After Years of Sitting Dark, the Village Theater Will Open Its Doors Again

After 10 years and more than $3 million, the Coronado Village Theater is set to re-open to an eager public. The theater will open its doors on June 24 after being dark for a decade. The post-World War II movie house has been a major part of Coronado since it first opened in 1947.

On June 23, a special grand opening program will be presented to VIPs, supporters and backers, and those fortunate enough to obtain tickets. Conditional complimentary tickets will be available at the box office on a first-come, first-served basis June 20 from 5-8 p.m. with a two-ticket limit per patron. Ticket holders must arrive 30 minutes prior to the start of each show to gain admission. 

For the past decade, Coronado residents helplessly watched as the old theater fell into disrepair. The doors closed suddenly in 2000 with popcorn still in the hopper and the final film still posted on the marquee – How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Unbeknownst to most of the 25,000 island residents, behind-the-scenes work was being done to secure a new lease on the property. Lance Alspaugh and his company, Vintage Cinemas, had been quietly building a relationship with the property owners since 2000. Alspaugh operates classic restored movie theaters in the Los Angeles area. 

With the generous support and backing from Coronado’s Community Redevelopment Agency and the encouragement of an entire community, the entrepreneurial Alspaugh is on the threshold of returning the Village Theater to a very eager audience on both sides of the Coronado Bridge.

“We’ve certainly had our challenges,” said Alspaugh. “It’s a very special feeling to be this close to re-opening the Village Theater. We could not have done it without the support of Coronado’s Community Redevelopment Agency and the encouragement from this wonderful community.”

The Village Theater was built as a single-screen cinema in the art deco flavor of the era. Today, while keeping the front of the theater largely as it looked in 1947, two more screens have been added. All auditoriums are equipped with state-of-the-art Sony projectors and Dolby digital sound, and two of the three theaters will offer 3-D utilizing RealD.

The interior art deco theme, under initial guidance from distinguished theater designer Joseph Musil (who restored the historic El Capitan Theater), is staggering to behold. Musil died last year before seeing his final project completed, but he was able to lay down a very creative direction for his talented replacement team to follow.

The main theater will seat 215 people (the original sat about 600). The two smaller screening rooms will seat 45 each. All of the auditoriums have specific design themes.

Two large murals were created for each of the three theaters. They were hand-painted by legendary Disney muralist Bill Anderson and depict much of the early architecture from that period.

At 12:01 a.m. on June 24, the Village Theater will open for business with the Disney/Pixar film Cars 2, and a long and varied selection of films will follow in the months to come.

“Our hearts and our imaginations are back in business and the children of our community have their movie theater back,” said Coronado Mayor Casey Tanaka. “Our old memory lanes now have new streets to travel down.”

The Village Theater is located at 820 Orange Ave. For more information call (619) 437-6161 or visit www.vintagecinemas.com.

Submitted by Joe Ditler of Part-time PR