Los Angeles Theatres: Alamo Drafthouse

750 W. 7th St. Los Angeles, CA 90017 | map |

News: The Alamo Drafthouse circuit will open two additional Los Angeles area locations, according to Tony Vinciquerra, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Sony has owned the chain since mid-2024. Locations haven't been finalized but the Westside and the Southbay are both possibilities. Vinciquerra noted that 25% of domestic boxoffice basically comes from four markets: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Alamo's expansion plans will be geared toward having a greater presence in at least three of those markets. He said they're unsure about Chicago. The circuit currently operates 44 locations, mostly in Texas and the midwest. The comments came during a December 5 conversation about the business with Elizabeth M. Daley at USC's Ray Stark Theatre. She's the dean of the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

The company recently announced a Bay Area expansion involving new locations at Mountain View's Village at San Antonio Center and at the Westfield Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara. Both locations, previously operated by Showplace Icon, will get a full renovation and end up with ten screens each. The 64,500 s.f. space in Mountain View will have approximately 1,100 seats. The 62,228 s.f space in Santa Clara will have about 1,500 seats. They expect a Summer 2025 opening. See "Alamo Drafthouse to Open Two New Cinemas in San Francisco," Rebecca Rubin's December 3, 2024 story for Variety. Currently Alamo's only other West Coast Location is the five-screen New Mission in San Francisco.

Opened: July 19, 2019. The project had been set back several times due to construction delays at The Bloc, a shopping complex bounded by 7th St., Flower St., Hope St. and 8th. This photo of the theatre's entrance by Christina House appeared with Mark Olsen's 2019 L.A. Times story " Will the Alamo Drafthouse L.A. be the last stand for movie theaters?"

Drafthouse was founded in 1997 in Austin by Tim League. As the name implies, they serve food and drinks in their theatres and have a reputation for quirky programming and a no text/no talk policy. The company has also dabbled in film distribution.

Seating: 569 in 12 auditoria. They're motorized recliners with tables attached. Seating capacities in each house range from 40 to 63. The lobby, with bar and video store, is on the 2nd floor with the auditoria up on 3 in the west side of the Bloc complex. One house is 35mm equipped.

Website: drafthouse.com/los-angeles | www.facebook.com/DrafthouseLA

Architect: Richard Weiss, who has done lots of work for Alamo. See "Architect Breaks Down 120 Years of Movie Theatre Design," his 12 minute video on YouTube for Architectural Digest. Thanks to Chris Nichols for spotting it. But note that the Brooklyn Theatre Richard identifies as being in Los Angeles is actually some other theatre.

Wayne Ratkovich and his partners scored Alamo as a tenant for their Bloc complex back in 2014. He had purchased the aging fortress-like Macy's Plaza in 2012 and embarked on a $250 million renovation to take the roof off the mall, open the complex up to the surrounding streets, and reinvent the tenant mix. The Sheraton Hotel that's part of the project also got an upgrade.

Nicholas Slayton's June 2017 story for L.A. Downtown News announced "Alamo Drafthouse to open in 2018." A bit later in 2018, with much of the hard work done on the project, Ratkovich sold his interest in The Bloc to his partner in the venture, National Real Estate Advisors. Roger Vincent had the story for the L.A. Times on August 3.

Ryan Faughnder's June 2019 L.A. Times story "Alamo Drafthouse to open..." discussed the opening as well as offered some comments about why the project took so long. Mark Olson's July 2019 L.A. Times story "Will the Alamo Drafthouse L.A. be the last stand for movie theaters?" discussed the risks involved in the venture. "Downtown Alamo Drafthouse Opens Friday" was a July 18, 2019 story from Nicholas Slayton of L.A. Downtown News.

The complex closed due to Covid restrictions in March 2020. Alamo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2021. In California the Texas-based chain also has the New Mission in San Francisco, a restored 1916 vintage movie palace. They were seeking protection from creditors as they reorganized, sold assets to an investor group, closed several theatres, and said they would "continue to evaluate the health of all leases." Jill Goldsmith had a March 3 story about the San Francisco situation for Deadline. There were also stories from Variety, the L.A. Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

A bankruptcy court auction was cancelled after no competing bids were received, clearing the way for a takeover by a consortium composed of Fortress Investment, Altamont Capital and Alamo founder Tim League. Variety had the news in "No Rival Bids Received for Alamo Drafthouse, Clearing Way For Fortress Takeover," an April 26, 2021 story.

The theatre reopened after the Covid shutdown in May 2021. Thanks to Escott O. Norton for spotting the data on the Alamo website: "When is your favorite Alamo Drafthouse reopening?"

Status: Alive and doing well with the unique Alamo mix of mainstream Hollywood product, revivals and cult favorites.

The chain was sold to Sony in June 2024. Thanks to Gary Meyer for spotting "Sony buys dine-in movie movie chain Alamo Drafthouse," a June 12 L.A. Times story by Christi Carras and Ryan Faughnder. It's now part of the new "Sony Pictures Experiences Division" headed by Michael Kustermann, who was the Alamo CEO prior to the sale. Among the article's comments:

"... Sony did not disclose the price of the deal but promised to 'preserve Alamo Drafthouse's distinctive movie-dining experience.' The exhibitor — which boasts 35 locations in major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Austin and New York — is known for serving food and craft beer at its theaters... 'Alamo Drafthouse's differentiated movie-going experience, admired brand and devoted community fit well with this vision,' said Ravi Ahuja, president and COO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, in a statement. 'We look forward to building upon the innovations that have made Alamo Drafthouse successful and will, of course, continue to welcome content from all studios and distributors.'

"Alamo Drafthouse says it is the seventh-largest theater chain in North America. In a limited sense, Sony’s acquisition of Alamo is a flashback to Hollywood’s Golden Age, when the major studios also owned and operated their own theater chains, thereby controlling production, distribution and exhibition.... Sony is the only top studio without a mass-market streamer to compete with Netflix... Restrictions on studios owning theaters thawed in the decades after the [1940s Federal consent] decrees as studios started to dip their toes in the exhibition space. Sony for a time owned the Loews theater chain, which is now part of AMC...

"Under Sony, Alamo Drafthouse will keep all of its existing locations, including its only theater in Southern California, which opened in downtown Los Angeles in 2019. The studio acquired the exhibitor from private equity firms Altamont Capital Partners, Fortress Investment Group and founder Tim League, who launched Alamo Drafthouse with a single-screen Austin repertory theater with his wife, Karrie, in 1997. Like many theater operators, Alamo Drafthouse struggled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered cinemas for months. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2021, citing pandemic-related woes. It emerged from bankruptcy under the ownership of a group of senior creditors, which included Altamont and Fortress... "

The company headquarters remains in Austin. Also see stories about the sale by CNN, AP News, Variety and the New York Times. And a very poorly researched one by the Hollywood Reporter.

A November 2024 story in My San Antonio noted that Matt Vonderahe, the chain's chief financial officer, was leaving and others in the organization were moving up to fill the position.

Looking into the lobby from the main entrance. Photo: Christina House - L.A. Times - 2019

A view in from the rollup door on the east side. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

The bar area. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

A look back out through the rollup. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

Looking south along the boxoffice counter with the escalators up to the theatres just this side of the entrance doors. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

All the theatres are up on the 3rd floor. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

The 3rd floor landing. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

A display area on 3. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

Around the corner. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The corridor to the auditoria. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

A peek into the restroom area. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

Another corridor view. Photo: Christina House - L.A. Times - 2019

Auditorium #2. Photo: Christina House - L.A. Times - 2019

Auditorium #4. Capacity 49, screen width 23'. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

The rear of auditorium #4. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

Auditorium #8. This one is equipped for 35mm. It's a 24' screen. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

The rear of auditorium #8. It's the big house: 63 seats. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

A peek up at the booth in #8. Simplex XLs flanking the digital unit. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

Auditorium #12, capacity 41. The projector is in a box on the back wall. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

Heading back down to the lobby. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

A few construction views:

A courtyard photo appearing on the Alamo website with the August 16, 2018 story by Megan Reardon "LA...we finally have a construction update for you."

New escalators in the 2nd floor lobby heading up to the 3rd floor where the theatres will be. It's a photo from the Alamo website's August 2018 story.

3rd floor auditorium spaces in August 2018 as the build out was beginning. Thanks to Alamo for the photo from their website.

A look across. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2019

Framing for the lobby. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2019

Looking through the 2nd floor lobby area. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2019

Progress in the lobby. Photo: Bill Counter - March 2019

A look across to the 2nd and 3rd floors. Photo: Bill Counter - March 2019

The entrance with glass installed. On the left are the escalators down to Flower St. Photo: Bill Counter - May 2019

A look toward the entrance doors. On the right it's a rollup door into the bar area. Photo: Bill Counter - May 2019

A peek through the rollup. Photo: Bill Counter - May 2019

The bar. Photo: Bill Counter - May 2019

Signage is up. Photo: Bill Counter - June 2019

The view of the art from a level below. Photo: Bill Counter - June 2019

Renderings of the project:

This rendering of the new look for the Bloc was from the Ratkovich Company in 2014.

A rendering from Studio One Eleven of the street level entrance on Flower that appeared with "Alamo Drafthouse to open in 2018," Nicholas Slayton's June 2017 story for L.A. Downtown News. Note the escalators on the right heading up to the lobby.

A courtyard rendering from Studio One Eleven that appeared with the 2017 DTLA News story.

More information: There's a proposal afoot to build a 53 story residential tower atop the Bloc's parking garage. Esotouric shared the information in a 2024 Facebook post. See the case information: https://planning.lacity.gov/pdiscaseinfo/search/casenumber/CPC-2024-8052-DA This idea isn't exactly new. See a 2018 Urbanize story about the proposal.

In other news: Macy's is set to close their store at The Bloc in 2025. Broker Justin Weiss noted in a comment to the Esotouric post that negotiations are underway with new tenants to fill the space.

Los Angeles Theatres

Alamo Drafthouse

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