Laemmle’s Claremont 5, the only movie theater in the Inland Empire that regularly screens independent and foreign films, is about to reach “the end.”
The five-screen theater downtown, which plays a mix of specialty films and mainstream fare, has been sold to Regency Theatres, with the sale closing Nov. 19.
“It wasn’t on the market,” Greg Laemmle, the family-owned chain’s CEO and president, tells me Tuesday. “This came out of left field.”
It’s no secret the Claremont 5 has been struggling since the pandemic as patrons, who skew older, failed to return in sufficient numbers. The theater had a buyer in 2021, but escrow was canceled. Laemmle in 2023 challenged Claremont to show up if people wanted the prestige theater to stick around.
Ticket sales saw only “small improvement,” Laemmle says Tuesday. When Regency made what Laemmle termed “a fair offer,” he accepted it.
Activity had noticeably increased via special events, many targeting college students, yet much of the regular programming was underattended.
Early in November I saw the excellent Richard Linklater film “Nouvelle Vague” — a movie with a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes — in an auditorium with two other patrons amid dozens of empty seats. Come on, people.
“The numbers just weren’t where we needed them to be,” Laemmle says.
“Perhaps what’s needed is a fresh set of eyes to bring something new. Certainly they see the potential,” he says of Regency.
Regency operates 15 theaters in Southern California, including multiplexes in Azusa, Fontana, San Bernardino and Moreno Valley. Laemmle has seven theaters, all in Los Angeles County.
The Claremont 5 opened in 2007 as part of an expanded downtown that added three square blocks of stores and restaurants. I was there for the theater groundbreaking in 2006 — evidently I am in this story for the long haul — and happily returned dozens of times for movies.
That said, like a lot of people, my moviegoing appetite was disrupted by the pandemic and hasn’t entirely returned. And in 2021, an AMC 12 with reclining seats opened at Montclair Place mall, one city away. I’ve only gone there two or three times, but it’s definitely caught on.
“There was the double whammy of the pandemic and the opening of another theater nearby,” Laemmle reflects concerning the hurdles. “It’s just one of those things. We hope the folks at Regency have ideas of how to turn things around.”
Laemmle will operate the Claremont 5 until near the end of January and will program movies as usual until then. One highlight will be an annual tradition, the Christmas Eve screening of a sing-along “Fiddler on the Roof,” which brings out the area’s Jewish community.
“It’s just been a terrific experience,” Laemmle says of the 18 years in Claremont. “We feel we’re leaving things in good hands.”
I hope that’s true. But some of us are sorry they’re leaving, period.
Fowler Garden (more)
While we’re talking about culture in Claremont, the Margaret Fowler Garden at Scripps College is, as readers of my Nov. 7 column will recall, the home of the 1946 Alfredo Ramos Martinez mural, “The Flower Vendors.”
For anyone who wants to visit, its hours are 8 a.m. to dusk, Monday to Friday only.
Many people have rented the garden over the years for weddings. They include my friends John and Karen Evans, who wed outside its tiny chapel in 1976.
“I’ve made many visits since,” John reports. “It remains exactly as it was.”
Queen Sirikit, RIP
The queen of Thailand from 1950 to 2016, Sirikit died Oct. 24 at age 93. Curiously enough, there is a local angle.
In 1960, Sirikit, King Bhumibol Adulyadej and their four young children visited Southern California, using as their base camp a citrus ranch in, of all places, La Verne. I wrote about their visit in 2013. The family ranged around SoCal, meeting America’s king, Elvis Presley, and touring Disneyland with Walt Disney.
The king’s hair was cut by a barber in Upland. And after the royal family visited the Betsy Ross ice cream parlor in Pomona, a sundae was named the Crown Jewel in their honor.
Dept. of Corrections
David Bristow was an attorney for Duane and Kelly Roberts but hasn’t been since 2023, when he returned to the federal bench as a judge. I bungled his role in my column Wednesday quoting his remarks at the Festival of Lights.
Meanwhile, Carol Scott of Upland questions a quote here Nov. 21 from the general manager of the Plaza Theatre in Palm Springs that ticket buyers have come “from all 50 states and all four provinces of Canada.”
As the geography-minded Scott points out, our northern neighbor has 10 provinces and three territories. Hopefully they’ll all find time to visit Palm Springs. O Canada!
David Allen writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday from around Ontario. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, and follow davidallencolumnist on Facebook or Instagram, @davidallen909 on X or @davidallen909.bsky.social on Bluesky.
