450 W. Second St. Claremont, CA 91711 | map |
The News: Laemmle's last day of operation will be January 29. Regency Theatres will be taking over. Expect a shutdown of several months for a refurbishment.
Opened: July 27, 2007. Thanks to Kat for sharing this 2023 entrance shot on Yelp. The marquee is out on Indian Hill Blvd. but the entrance is set way back from the street at the end of a promenade lined with shops and restaurants. The north side of the building is along 2nd St., the rear backs up to Oberlin Ave.
Website: www.laemmle.com/theater/claremont-5 | regency theatres |
Seats: 813 in 5 auditoria. As of January 2025 the counts were:
#1 - 123, #2 - 113, #3 - 117, #4 - 211, #5 - 249
Architects: Tolkin Group. The theatre is part of a development built and managed by them called Claremont Village Square. The company was also the developer of the Vroman's Bookstore/Laemmle Pasadena 7 project in 1999. Ron Pierce comments about the Claremont:
A July 2007 pre-opening ad for the Laemmle circuit + plus some "affiliate theatres." Thank to Scott Weinfeld for sharing this on Cinema Treasures.
The theatre closed in March 2020 for the mandated Covid shutdown. The reopening was in April 2021.
Greg Laemmle considered selling the theatre during the 2020 Covid shutdown. The asking price was $4.7 million. His deliberations were detailed in "Laemmle Claremont 5 likely to close for good," a December 3, 2021 story by Mick Rhodes for the Claremont Courier. Greg had the property in escrow with a buyer who planned to turning the building into a market. Some of Mick's comments:
"Claremont’s beloved but ultimately under-supported Laemmle theater will likely be shutting its doors for good. How soon is not yet certain. The Claremont Laemmle 5 theater is in escrow, and if the sale goes through, the current building will be transformed into a two-story structure housing an organic market with outdoor dining on the first floor, two restaurants on the second, and a rooftop bar. The proposed buyer is Win Fund Investment LLC, a company based in Rancho Cucamonga...
"'We are in discussions to sell the property, but that may come with a lease-back arrangement that would allow for some contingent operation of the theater into, if not well into, next year,' president and C.E.O. Greg Laemmle told the Courier on Thursday. Laemmle has previously negotiated sell/lease-back arrangements with its Playhouse 7 property in Pasadena and the NoHo 7 in North Hollywood, both of which helped it to raised much-needed capital.
"...'I think the last time we talked I made reference to the fact that Claremont was lagging a little bit relative to some other venues,' Laemmle said. 'It’s picked up a little bit, which is nice to see. But I think the response to arthouse films is still not exactly what we would like to see, and that’s something that made us distinct.... The great thing about being your own landlord is that you know where the rent is coming from; the problem with being your own landlord is when the rent isn’t paid, you’ve still got to make the mortgage. And that really is what this was all about.'
"The film exhibition business has changed, and the pandemic has only accelerated the pace. 'Our business has been wracked,' Laemmle said. 'We’re open, but we’re still dealing with probably less than 50 percent of the pre-pandemic audience willing to attend...' Laemmle added that the new AMC theater at Montclair Place has also cut into his audience in Claremont.... 'Is this a business that is potentially getting back to 80 or 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels, or is it going to stay where it is now? And then also of course, in our unique situation, what is the arthouse audience responding to versus the commercial moviegoing audience?'
"He talked about trends in the business at large, the massive impact of streaming services, and the question of viability for arthouse theaters in smaller communities such as Claremont. The veteran has a high-altitude view of the various moving pieces. Still though, expansion, not contraction, has always been the plan for the arthouse chain, and the potential of losing the Claremont location is not something that sits well with him. 'This was not the plan,' he said."
Although the sale was in escrow, Greg Laemmle pulled out of the deal in January 2023 and, for awhile anyway, decided to hold onto the theatre. In November 2024 he tried an auction but there were no bids above the $4 million reserve price. See Mick Rhodes' November 2023 story "Oh Laemmle, how can we love you right?" for a discussion of the theatre's grosses pre- and post-pandemic.
In 2025 Greg found a buyer who will continue to operate the Claremont as a theatre. They'll turn the building over in January 2026. Thanks to Jason Vega for spotting "Laemmle Claremont 5 theater is sold," a November 20, 2025 story by Mick Rhodes in the Claremont Courier. The story:
"Escrow closed Wednesday, and the buyer is a theater operator, according to Laemmle Theatres President and CEO Greg Laemmle, who declined to reveal the purchase price. Laemmle said his company will continue to operate the beloved Claremont theatre through near the end of January, at which time the new owner will step in. The 87-year-old Laemmle chain opened the Claremont location at 450 W. Second St. in 2007 as part of the then new Village West expansion.
"The 18,743 square-foot facility had been on and off the market since 2020, with various sales falling through and a December 2024 auction failing to meet the reserve price of about $4 million. Laemmle’s five-plus year effort to offload the property stemmed from local and national market forces, including a lack of support from Claremont area moviegoers, pressure from the new AMC location in Montclair, and the increasing popularity of streaming content."
Regency Theatres was announced as the buyer in "Regency Theatres is new owner of Claremont Laemmle 5," a November 24, 2025 story from the Claremont Courier. Thanks to Joel Pell for spotting the story. The Courier noted that Regency currently operates 28 locations in Southern California. They're also in Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.
Status: Laemmle's last day is January 29, 2026. Carlos, the manager, has been with the theatres since opening day. The expectation is that there will be a shutdown for a few months so Regency can install new seats and do a general refurbishment.
Interior views:
More exterior views:
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2025 - The theatres are in the building to the left with the solar panels on the roof. 2nd St. is running across the top. The vertical sign and readerboard are over to the right, on Indian Hill Blvd. It's Oberlin Ave. on the left, running behind the theatres. Image: Google Maps
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page about the Claremont 5. Also see the page about the theatre on Yelp.
See our page about an earlier movie house in Claremont, the Village Theatre at Bonita Ave. and Harvard.
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