In light of the news that Newport’s Island 7 Cinema could be upgraded soon, I decided to check in on Corona Del Mar’s Port Theatre and see where the drawn out project stood.

Over two years in to the Port Theatre’s renovation and the exterior has undergone a dramatic transformation. While maintaining the Port’s classic style, textured metal plates have been affixed to the upper facade and perforated panels, with mirrored backings, have been added to the street level walls. According to the site’s construction team, the lower level mirrors will showcase a backlighting system, which will create a plum and hot pink lighting effect at night. During daylight hours, the mirrors result in an almost translucent effect (on approaching the theatre, I momentarily thought the auditorium had been razed).

The theatre’s interior remains an unfinished shell, with plans somewhat in limbo. Initially, there had been talk of creating a luxury lounge environment, with food and alcohol service. However, the owner recently backed off the restaurant and bar idea, to avoid overly involved permit and code requirements. Apparently, one of the key sticking points was the requirement for additional parking, if a restaurant/bar was included.  

While the Port looks to have made some significant progress over the past year, there remain some questions as to when the theatre will reopen and what style of cinema will be operated. Early permit filings have indicated plans for only twelve, yearly, “special events”, but these plans appear far from concrete at this point.   

Widely considered the first true megaplex, the AMC Grand 24 opened in May of 1995 and set off the “more is better” attitude, which defined the late nineties exhibition industry, to a rather notorious extent. During the theatre’s early years, the Grand 24 set a host of attendance milestones (including a 21,000 single day attendance) and stood as one of the country’s most successful cinemas up to the new millennium. However, with the passage of time, the Grand lost ground to ever increasing competition and changing local demographics. No longer able to generate the revenue necessary to validate the Grand’s hefty overhead, AMC opted out of renewing their lease on the property; which, baring another operator stepping in, will close on November 30, 2010.

The Beverly Center 13 (originally featuring 14 screens) opened on July 16, 1982, with what was then the highest screen count in the country. An L.A. hotspot for nearly a decade, the Beverly Center thrived more as an 80′s novelty, than quality movie going destination. None the less, the theatre was a showpiece of the time, hosting countless studio screenings and sold out blockbusters. Eventually falling victim to the decline of mall culture and higher quality competition in the area, the Beverly 13 slipped from it’s premiere perch and experienced a revolving door of operators throughout the site’s final decade. Deemed more valuable for retail space than as a functioning cinema, the unit was leased to a clothing outlet and closed on June 3, 2010.

Some might say the passing of the first megaplex and one of the era’s earliest pioneers is a poetic bit of cyclical history. Each site surely played a significant role in the closure of the multiplex era and drove a somewhat final nail in the era of grand single screens. However, both of these theatres were also home to a new generation of memories and shared experiences. Just as earlier generations lost something through their era’s cinemas fading out, another generation begins to lose a little bit of itself through the closing of the Grand 24 and Beverly Center 13.

Thus far, most of the theatre renovation has consisted of basic cleanup work and efforts to stabilize the site, so as to avoid further decay. However, there  has been talk that the Fox may be up to code in the near future, allowing for regular live performances to be held in the auditorium.