This iconic, century-old Los Angeles theater is reopening today after a big $40 million renovation

One of Los Angeles’s most storied movie theaters is getting a very expensive second act: The historic Vision Theatre in Leimert Park has reopened today, August 20, following a nearly $40 million restoration.

The 729-seat theater will celebrate its return with a 5pm ribbon-cutting attended by Mayor Karen Bass, Councilwoman Heather Hutt, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs General Manager Daniel Tarica and local arts and community leaders. The reopening festivities will include performances by local artists and arts organizations, plus a screening of Hair Love, the Oscar-winning animated short from Matthew A. Cherry. 

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Originally called the Leimert Theatre when it opened in 1932, the building was designed in a combination of Art Deco and Spanish Colonial Revival styles. It operated as a movie theater until 1968, before being acquired by the Jehovah's Witnesses in the late 1970s and renamed the Watchtower. Actress Marla Gibbs purchased the building in the early '90s and renamed it the Vision Theatre. The city of Los Angeles eventually acquired the property in the late 1990s.

Now, the theatre is preparing to welcome new audiences into its historic space, which looks much as it did almost 100 years ago after a restoration that focused on preserving the building's historic details while transforming it into a modern performing arts center.

Among the work: conservation of the auditorium's historic ceiling mural by artist Anthony Heinsbergen, repairs to original plaster, replication of historic finishes on the walls and proscenium, restoration of ceiling grilles and refinishing the auditorium doors.

An earlier $11 million rehabilitation was completed in 2012, which returned parts of the building to community use. This latest project brings the total investment in the long-running restoration to nearly $40 million.

The city is partnering with Where Art Can Occur Theater Center, better known as WACO Theater Center, to operate the venue. The partnership will support community events, commercial productions, theater rentals, arts education and other cultural programming.

That makes the reopening particularly significant for Leimert Park, a neighborhood long recognized as one of Los Angeles's most important centers of Black arts and culture. The Vision Theatre has the potential to become a major new anchor for that scene—and, after years of construction, Angelenos can finally walk through its doors again.

Vision Theatre is located at 3341 W. 43rd Place.