This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
A little piece of Texas could be making its way to downtown's historic core. Texas' Alamo Drafthouse Cinema—famous for serving delicious beer and food, screening awesome movie and shaming jerks —has been expanding nationally.
There were rumors that the company would be opening a movie theater in Los Angeles, but now we have something a little bit firmer. The Downtown News is reporting that there's a plan to bring the theater to 4th and Main streets in the city's historic core. ( h/t Curbed LA ) (Gentrification giveth and gentrification taketh away: the Electric Dusk Drive-In was recently booted from its location just a few blocks away at 4th and Broadway).
The developer said the Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse chain has signed a letter of intent to open an 8-screen theater and is expected to sign a lease this month. The new location would be 30,000 square-foot and a single-story. There are plans for the theater to have a rooftop garden. If it all works out, the theater could be up and running in a year and a half.
The chain already has theaters in Missouri, Colorado, Virginia and another is set to open in San Francisco. There's been talk of one opening up in New York, as well.
A couple years ago when there was talk of the Alamo Drafthouse coming to downtown, James Kirst, the executive director of the nearby Downtown Independent, gave the rumors a positive spin, telling Indiewire, "We're basically the last theater left on Main Street. There's definitely room for a resurgence." He added, "I think having the Drafthouse in the mix would be a really great thing, whether they're across the street or across town. Having another theater entity in town would make the moviegoing experience in L.A. much richer."
