Los Angeles Theatres: Cinelounge Sunset

6464 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90028 | map |

Opened: April 2017 as the Arena Cinelounge Sunset. It was a venue for independent films operated by Christian Meoli and his wife/business partner Camilia. The space is off the lobby in an office building on the southwest corner of Sunset and Wilcox. That's three and a half blocks west of the Cinerama Dome. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2024

Phone: 323-924-1644 Website: www.cineloungefilm.com | on Facebook

The Sunset operation was an offshoot of the Arena Cinema established earlier at the Arena Stage on Las Palmas, the building formerly housing the Egyptian 2 & 3.

The Hollywood Times had an April 2017 story about the opening of the Sunset and Santa Monica locations. Meoli was also for a time involved in programming film events at the Montalban Theatre using the Arena Cinelounge brand.

Seating: 48

Cinelounge popcorn. Thanks to Corky Baines for sharing the image in a Facebook post about the theatre's closing.

This location appeared to be thriving even as operations were discontinued at the other two sites. For more information on those see the pages on the Egyptian 2 & 3 / Arena Stage and the Arena Cinelounge Santa Monica.

Status: They closed in 2025 with February 27 as the last day of operation. Meoli was quoted in the March 12 Beverly Press/Park La Brea News story "Cinelounge fades to black as owner asks for an ‘angel’" as hoping that someone our there would reopen the theatre. Some of the article's comments:

"... Cinelounge has served as a place for smaller films to screen, find an audience and, oftentimes, distributors. 'You got to give them the legitimacy,' Meoli said. 'That’s what Cinelounge is for so many. It’s legitimacy in the marketplace. I can’t tell you how many hundreds of filmmakers got representation – able to set up even their next film because they played in L.A., got nominated [and] even won an Oscar because they played in Hollywood [at our theater].'... 'I put all my money in [the location] because I wanted to offer the best presentation I could to the filmmakers, and offer them Academy qualifications. Not just filmmakers locally based, but around the world, offering film-makers from India, Russia, Iran, you name it, the opportunity to achieve their dreams – to play their films in Hollywood. Not in Highland Park, not in Eagle Rock, but on Sunset Boulevard,' Meoli said.

"But the spiraling costs of running a theater focused on independent cinema, particularly one with high-quality projection, comfortable seating and its own top-of-the-line premium popcorn, has rendered operation difficult... Meoli has not given up hope that his theater might survive. While he can no longer afford the cost, he said it wouldn’t cost much to get it back off the ground. 'It would take an angel to call me, to reach out and say, What do you need? It wouldn’t be that much – probably under $20,000. It’s just as a small business, I’m literally at near insolvency,' he said.... 'There is a micro cinema movement,' Meoli added. 'That will continue to grow. I know that for a fact. And maybe there’s someone who reads this who goes, Well, there’s a theater available on Sunset.'"

Meoli has a Cinelounge still running in Tiburon.

The Cinelounge's seats. It's a 2017 photo from an Arena Cinelounge Hollywood Facebook page that's been abandoned.

A Cinelounge Sunset screen view. The event was the 2017 opening of the film "A Night Without Armor." The photo was on the Facebook page they were using at the time.

More exterior views:

A lobby crowd for a 2017 film opening. It's a photo that once appeared on an early version of the Cinelounge Facebook page.

Another entrance view. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

On the left it's a look east on Sunset with the Cinerama Dome down the street a couple of blocks. On the right we're looking south on Hudson Ave. Photo: Google Maps - 2017