by Mick Rhodes | editor@claremont-courier.com

In my December 2021 column, “Use it or lose it: a Laemmle love letter,” I lamented what at the time looked to be the impending closure of our beloved Laemmle Claremont 5 theater, which was in escrow.

The deal on table at the time would have transformed the 18,743 square-foot single story building 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.

Then in November 2022, Laemmle Theaters President and CEO Greg Laemmle came to town for a screening of “Only in Theaters,” a documentary about the long history and recent travails of his family’s then 84-year-old company. At a Q and A following the screening Laemmle told the crowd that in fact nothing was “imminent” at the Claremont location, prompting the film’s director Raphael Sbarge to tell us, “Vote with your feet.”

This call to arms (legs?) led to a temporary groundswell of support, and for a while there it felt as if film lovers might just be able to rally enough people to the box office to keep the business solvent. Momentum seemed on our side when Laemmle said he would make an announcement in January 2023.

“Escrow has been cancelled,” Laemmle proclaimed, prompting my January 13, 2023 column, “Laemmle will stay in Claremont: beloved arthouse theater gets second life,” which was a joy to write.

Still, Laemmle told me then that revenue would need to double for the Claremont 5 to be profitable, and made clear the reprieve was only good through the remainder of 2023, at which time it would be reevaluated. “It’s not enough to say that we want these films in our community, it’s we have to actually buy tickets,” Laemmle said at the time. “We’re prepared to give everybody a chance. This is another opportunity for people to show they care about having this facility in the city.”

There’s only so long any business can absorb losses before its time to walk away. In 2018 the Claremont 5 grossed $1,553,048 in box office receipts. In 2022, the first full year after closing down due to COVID-19, that number fell to $581,936.

“I think we noticed the hue and the cry,” Laemmle said in January 2023. “And we do understand that this is potentially a loss for the community. At the same time there’s the reality that people can say they want an art house [theater], but if they’re not coming out to support it, then they don’t want an art house.”

Due in part to the energy surrounding the January reprieve, gross receipts grew to $756,347 in 2023. Thus far in 2024 they stand at $608,490. With the holidays coming up, receipts could end up near last year’s total, but they’ll still be well short of the roughly $1.2 million Laemmle has said the theater needs to generate to be in the black.

When I spoke to Laemmle last week he echoed his January 2023 comment: “This hue and cry about, ‘We can’t lose our movie theater,’ it kind of rings false,” he said. And who could argue? Claremont audiences still haven’t returned to the theater at anywhere near pre-pandemic levels, no doubt due in part to the massive, comparatively opulent AMC Dine-In Montclair Place 12 theater, which opened in 2021.

“And that’s a reality,” Laemmle said. “But then the other reality is, well, if that’s the case and the people in the community prefer to spend their money in Montclair to see movies, then … does Claremont need a movie theater?” Ah, the $1.2 million question …

Laemmle said there is hope for growth in the film exhibition sector in 2025. “But if that growth in business goes to the AMC in Montclair, that won’t help our situation.”

All will be revealed, well most of it anyway, after the Claremont 5 property goes on the auction block December 2-5. Bidding starts at $1 million, with a reserve price somewhere south of its 2022 asking price of $4.25M. (Folks can monitor the auction at loopnet.com.) If the auction doesn’t reach the reserve there will be no sale, and Laemmle will be “back to square one,” its CEO told me.

If things somehow do go our way — again — and Claremont 5 stays, could it lean into the AMC model, with its plush recliner seats and in-theater service?

“If that’s what the public wants, we have to consider whether that’s something we do or don’t do,” Laemmle said. “We haven’t done it. It’s not an insignificant investment, and I guess we have to consider what the return on that would be and whether we can stomach that in our current situation. That is a tough one. If we are to stay we know that we need to look at something to refresh … What other changes are possible? I guess it’s too soon to say. We will cross that bridge when and if we have to.”

And if we do catch yet another break, and the rumors of the Claremont 5’s demise were once again greatly exaggerated, there remains the matter of all that red ink. One possible savings going forward could come in the form of reduced property taxes. The LA County Assessor values the 450 W. Second St. property at $6,279,131. If next month’s auction fails to reach the reserve price of less than $4.25M, it would figure Laemmle would lobby LA County for a new assessed valuation, resulting in a corresponding reduction in its property taxes.

“That is one thing that makes it feasible to continue operating in Claremont,” Laemmle said when I mentioned the possibility of a property tax break. “That would be a help. Some low interest financing would be a help so that we are not carrying it. All those things add up to getting the rent down to a figure that we see as at least getting us to break even. And then maybe that provides an opportunity to say there will be or there can be an investment in some creature comforts and some other things.

“The bigger question would be if it doesn’t sell, then it’s not sold, it’s not going back on the market, and here are the numbers why this is a problem, and put up or shut up, Claremont!”

Or, vote with your feet. We’ve been there before, haven’t we?