserve. The couple screened films for 38 years.
By the 1980s, Hampton was having health issues and audiences were dwindling. He sold about half of his collection (most of which ended up in the archive at UCLA) and died in 1990. That’s when trouble broke out in his family.
As Melnick explained, his “nephew came in during a cleaning spree and just threw out hundreds of rare prints, posters, lobby cards — all that would be worth today, probably millions of dollars.”
Dorothy Hampton retained ownership, but the theater was empty until a family friend, Lawrence Austin, began running the space in 1991.
“He improved the theater, he brought in a live organist, and so it was, again, humming as the only operating silent movie theater in the country,” said Melnick. The theater was “attracting people from all over the world, not just those here in L.A.”
Lawrence Austin’s partner, James Van Sickle, was the theater’s projectionist, and the sole beneficiary of Austin’s estate. For about $30,000, Van Sickle hired a man named Christian Rodriguez to murder Austin and make it look like a robbery.
Austin was shot and killed, but another theater employee survived and identified Rodriguez, which led to Van Sickle. It was determined they had worked together, and both were sentenced to life in prison.
Charles Lustman, a singer-songwriter, purchased the theater in 1999 and reopened the space with silent films, a cafe, live acts and private party rentals. In the mid-2000s, deciding to rededicate himself to music and recently diagnosed with a rare bone cancer, he sold the theater to brothers Dan and Sammy Harkham.
Sammy, a 26-year-old cartoonist and Dan, 24 at the time, took over the space in 2006. Bringing in film producer Hadrian Belove, they opened Cinefamily in 2007. For 10 years, Cinefamily was one of the “hottest places to go see movies,” said Melnick.
Celebrities would come in for events, and you could catch anything from silent films to art house classics to indie premieres and retrospectives. “It was all given this kind of veneer of cool," Melnick added.
In 2017, allegations of harassment and abuse came to light. An investigation found “breaches of acceptable behavior alleged to have happened at Cinefamily offices and events,” according to a statement issued by the Cinefamily board of directors at the time.
Giles Miller, who spearheaded the investigation, told the Los Angeles Times his team reached “findings that were not conclusive, but that the board was able to work with." Executive director Belove and board member Shadie Elnashai apologized, resigned and denied the allegations. Cinefamily shut down permanently.
The Harkham brothers tried to reopen the theater with a new name, the Fairfax Cinema, detached from the former Cinefamily board in 2019, but due to issues finalizing opening night programming and the 2020 COVID shutdowns, the space stayed empty.
Brain Dead Studios reopened in the theater almost four years ago with A Nightmare on Elm Street.
“I think spaces always have a history and you have to learn and adapt," Kyle Ng said. "And I think that's what we're trying to do.”
Every month, in addition to director spotlights (this month’s is Wong Kar-Wai), there will be signature drinks in the back with Heavy Head cafe. It’s all part of the storytelling, Ng said.
“And we're going to start serving wine. So there's going to be a lot more night events,” he added.
Brain Dead Studios has also been moving beyond just this theater on Fairfax.
“We've been able to [co]produce a couple films like Carpet Cowboys with Memory, which is an amazing documentary,” said Ng. That’s alongside short animations Brain Dead’s produced. “When you come to the movie theater, we have a lot of … incredible short films and animations by so many different artists.”
Ng wants to keep the theater accessible and inviting to the community as a place of inspiration. “That's what makes me happy and sleep at night,” he said.
Despite being an independent brand in an industry that’s not known for being a cash cow, Ng said that “even if it's hard, we will do our hardest to make sure that this place always has its lights on.”
Check out the Brain Dead Studios calendar of upcoming films here.
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California will not become the first state to levy a wealth tax on its richest residents — at least not this election.
Why now: Voters rejected Proposition 40, a proposal to tax billionaires based on their net worth and financial holdings, by 52.8% to 47.2%, according to the Associated Press Monday. The measure had trailed behind for days before the Associated Press confirmed results.
Billionaire tax divided Democrats: From the outset, Prop. 40 revealed divisions among the Democratic Party and galvanized some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest executives to spend hundreds of millions to defeat it. Gov. Gavin Newsom became one of its earliest opponents, attempting through backroom negotiations to keep it off of the ballot altogether. He endorsed the billionaire-backed counter measure, Prop. 42, designed to ban all wealth taxes in California and kill Prop. 40. Newsom, along with Democratic allies such as Planned Parenthood of California and California Teachers Association, argued a one-time tax would not solve the state’s fiscal woes and would drive wealthy residents out of state.
Read on... for more on Prop. 40.
California will not become the first state to levy a wealth tax on its richest residents — at least not this election.
Voters rejected Proposition 40, a proposal to tax billionaires based on their net worth and financial holdings, by 52.8% to 47.2%, according to The Associated Press Monday. The measure had trailed behind for days before The Associated Press confirmed results.
Leaders for Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, the union pushing the measure, seemed to concede the race minutes before the polls closed but vowed to try again in 2028 if California’s Legislature “fails to deliver a real solution” to fund healthcare hammered by recent federal law.
“That’s not a hypothetical. That’s our plan,” said Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW.
Election Day was projected to be an all-around defeat for the union, known for aggressively pursuing ballot measures. Voters defeated union-backed Proposition 44, an effort to control how clinics spend money. Proposition 42, a billionaire tax countermeasure prohibiting future wealth taxes, was leading Monday evening by 51.6% to 48.4%. That measure could get in the way of SEIU-UHW’s future plans to try taxing wealth again.
The billionaire tax would have generated $100 billion for healthcare and education through a one-time, 5% tax on billionaires, according to SEIU-UHW. Opponents of the measure celebrated its defeat.
“Proposition 40 was a reckless experiment conducted on our state’s economy with little regard for the harms it would cause,” according to a statement from Evan Westrop, a campaign strategist for No on Prop. 40.
The opposition campaign, which was backed by wealthy tech investors and healthcare organizations, argued the measure had already driven billionaires from the state and permanently harmed income tax revenue. On Monday they said the state still faces “enormous pressure” to find other ways to fund healthcare hit by federal cuts.
From the outset, Prop. 40 revealed divisions among the Democratic Party and galvanized some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest executives to spend hundreds of millions to defeat it.
Gov. Gavin Newsom became one of its earliest opponents, attempting through backroom negotiations to keep it off of the ballot altogether. He endorsed the billionaire-backed counter measure, Prop. 42, designed to ban all wealth taxes in California and kill Prop. 40. Newsom, along with Democratic allies such as Planned Parenthood of California and California Teachers Association, argued a one-time tax would not solve the state’s fiscal woes and would drive wealthy residents out of state.
The California Democratic Party and California Federation of Labor Unions supported the initiative and opposed its counter measures, arguing the state needed more revenue to shield workers and everyday Californians from the effects of dramatic federal healthcare cuts expected to kick 2 million residents off of health insurance.
Lorena Gonzalez, former Assemblymember and president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, said Prop. 40’s failure puts even more pressure on state and federal lawmakers to backfill federal Medicaid cuts.
Supporters of Prop. 40 blamed its loss on billionaires vastly outspending the Yes campaign, which raised $33.5 million.
“That is incredibly corrosive and corrupting to our democracy and our political system, and that's been dominating the discussion here in California,” Regan said.
Billionaires poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the campaign to stop Prop. 40. Google co-founder Sergey Brin led the charge, publicly moving out of state and donating $102 million to Building a Better California, a political committee he founded to oppose the tax. The group has served as a passthrough for other billionaire donors to oppose Prop. 40, including by funding the counterpropositions 41 and 42. Collectively, ultra-wealthy opponents donated $378.4 million to oppose the billionaire tax.
In a statement, Abby Lunardini, a spokesperson for Building a Better California, said the billionaire tax threatened to limit revenue for all services in California, including healthcare, by driving economic interests out of the state.
“It was a lose-lose for California, and voters clearly agreed,” Lunardini said.
Ultimately, opponents’ efforts succeeded.
Polling just ahead of the election indicated falling support for Prop. 40 despite growing sentiment for taxing billionaires more in general. According to a UC Berkeley Citrin-POLITICO poll, 45% of voters believed in taxing billionaires more to fund public services compared to 35% who believed the state should prioritize keeping billionaires in state because of the tax revenue and jobs they generate — but just 46% favored Prop. 40.
Infighting among Democrats could have also contributed to Prop. 40’s demise, said John Matsusaka, an economist and direct democracy expert at USC, ahead of the election. Research shows money doesn’t buy people’s votes or values on core issues like abortion, Matsusaka said, but it can exploit uncertainty.
“People these days are very tribal. When your tribe is arguing, people start to listen to the counterarguments,” Matsusaka said.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
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A letter calls on hospital leaders to explain their response and strengthen protocols to protect patients and staff after ICE agents blocked the ambulance entrance and clashed with protesters.
Why now: After an hourslong, late-night standoff between Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and community members outside Adventist Health White Memorial over the weekend, local leaders are demanding answers from hospital leadership. The hospital has previously faced scrutiny over claims that its administrators have allowed federal immigration agents to interfere in patient care.
More details: On Saturday, state Sen. María Elena Durazo marched with community members from Mariachi Plaza to the hospital to hand-deliver a letter to White Memorial President Daniel Fontoura. The letter, signed by elected officials and community leaders, calls for an end to any collaboration that may exist between the hospital and federal immigration agents.
Read on... for more on the letter that L.A. leaders delivered to White Memorial after ICE activity.
This story first appeared on The LA Local.
After an hourslong, late-night standoff between Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and community members outside Adventist Health White Memorial over the weekend, local leaders are demanding answers from hospital leadership.
The hospital has previously faced scrutiny over claims that its administrators have allowed federal immigration agents to interfere in patient care.
On Saturday, state Sen. María Elena Durazo marched with community members from Mariachi Plaza to the hospital to hand-deliver a letter to White Memorial President Daniel Fontoura. The letter, signed by elected officials and community leaders, calls for an end to any collaboration that may exist between the hospital and federal immigration agents.
The night before, ICE agents clashed with protesters near the hospital and blocked the hospital’s ambulance entrance. According to White Memorial, ambulances were diverted for about two hours during the incident. Two U.S. citizens were also detained by federal agents.
Federal immigration agents were at White Memorial Friday night because someone in their custody had been taken to the emergency room, according to hospital officials and the Los Angeles Police Department.
“What happened last night was unacceptable,” Durazo told Fontoura in the parking lot of White Memorial, steps away from where ICE agents had been standing shoulder to shoulder just hours earlier. “It’s unacceptable that ICE would go into our healthcare facilities. But we also believe that White Memorial can and should do more.”
Fontoura told the group that the hospital has “no special relationship, no special contract” with ICE. “When they show up, they show up,” Fontoura said, referring to the federal agents.
Fontoura said hospital staff took care of the person who was brought in by ICE and claimed they denied the agents’ request to “break protocol” and be in the same room as the patient and their physician. “We said no,” Fontoura said.
Boyle Heights Beat asked White Memorial whether these privacy protections are standard practice and whether federal agents follow them while at the hospital. The hospital did not respond before publication.
Last year, Adventist Health released a six-point statement outlining its policies to protect detained patients and support staff, but doctors and advocates at the time said it was not enough.
Now Durazo and others are calling for more accountability and stricter guidelines from the hospital on how they respond to ICE activity.
The letter requests a written response from hospital leadership by Nov. 21. It is signed by Durazo, Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez, Mayor-elect Nithya Raman, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and other community leaders from Proyecto Pastoral, CHIRLA and more.
White Memorial has not responded to Boyle Heights Beat’s request for comment on the letter.
If the concerns remain unresolved, those who signed the letter say they will ask the California attorney general to review White Memorial’s compliance with state law.
“For ICE to show up the way they did, it takes a much higher level of consciousness and determination by the hospital to stop them from doing this,” Durazo told Boyle Heights Beat after the rally on Saturday. “We don’t have absolute power over ICE, we know that, but we do have some power over ICE.”
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Nithya Raman turned the tide in the L.A. mayoral race by winning over large swathes of the city that voted for Karen Bass in 2022, according to an LAist analysis of election data.
Breaking down the vote: Raman had overwhelming support from Hollywood through downtown and across the East side. She also won majority support in areas like Van Nuys and North Hollywood that voted for Bass in the 2022 general and 2026 primary elections.Bass made her biggest gains in the Pacific Palisades, South Valley and San Pedro — drawing voters from areas that supported Rick Caruso in 2022 and Spencer Pratt in the 2026 primary.
Read on . . . for a more detailed view of how precincts voted.
Nithya Raman turned the tide in the L.A. mayoral race by winning over large swathes of the city that voted for Karen Bass in 2022, according to an LAist analysis of election data.
Bass was a favorite in many areas that voted for Rick Caruso when she faced him in 2022. She held onto a majority of voters across South L.A., but lost much of her previous support. She outperformed Raman in areas where Spencer Pratt, the third-place primary finisher, saw strong turnout in June.
The switchup came after Bass — a veteran in progressive politics — took a relatively-conservative approach on issues like policing and high-density housing developments compared to Raman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Election data in this analysis includes 793,692 votes recorded by the L.A. County Registrar of Voters in precinct-level data as of Nov. 9. More than 1 million votes were cast in the L.A. mayoral race across the city. This story will be updated as additional precinct-level data is made available by county election officials.
Caruso and Pratt majority votes are showing in purple. Bass is in blue and Raman in yellow.
If you have a tip, you can reach me on Signal. My username is jrynning.56.
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A claims support center to help victims evacuated in Garden Grove’s chemical tank scare opens Tuesday, Nov. 10. GKN Aerospace, the company behind the hazmat incident, said the center in Los Alamitos will help eligible residents file for reimbursement.
Background: GKN Aerospace opened its $100 million claims program last month for those affected by the Garden Grove hazmat scare that forced more than 50,000 nearby residents to evacuate their homes and businesses.
What we know: The independent Claims Administrator, Ernst & Young, will operate the center and is responsible for reviewing, processing and evaluating claims. Assistance will be available in English, Vietnamese, Spanish and Korean.
Who is eligible? People and households who lived within the mandatory evacuation zone are eligible for the claims program. Businesses can file a business interruption claim for losses of income. Residents who lived in the warning zone, not the mandatory evacuation zone, do not qualify.
Know before you go: The center is located at 4281 Katella Ave., Suite 100 in Los Alamitos. Doors are open Monday through Friday from noon to 8 p.m.
