The beautiful, brand spanking new Laemmle Glendale movie theater opens Friday and you can’t miss it.

Literally; it’s under a striking, multi-story high, red carved metal LAEMMLE sign in a new, mixed-use building at the corner of Maryland Avenue and Wilson Street, a block off of Brand Bouelvard and just behind the classic, Alex Theatre live performance venue.

The inside of the fiveplex is equally sleek, yet with an intimate feeling. A study in clean white and military-grade blues and grays, it showcases computer controlled projection systems and banks of servers, QSC amplifiers and other tech providers behind a simple desk that functions as the ticket booth.

Laemmle Theatres’ spanking new multiplex in Glendale’s burgeoning Arts District, which opens to the public on Friday Glendale, CA 48/1/2018 (Photo by John McCoy)

Laemmle Theatres’ spanking new multiplex in Glendale’s burgeoning Arts District, which opens to the public on Friday Glendale, CA 48/1/2018 (Photo by John McCoy)

Sound The gallery will resume in seconds

Projectionist Charlie Rogers shows off some of the components that operate the speakers and projector. Laemmle Theatres’ spanking new multiplex in Glendale’s burgeoning Arts District, which opens to the public on Friday Glendale, CA 48/1/2018 (Photo by John McCoy)

Tish Laemmle is the curator for art exhibits that are displayed at the theatre. Laemmle Theatres’ spanking new multiplex in Glendale’s burgeoning Arts District opens to the public on Friday Glendale, CA 48/1/2018 (Photo by John McCoy)

Tish and Greg Laemmle, the owner of Laemmle Theatres’ spanking new multiplex in Glendale’s burgeoning Arts District, which opens to the public on Friday. Glendale, CA 48/1/2018 (Photo by John McCoy)



Greg Laemmle sits in one of the new multiplex theatres. Laemmle Theatres’ spanking new multiplex in Glendale’s burgeoning Arts District, which opens to the public on Friday Glendale, CA 48/1/2018 (Photo by John McCoy)

Lobby of the Laemmle Theatres’ spanking new multiplex in Glendale’s burgeoning Arts District, which opens to the public on Friday. Glendale, CA 48/1/2018 (Photo by John McCoy)

Laemmle Theatres’ spanking new multiplex in Glendale’s burgeoning Arts District, which opens to the public on Friday Glendale, CA 48/1/2018 (Photo by John McCoy)

At another end of the bright lobby is a deceptively unassuming concession stand that, while not the kind of bar/restaurant a lot of national theater chains have turned theirs into, will feature a curated selection of good, not-seen-everywhere food, locally sourced craft beers and hand-selected wines that reflect the 80-year-old, family-owned Laemmle organization’s good taste in movies.

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The beer taps bear the logo of Glendale’s Brewyard brewery. Changing video menu displays above the popcorn machine tout such delectable-sounding items as burritos, egg and spring rolls, White Castle hamburgers and vegetable samosas.

“I think Laemmle wants to go in this direction,” the theater’s general manager Cassie Gratton, an 11-year company veteran, said of the eclectic-yet-upscale vibe. “More adult-oriented, smaller and more intimate.”

Sitting in a plush black pleather, seriously rocking chair in one of the theater’s two largest, 105-seat, Christie 2K digital projector-equipped and Dolby sound-rigged houses, company president Greg Laemmle explained the balance he’s seeking while bringing traditional Laemmle arthouse fare to its new Glendale audience.

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“Intimate and state-of-the-art are not necessarily antithetical opposites,” he noted. “We want our spaces to work for the patrons in all kinds of ways. We think that this is the size that this community needs and will support.

“We’re a family business, we’re a local business, but it is a chain,” added Laemmle, whose company operates eight other Southern California venues at the moment. “We’re going to try to be as open as we can be from our main office [in West L.A.], to talk to people in the community, get an understanding of what movies they want to see and what special activities they want.

“But certainly we’re active in the community,” he added, regarding Glendale. “I mean, the art on the walls is painted by an artist who lives in Glendale. We’ll do that as much as we can and we’ll work with local filmmakers. And some of it is reaching outside of Glendale and attracting people who don’t think there’s anything to draw them here and saying no, you know what? Glendale has it all. It has great restaurants and now it has an arthouse that will show films you can’t see other places.”

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Greg’s wife Tish Laemmle is one of several curators of the company’s Art in the Arthouse program, which hangs works by area creators on the walls of the theaters that the company owns. She picked Glendale native Raymond Logan for the initial exhibition at the new theater; in return, he made paintings of cameras, projectors and civic landmarks such as The Great White Hut food stand a few blocks away.

“I love his bright colors and textures,” she said, and indeed they pop out beautifully from the pristine white walls of the corridor leading to the dark auditorium entrances.

It’s what’s on the screens, though, that really counts. Laemmle Glendale plans to show an eclectic selection of art, American independent and foreign films as the company has been dedicated to bringing to Southern California since the 1930s, mixed with the latest, adult-aimed Hollywood offerings and event screenings of operas, concerts, filmed stage productions and the like. Repertory film programs are also promised.

Opening weekend programming includes the acclaimed indies “Eighth Grade” and Gus Van Sant’s “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot,” award-winning Israeli LGBT romance “The Cakemaker,” family documentary “Far from the Tree” and, if you’ve just gotta, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.” Expect such highly anticipated titles as Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” and the romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians” to open there in the next few weeks.

“We’ll be blending a little bit of everything as we try to figure out what the audience really wants,” Greg Laemmle said. “And we’ll be hosting the Glendale Film Festival come October!”