A historic movie theater in Highland Park has closed after nearly 100 years of operation, the business owner and landlord confirmed Friday.
Highland Theater owner Dan Akarakian said the theater officially closed its doors and stopped showing movies Thursday after struggling to recover financially from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The latest titles to screen at the triplex were Sony Pictures' superhero film “Madame Web,” Paramount Pictures' Bob Marley biopic “One Love” and Focus Features' quirky horror film “Lisa Frankenstein.”
“It's not the community's fault and it's not our fault,” Akarakian said. “It's just that the industry has been so bad that the theater was losing money every week.”
“We want to thank all the people who have sponsored this theater and supported it,” he added.
During the height of the pandemic, Highland Theater temporarily closed from March 2020 to May 2021.
“When it reopened, it didn't have the strength it had before,” Akarakian said, noting that ticket sales plummeted by 70%.
“People had different means of entertainment, and this theater and others in the city could not afford to operate.”
The property's owner, Cyrus Etemad, said his priority is preserving the building as a theater and that he is exploring “mainly film and musical uses” for the space. Etemad, who allowed Akarakian to continue operating the theater on the premises rent-free for a year after the contract expired last February, added that the building is in need of a major renovation.
The closing of the Highland Theater comes about a week after a coalition of filmmakers led by “Juno” director Jason Reitman joined forces to purchase the 93-year-old Village Theater in Westwood. Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Quentin Tarantino also purchased another Los Angeles landmark, the Vista Theater in Los Feliz, in 2021.
