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Destinations: The Village Theater

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Destinations | Village Theater

Destinations | The Village Theater, Coronado Island

No visit to San Diego is complete without a jaunt to this immaculately restored & reimagined first-run mini palace

by Michael Gaughn
updated December 23, 2022

Many towns have smaller vintage cinemas that they attempt to make attractive and relevant, with varying degrees of success. But you rarely, if ever, find an intimate older theater showing first-run films on three screens, the whole reimagined by a world-famous designer and nestled in a storied and storybook community as theatrical as the theater itself. That would be The Village Theater on Coronado Island.

Originally opened in 1947, the Village was shuttered in 2000, only to be boldly brought back by Vintage Cinema‘s Lance Alspaugh, who specializes in reviving Southern California theaters and last graced these pages when we described his efforts to help Quentin Tarantino reboot LA’s fabled Vista Theatre. Alspaugh was put on the trail of the Village by his contacts at Warner Brothers, who told him there was a small theater on the San Diego island that had fallen into disrepair but was well worth preserving.

Rather than just slap on a new coat of paint and call it a day, Alspaugh went big (thanks to generous support from the City of Coronado Redevelopment Agency), luring theater designer Joseph Musil, probably best known for his work on Disney’s flagship El Capitan in LA, out of retirement to buff and polish this, in its modest way, spectacular gem. The result was part restoration, part grand riff, a kind of Deco meets Xanadu take on movie-

above | the main auditorium of the Village Theater, the work of famed designer Joseph Musil

820 Orange Avenue
Coronado, California

—191-seat main auditorium
—two screening rooms with 42 seats each
—Sony 4K digital projection
—7.1-channel Dolby sound
—first-run movies
—classic films the last Wednesday of
   every month

not just another movie theater, the Village is a celebration of Coronado Island, San Diego, and Southern California in general

The Artechouse NYC show The Life of a Neuron incorporates the work of a number of artists to tell the story of neurons

going that pulled the Village out of the musty past and into the present, turning it into a celebration of Coronado and San Diego, and of Southern California in general.

Part of the attraction of visiting the Village is exactly that’s it not a tourist mecca but, with its 191-seat main auditorium and two 42-seat screening rooms, a kind of mini palace still very much in the service of the community. It’s not to stand in awe of but to be charmed by and settle into, its flair not meant to be awe-inspiring so much as soothing, conducive to easing into a relaxing night at the movies.

For all its retro trappings, the Village is very much a modern cinema, replete with Sony 4K digital projection and 7.1 Dolby surround—but so far no Atmos because, like with the Vista, nobody’s yet found a way to deploy the height speakers without making hash out of the décor. And while the seats are contemporary and comfortable, there’s been no strong inclination to replace them with loungers because of the dissonance that kind of too cushy outsized seating would create with the surroundings.

Both intimate and ebullient, the Village is a perfect fit for Coronado, a place designed for desultory strolls, lined with the requisite small shops and bistros, all wrapped up in a seaside atmosphere free of big, look-at-me gestures—with the possible exception of the 

click on the image to enlarge

the proscenium of Disney’s El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, probably Musil’s most famous restoration

Destinations | Village Theater

the iconic Hotel del Coronado, probably best known from Some Like It Hot, is just down Orange Avenue from the Village Theater

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famed Hotel del Coronado, instantly recognizable as the resort where Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe mixed things up in Some Like it Hot, and just a short, diverting walk down Orange Avenue from the Village.

Just over the bridge from San Diego, the Village Theater is inviting for dinner and a movie, a day within Coronado’s Brigadoon-like world within the larger world, or, coupled with an extended stay at the Hotel Del, the entertainment complement to a romantic retreat in this most romantic of border towns.

Michael Gaughn—The Absolute Sound, The Perfect Vision, Wideband, Stereo Review, Sound & Vision, The Rayva Roundtablemarketing, product design, some theater designs, a couple TV shows, some commercials, and now this.

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Flipping Quentin’s Vista

Flipping Quentin's Vista
Flipping Quentin's Vista

Flipping Quentin’s Vista

Flipping Quentin’s Vista

theater photos courtesy Lance Alspaugh,
the Vista Theatre

EXCLUSIVE | Legendary filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and private-cinema maestro Theo Kalomirakis join up to transform a neighborhood hangout into an international film-lover’s destination

by Michael Gaughn
July 29, 2022

Building a movie theater on the dirt lot where D.W. Griffith shot the massive Walls of Babylon sets for his once revered now reviled silent-movie epic Intolerance is kind of like building on an old Indian burial ground. And yet that’s where LA’s Vista Theatre rests, and it’s hard not to

Flipping Quentin's Vista

sense the presence of silent movies past—and of a whole alternative, and slightly unsavory, history of Hollywood—emanating from it like a wraith.

The Vista has been through a lot. Originally christened the Lou Bard Playhouse and offering both live performances and movies, its premiere screening in 1923 featured the biggest child star of the day, the now forgotten Baby Peggy. Assuming its current name
c. 1930, the theater became something of a changeling, for a while showing first-run films, then second-run, foreign, and classic, during the ‘60s dabbling in some very adult burlesque, and, for an extended stretch, soft then hardcore porn.

After a brief stint as a revival house, the

The Vista has been through a lot. Originally christened the Lou Bard Playhouse and offering both live performances and movies, its premiere screening in 1923 featured the biggest child star of the day, the now forgotten Baby Peggy. Assuming its current name c. 1930, the theater became something of a changeling, for a while showing first-run films, then second-run, foreign, and classic, during the ‘60s dabbling in some very adult burlesque, and, for an extended stretch, soft then hardcore porn.

Vista transitioned back to first-run in the mid ‘80s, but thanks to midnight screenings, a steady flow of special events and premieres, cameos in films like True Romance and The Swinger, and the lingering reputation of its shapeshifter past, it’s become a magnet for independent, cult, and B movies and other manifestations of alt. The sidewalk beneath its marquee is pitted with celebrity handprints à la Grauman’s Chinese. You won’t find any Cary Grants or Steve McQueens there, though, but Bud Cort, Kenneth Anger,

After a brief stint as a revival house, it transitioned back to first-run in the mid ‘80s, but thanks to midnight screenings, a steady flow of special events and premieres, cameos in films like True Romance and The Swinger, and the lingering reputation of its shapeshifter past, it’s become a magnet for independent, cult, and B movies and other manifestations of alt. The sidewalk beneath its marquee is pitted with celebrity handprints à la Grauman’s Chinese. You won’t find any Cary Grants or Steve McQueens there, though, but Roger Corman, Bud Cort, Ray Harryhausen, Kenneth Anger, and the cast of Dark Shadows instead.

So it’s not hard to see why the Vista might catch Quentin Tarantino’s eye. A patron for years, Tarantino came to resonate so strongly with the theater’s vibe that he decided to snatch it up, freshen it up a bit, and see if he couldn’t turn it into a must-see destination for rabid film nerds like himself.

Ray Harryhausen, and the cast of Dark Shadows instead.

So it’s not hard to see why the Vista might catch Quentin Tarantino’s eye. A patron for years, Tarantino came to resonate so strongly with the theater’s vibe that he decided to snatch it up, freshen it up a bit, and see if he couldn’t turn it into a must-see destination for rabid film nerds like himself. 

His affection for the Vista seems to

spring as much from what it’s not as from what it is. It’s not an opulent movie palace like Disney’s flagship El Capitan 11 miles down the road but a kind of mini palace with a neighborhood-hangout feel. And it’s not located in the heart of Hollywood, like the El Capitan, Grauman’s, Pantages, or Cinerama Dome, but in a nebulous no-man’s land tucked between Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and, just down Sunset Blvd., Little Armenia. It might be wry but not wrong to think of the Vista as the brick & mortar equivalent of the defiant outsider, the unbowed survivor.

It’s a little harder to understand the theater’s attraction for designer Theo Kalomirakis, whose reputation rests largely on bringing exuberant flair, tempered by tasteful restraint, to creating private cinemas, a category of design that too easily and often descends into excess and kitsch in the hands of others. But much of the Vista, from its iron-maiden-like box office to its well-intended stabs at hieroglyphics to its looming Nile-Delta-by-way-of-Topeka pharaohs, is pretty much an altar to kitsch.

His affection for the Vista seems to spring as much from what it’s not as from what it is. It’s not an opulent movie palace like Disney’s flagship El Capitan 11 miles down the road but a kind of mini palace with a neighborhood-hangout feel. And it’s not located in the heart of Hollywood, like the El Capitan, Grauman’s, Pantages, or Cinerama Dome, but in a nebulous no-man’s land tucked between Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and, just down Sunset Blvd., Little Armenia. It might be wry but not wrong to think of the Vista as the brick & mortar equivalent of the defiant outsider, the unbowed survivor.

It’s a little harder to understand the theater’s attraction for designer Theo Kalomirakis, whose reputation rests largely on bringing exuberant flair, tempered by tasteful restraint, to creating private cinemas, a category of design that too easily and often descends into excess and kitsch in the hands of others. But much of the Vista, from its iron-maiden-like box office to its well-intended stabs at hieroglyphics to its looming Nile-Delta-by-way-of-Topeka pharaohs, is pretty much an altar to kitsch.

above | the auditorium, designed in an Egyptian style meant to reflect the Vista’s Intolerance roots, will be kept pretty much as is

It’s not like Kalomirakis even knew the Vista existed before he took on the assignment of translating Tarantino’s wishes into a satisfying reality. His involvement is due mainly to some deft but determined bird-dogging by the previous owner, Lance Alspaugh, who’s been retained to manage the theater and shepherd the renovation. A devotee of Kalomirakis’ work, Alspaugh slipped a copy of Private Theaters, the sumptuous coffeetable-book presentation of the designer’s early efforts, in front of Tarantino at a planning meeting. 

As Tarantino flipped through the book, Alspaugh started making the case for retaining Kalomirakis but quickly realized he could save his breath. It was clear from Tarantino’s expression he was hooked. “We don’t really need to talk about this anymore,” he said. “This is obviously the guy.”

Kalomirakis politely declined the first time Alspaugh called—and the second, and the third. Content with the life he’s carved out for himself since moving back to Greece, Kalomirakis was taking on few new projects; plus, his experience with commercial theaters is limited. But, adopting the same tactics he deployed to convince famed designer Joseph Musil, who had renovated the El Capitan, to flip Coronado’s Village theater, Alspaugh quietly persisted, with his gentle persuasion eventually winning Kalomirakis over.

The Theo/Quentin honeymoon proved short-lived, though. Having been told the plan was to leave the Vista’s auditorium pretty much as is, Kalomirakis assumed his mandate was to do the rest of the theater in the same Egyptian Deco style. And although Tarantino liked Kalomirakis’ initial design, he ultimately deemed it too elegant, coming back with suggestions for faux cinderblock walls and an outsized RC Cola 

It’s not like Kalomirakis even knew the Vista existed before he took on the assignment of translating Tarantino’s wishes into a satisfying reality. His involvement is due mainly to some deft but determined bird-dogging by the previous owner, Lance Alspaugh, who’s been retained to manage the theater and shepherd the renovation. A devotee of Kalomirakis’ work, Alspaugh slipped a copy of Private Theaters, the sumptuous coffeetable-book presentation of the designer’s early efforts, in front of Tarantino at a planning meeting. 

As Tarantino flipped through the book, Alspaugh started making the case for retaining Kalomirakis but quickly realized he could save his breath. It was clear from Tarantino’s expression he was hooked. “We don’t really need to talk about this anymore,” he said. “This is obviously the guy.”

Kalomirakis politely declined the first time Alspaugh called—and the second, and the third. Content with the life he’s carved out for himself since moving back to Greece, Kalomirakis was taking on few new projects; plus, his experience with commercial theaters is limited. But, adopting the same tactics he deployed to convince famed designer Joseph Musil, who had renovated the El Capitan, to flip Coronado’s Village theater, Alspaugh quietly persisted, with his gentle persuasion eventually winning Kalomirakis over.

The Theo/Quentin honeymoon ended up being brief, though. Having been told the plan was to leave the Vista’s auditorium pretty much as is, Kalomirakis assumed his mandate was to do the rest of the theater in the same Egyptian Deco style. And although Tarantino liked Kalomirakis’ initial design, he ultimately deemed it too elegant, coming back with suggestions for faux cinderblock walls and an outsized RC Cola dispenser that would overwhelm what Kalomirakis had in mind for the concession stand. (There’s even talk of a Mold-a-Rama.)

It wasn’t until Kalomirakis heard about the decidedly casual grunge-ish look planned for the coffeeshop and gaming arcade that will occupy the storefronts to either side of the Vista that he got where Tarantino’s trying to go. Not wanting the theater to feel so exclusive that anyone hesitates to enter, Tarantino instead wants to create an everyman’s retreat that evokes his own early experiences of going to the movies.

dispenser that would overwhelm what Kalomirakis had in mind for the concession stand. (There’s even talk of a Mold-a-Rama.)

It wasn’t until Kalomirakis heard about the decidedly casual grunge-ish look planned for the coffeeshop and gaming arcade that will occupy the storefronts to either side of the Vista that he got where Tarantino’s trying to go. Not wanting the theater to feel so exclusive that anyone hesitates to enter, Tarantino instead wants to create an everyman’s retreat that evokes his own early experiences of going to the movies.

That realization was a revelation for Kalomirakis. The common bond between him and Tarantino, it turns out, is exactly that intense love, born in childhood, for the whole experience of watching movies—a shared origin story that runs so deep it’s been the inspiration, and constant source of sustenance, for both of their careers. Seeing that Tarantino was more interested in staying true to his emotional roots than to the bones of the Vista gave Kalomirakis a new and more potent source of inspiration to draw on.

Embracing that come-one-come-all, come-as-you-are dynamic, Kalomirakis quickly created a new design that Tarantino just as 

Flipping Quentin's Vista

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quickly blessed—which is a good thing since the renovation is already well under way, with the lobby already gutted. Early, likely optimistic, estimates pointed toward a December reopening; early to mid 2023 is looking more realistic.

But there’s a whole other layer to this story, one that’s been all but lost in all the attention paid to the acquisition and renovation. That Tarantino is having the projection booth rebuilt to accommodate his personal dual-format 35mm/70mm projectors isn’t too surprising given his well-known preference for film over digital. But what might get the savvy to sit up and take note are his plans to show first-run movies on film, having prints struck even for titles pegged for digital-only release—which is of course damn near everything. 

To that end, Tarantino has formed a kind of cabal with other movies-on-film fans like Christopher Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Judd Apatow, with this formidable band of insiders pooling its resources to get prints made and help put the Vista firmly on the radar of the film-forever crowd. Since probably no one but Tarantino has the necessary sway and determination to pull something like this off, it seems likely the Vista reborn will be—and remain—one of a kind.

It’s obvious Tarantino’s Vista isn’t going to be just some neighborhood haunt or famous filmmaker’s vanity project but, in its unassuming way, a mecca, an off-the-beaten-path everyone’s-invited celebration of the movies, a unique night out for anyone seeking a new old way to see the latest fare on film. 

Michael Gaughn—The Absolute Sound, The Perfect Vision, Wideband, Stereo Review, Sound & Vision, The Rayva Roundtablemarketing, product design, some theater designs, a couple TV shows, some commercials, and now this.

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