Long Beach Cinemas, closed since COVID shutdown, set to reopen Friday
Long Beach Cinemas, which closed March 14, 2020, is reopening Friday after being shuttered for more than two years during the pandemic. Credit: Alejandra Villa Loarca
The Long Beach Cinemas, the city’s only movie theater, is set to reopen Friday after a two-year shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Park Avenue theater is set to make its grand reopening with safety measures and precautions for customers, the theater’s general manager Paula Lewis told Newsday.
“We wanted to make it right. There are a lot of moving parts and we made sure it was sanitized top to bottom,” Lewis said Wednesday. “We survived Sandy and we survived COVID. We’re thrilled to be back.”
The four-screen movie theater plans to reopen with a 12:10 p.m. showing of Marvel’s “Dr. Strange” on two screens, “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” and the animated film, “The Bad Guys.”
When the theater closed March 14, 2020, Disney’s "Onward" was playing. The theater’s marquee was left blank when management remained in constant contact with the city on COVID protocols and hopes of reopening. Now new posters have been added and the marquees were replaced with advertising announcing the grand reopening. One sign says, “We are happy to be back.”
Long Beach City officials have offered guidance on COVID-19 safety guidelines and plans to hold a ribbon cutting at the theater Friday morning. The improvements include plexiglass barriers and sanitation stations throughout the theater.
The movie theater has remained under the same ownership of Seth Pilevsky and the Philips International real estate group for about 20 years. Officials declined to give the cost of improvements.
The theater, which was shuttered for nearly three years after Superstorm Sandy, reopened in 2015 after renovations.
The theater was mostly rebuilt and repairs included new leather seats and 3D projectors, and repairs for flood damage after seawater poured into each of the four theaters and down the movie screens. Seawater flooding also caused the roof to collapse.
After the COVID shutdown, Lewis said the health of customers was always the first priority to reopen safely.
They are now ready after bringing back employees old and new to open the theater, serve popcorn and run projectors. Lewis said cars driving by the theater have been honking in support.
“Reopening safely was the most important thing,” Lewis said. “I love the interaction with the public and it feels great to be back.”
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
