The owners of the Cinerama Dome have obtained a liquor license, moving one step closer to reopening the theater and the adjoining 14-screen multiplex in Hollywood.
The Decurion Corp., the family business that has owned the Dome since it was built in 1963, has kept quiet about its plans ever since shuttering the 17 locations in its Pacific Theatres and ArcLight chains and filing for bankruptcy last year. In the bankruptcy, Decurion held onto to its most prized location — the ArcLight Hollywood and the Dome — and there have been widespread rumors and reporting that the company planned to reopen the theater at some point.
On June 3, the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control granted a liquor license, allowing Decurion to operate a restaurant and two bars on the premises. According to the license application, obtained by Variety, the complex will henceforth be known as “Cinerama Hollywood.”
The application does not disclose the news that fans most want to know — that is, when the theater will reopen. But it does include schematics showing that the company plans to reopen the Dome as well as all 14 screens of the former ArcLight Hollywood. The facility has been dormant since the pandemic began more than two years ago.
Decurion declined to comment.
Variety has previously reported that Christopher Forman, the third-generation CEO of the Decurion Corp., intended to revamp and reopen the Hollywood location as “a venue of uncompromising excellence.”
The application includes a sample menu for the restaurant which suggests that company is indeed aiming for an elevated price point, at least by theater standards. On the mezzanine level, the plan is to offer savory items — chips and caviar, Parker House rolls, vegetable tarte Tatin, oysters and octopus — ranging in price from $9 to $32. The lobby level restaurant will offer wild prawns with yuzu kosho butter and pickled carrot, pecorino sardo (a sheep’s milk cheese) with raw honey and fennel pollen, and whipped ricotta tartine. Prices on entrees range from $18 to $38.
A bankruptcy trustee recently auctioned off 15,000 items once owned by the Pacific Theatres chain, including projectors, theater seats, and concession equipment.
AMC Theatres and Regal have taken over a handful of the former ArcLight and Pacific locations, though many others still remain vacant. In May, the Landmark Pico announced that it would close, leaving the city with one fewer premium theater location.
