In its 100th year, the Art Theater has survived a fire, an earthquake and a digital revolution to become an icon of Retro Row • Hi-lo

When Kathleen Schaaf walked from her home to the Art Theater on Fourth Street in the 1970s, she always brought a pillow to sit on.

“There were these bad seats where the springs would stick to your butt,” Schaaf said. “But the place was constantly full.”

At the time, it was a renaissance house, showing films that were not mainstream or always had first-run releases. Despite its dusty floors and rickety seats, the theater always seemed to attract an audience.

“You can completely immerse yourself in the ride,” Schaaf said. “You can learn something, you can laugh, you can cry, but you never know. It's the whole experience.”

The theater debuted 62 years before Schaaf opened Meow, the first vintage store on what is now Retro Row.

The Art Theater on Fourth Street (year unknown) was originally designed by Long Beach local Robert C. Aldrich. Courtesy of the Whipple Collection.

Over the past four decades, the corridor has witnessed evolution. What was once an ordinary urban stretch of Fourth Street is now home to an artsy and bustling strip of vintage shops, new product stores, trendy restaurants, bars and more trendy hangouts.

Through it all, Long Beach's only independent movie theater, the Art Theater, has managed to keep its doors open. This year, the movie theater, which now operates as a non-profit, will celebrate 100 years.

The theater opened in 1924, but for reasons lost to history, the place didn't start showing any films until January 1925, the perfect justification for a year-long celebration, according to co-owner Christine Kansteiner.

Supporting artistic and cultural coverage

Long Beach is home to a vibrant community of people who celebrate culture through art. Their stories deserve a platform.

The Oscars festivities will begin on Sunday, March 10. The fundraiser will include a red carpet, a photo booth, food, drinks, giveaways, a silent auction and a live broadcast of the Oscars on the big screen.

Red carpet arrivals begin at 2:30 p.m., and the event is open to the public. Art Theater members can purchase tickets for $75; Tickets for non-members are $100.

Now that the theater is a non-profit, celebrations like the gala play a vital role in ensuring its continued existence.

A 1969 fire broke out at the Arts Theater damaging the interior of the theater. Image courtesy of the California State University Dominguez Hills Digital Archive Collection.

Today, The Art's status as an independent theater allows moviegoers to see not only new releases but dozens of independent, arthouse, foreign films and other non-mainstream films that would be difficult to see on the big screen anywhere else.

But it hasn't been entirely smooth sailing for the storied building, which has survived an earthquake, a fire and a series of industrial changes that have crippled its profitability — from the advent of VCRs to today's streaming services.

When the Arts Theater first opened, Long Beach had 50 independent movie theaters. The steady decline in movie viewing, accelerated by the ease of streaming, made it clear that the for-profit model would not be sustainable, Kansteiner said.

Its survival depends almost entirely on donations, fundraising events and memberships, she said.

“It's a meeting point for people, and getting together in person and having that experience together is so important,” co-owner Christine Kastener said. “We're not going to give up on film just because there's streaming. It's still important to think about things and show artistic films that aren't shown anywhere else.

In 1924, the building, then known as the Carter Theater, seated 636 and had an orchestra and pipe organ to accompany the silent films shown there.

Its original facade, designed by local Robert C. Aldrich, had a short central tower flanked by two storefronts, reminiscent of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood but on a smaller scale.

The venue was renamed the Lee Theater in 1935, after the building's owner at the time, E. H. Lee. It was redesigned in Art Deco style after a major earthquake in March 1933 damaged the building. It underwent another redesign in 1947, then survived a fire in 1969.

In 2007, when Kerstin Kansteiner, her husband, Robert-Jan Dijs, and two partners bought the theater, they restored the building to its 1930s glory.

“When we bought the theater, the theater was still showing movies,” Kansteiner said. “It was generally in disrepair, dirty and outdated.”

Renovations using original plans from the Lee era included a replica of the 1934 marquee, replica Art Deco storefronts and a new interior design. But before they could reopen the theater in 2008, they realized they had to switch from showing movies to showing a digital format.

“Suddenly we had to buy a digital projector that we had just paid for a year or two ago,” Kasteiner said. “It was an expense we didn't take into account.”

Long Beach Arts Theater is located on Retro Row on Fourth Street. Photography by Asia Morris.

The centenary celebrations will continue until January 2025, culminating in a showing of a film from 1925. Kansteiner searched for a tape of the first film the cinema screened, The Seville Whistle, but was only able to find a partial copy of the film. The film is in the Netherlands. Instead, the theater will show a different film that debuted at the theater that same year.

“This is an exciting time for the Arts Theater, as we begin celebrating its 100th anniversary by continuing the tradition of hosting an annual fundraising gala that coincides with the Academy Awards,” Richard Lewis, the theater's chairman, said in a statement.

“Since construction began, the theater has created many memories and has a rich history with guests, the community and movie fans. We are grateful for everyone's support.”

The Art Theater is located at 2025 E. Fourth Street.

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