arttheatre Before the row was fully retro, when shopkeepers weren’t sure whether they were a trend or a mess, when what residents called nightlife was eventually apt to be a reason to call the cops, positivity on 4th Street was the box office of the Art Theatre, ever-glowing with the reassurance of a lighthouse.

Behind the glass sat Howard Linn, old, frail, bald, bespectacled and ever-glowering—a kind of reassurance, too, considering the circumstances, which for the Art Theatre in those days, rarely looked too promising. Linn, a movie-lover since his New York childhood, was the Art’s owner. He was also its booker and publicist, the guy who sold the popcorn and cleaned the bathrooms, the man who ran the projector.

And for 15 or 20 minutes before every show, Linn sat within the illuminated glass cylinder of the Art’s box office methodically dispensing tickets to whatever offbeat movie title he had booked—oh, and hung from the marquee above. Watching him always reminded me of the way those penny arcade gypsy manikins animatronically hand out fortunes.

linn Although he didn’t look like one, Howard Linn was something of a gypsy, betting his future on the fortunes of the last surviving single-screen movie theatre in Long Beach, which used to be full of them. He did it for the love of the movies, for the love of the city, and he always insisted that he did it well enough to turn a profit. That had to be magic.  

The Art Theatre of today—pristine after a million-dollar makeover—bears only dimensional resemblance to the creaky antique that belonged to Howard Linn. The seats were old and mostly uncomfortable—either because of the narrow aisles, the loose hinges or the broken springs that poked through the upholstery. The screen was stained in places from overexuberant fans of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The speakers sometimes crackled.

But I saw a movie at the Art Theatre almost every week, no matter what was playing. In addition to my ticket, I always bought popcorn and a soda—always in their largest sizes. This was my small contribution to the mighty effort that Howard Linn was making for me and for all of Long Beach. I wanted the Art to survive, and if it somehow couldn’t, I didn’t want to look back and blame myself.  

Sometimes the condition of the theatre interfered with my enjoyment or understanding of the movie. Something on screen got lost in a stain. A speaker would crack at a crucial moment of dialogue. The predicament of a character, well, sometimes it didn’t seem so dire when compared to the ache that my seat was creating in my ass.

But other times the ambience of the Art enhanced the films. The musty smell, the sticky floor, the screeching hinges, the barren walls—and the sense of uninterrupted history—with certain films could feel like extensions of what was happening up on the screen. I saw the Coen Brothers’ Barton Fink at the Art, and nowhere else could I have better connected with John Turturro’s struggles with writer’s block in a dingy hotel room so hot the wallpaper peeled.

Eventually, Jan Van Dijs and his restorative band bought the Art from Howard Linn and rehabilitated it. I was there on re-opening night and couldn’t believe this room with the white walls, comfortable blue seats, ivory-white screen and state-of-the-art sound system was the same place. I sighed with the realization that the tenuous life of the Art Theatre really had reached a happy ending—or a happy new beginning.

But Howard Linn was at the grand re-opening, too, and the glower was gone from his face. He didn’t need it, anymore. The patient, loving care he had given the Art, sitting for so many years at what sometimes seemed would be its deathbed, had saved its life, kept it breathing long enough for Van Dijs to arrive. Without Linn’s protection, somebody would have seen the Art Theatre as a great place for an indoor swap meet. 

But Linn’s contribution was not only to the theatre, but to all of that stretch of 4th Street now thriving as Retro Row. What would those blocks between Cherry and Junipero Avenues be like without the centerpiece the Art Theatre provides architecturally, socially and economically?

That night at the grand re-opening, lots of people thanked Howard Linn for what he had done. And he thanked them for their kind words of appreciation. But as I stood with him, next to the box office where he sat selling tickets all those nights for all those years, I heard him say softly to himself, “I wish it were still mine.”

ART THEATRE SCHEDULE FOR JULY
Get showtimes, tickets and view all the trailers at: www.arttheatrelongbeach.com!

• Now through July 5th: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS – Woody Allen’s new comedy starring Rachel McAdams, Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard!
“Beguiling and then bedazzling!” -Wall Street Journal
“Woody Allen has made a wonderful new picture and it’s his best, most enjoyable work in years!” -LA Times
“Marvelously romantic!” -New York Times
Warmly received as the Opening Night Film at the Cannes International Film Festival! The new romantic comedy from writer/director Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger) tells the story of a family that travels to the picturesque French capital on business. The party includes two young people (Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams) who are engaged to be married in the fall and have experiences there that change their lives forever. It’s about a young man’s great love for a great city, Paris, and the illusion people have that a life different from theirs would be much better. Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Michael Sheen and Carla Bruni also star.

• THE FIRST GRADER – Sat JULY 1 @ 1pm: Award Winning New National Geographic Film!
Tearful, joyful….irresistible ode to the human spirit”-LA Times
In a small, remote mountain top primary school in the Kenyan bush, hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan government. One new applicant causes astonishment when he knocks on the door of the school. He is Maruge (Oliver Litondo), an old Mau Mau veteran in his eighties, who is desperate to learn to read at this late stage of his life. He fought for the liberation of his country and now feels he must have the chance of an education so long denied – even if it means sitting in a classroom alongside six-year-olds. Moved by his passionate plea, head teacher Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris), supports his struggle to gain admission and together they face fierce opposition from parents and officials who don’t want to waste a precious school place on such an old man. Full of vitality and humour, the film explores the remarkable relationships Maruge builds with his classmates some eighty years his junior. Through Maruge’s journey, we are taken back to the shocking untold story of British colonial rule 50 years earlier where Maruge fought for the freedom of his country, eventually ending up in the extreme conditions of British detention camps.

• CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP – New Documentary Starts Fri 7/1
“Behind-the-scenes gold!” -Entertainment Weekly
The audience favorite from the SXSW Film Festival! The documentary follows O’Brien on tour as he engages in bits with on-stage guests such as Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and Jim Carrey, dueting with Jack White and sweating out manic Elvis Presley covers with his band and back-up singers. We see a comic who does not stop — performing, singing, pushing his staff and himself. indieWIRE Critics Pick of the Week! A-

• PAPA DON – Thurs 7/7-6pm – Long Beach Poly’s NFL Coach of The Year Documentary Narrated by Snoop Dogg PLUS Q&A w/Papa Don
Shattering records consistently in track and football, receiving the first-ever NFL award for High School Coach of the Year as an assistant coach, sending more than 50 young talents into the NFL, ‘Papa Don’ Norford has all the accolades a coach could hope to gain, including sending multiple players to the NFL (Pago Togafau and Winston Justice with the Philadelphia Eagles; Marcedes Lewis with the Jacksonville Jaguars; Willie McGinest with the Cleveland Browns; Omar Stoutmire with the Washington Redskins; Samie Parker with the Denver Broncos; and Manuel Wright with the New York Giants), and inspiring athletes for more than 30 years have made coach Don Norford a master in his profession.

• RAUL – Award Winning Decathlete Documentary – Thurs 7/7-8pm PLUS Q&A with star decathlete RAUL LOPEZ BARRERA and producer/Bikestation founder John Case
Raúl is 75 years old. He lives in Montevideo, in a little white house in the neighborhood of Buceo, with his 37 year old wife Susana and his 5 year old daughter Sofía. Raul is training for the unimaginable. Only 8 men in the world will compete at 75 in the decathlon in Lahti, Finland at the World Masters Athletics Championship. Raul is one of them and the only one from a developing country. Raul’s journey is filled with emotion and passion as he faces physical and mental challenges all along the way to achieving his dream.

• ROAD TO NOWHERE -Thurs 7/7-10pm – New Noir!
“Thumbs up”- Roger Ebert
“Stylish, shimmering neo-noir with a multi-layered narrative!”-LA Times
From the director of TWO LANE BLACKTOP and producer of RESERVOIR DOGS! In a reach for authenticity, a filmmaker casts an unknown actress to star in his upcoming film, the true story of a puzzling political scandal involving a North Carolina senator. But then he learns the actress may have actually been involved. Before long, he finds himself helplessly ensnared in a deadly web of intrigue. 

• HORRIBLE BOSSES – Starts Fri 7/8! STARTS WEDS 7/8 STARRING JASON BATEMAN, JENNIFER ANISTON, KEVIN SPACEY
For Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day), the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses (Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston) into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con (Jamie Foxx), the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers… permanently. There’s only one problem: even the best laid plans are only as foolproof as the brains behind them.

• ZOMBIE ED – SAT 7/9 – 11:30am FREE SCREENING
Loser Ed has a lame job, a crappy apartment and no hope of a girlfriend. None of this mattered to Ed until he woke up one morning to find he had “gone zombie.” Being a human loser is bad, but is being a Zombie worse? How does Ed become the Zombie he was always meant to be?

• JIG – Sun July 10th & 17th 1pm – New Irish Dance Documentary
The story of the 40th Irish Dancing World Championships. Two years in the making, JIG, was funded by BBC Scotland and Creative Scotland. It was the first time the controlling body of competitive Irish dance had ever allowed an outsider to film this fiercely competitive world.

• ONE-EYED MONSTER – Fri 7/15 11pm – Presented by MONDO CELLULOID! HORROR COMEDY W/Q&A
Director Adam Fields pays homage to such sci-fi classics as Alien and The Thing with this tongue-in-cheek horror comedy about a snowbound porno film crew being stalked by an evil, body-jumping alien. A blizzard has blown into town, leaving the crew of an adult film hopelessly stranded in the middle of nowhere. To make matters worse, a menacing monster from space has just arrived, too, and it’s looking for a warm place to hide out. When the alien takes possession of the film’s biggest star (porn legend Ron Jeremy), the rest of the crew unites to eradicate the extraterrestrial invader before it claims any more victims.
In person at this screening: Writer/Director Adam Fields; Writers Jordan Fields & Scott Fields; Veteran Actor of over 190 films, Charles Napier PLUS Ron Jeremy! Actor of 1,200 films, and counting…

• THE LAST MOUNTAIN – Sat 7/16-1pm – New Documentary about the fight for Appalachian Coal
“A Moving Portrait” – LA Times
The mining and burning of coal is at the epicenter of America’s struggle to balance its energy needs with environmental concerns. Nowhere is that concern greater than in Coal River Valley, West Virginia, where a small but passionate group of ordinary citizens are trying to stop Big Coal corporations, like Massey Energy, from continuing the devastating practice of Mountain Top Removal.

ON THE HORIZON!

• RX BANDITS Live! Plus ZECHS MARQUISE, HOT TODDIES Farewell Tour – Wed AUGUST 3 @ 6:45 pm w/Special drink menu!
Southern California’s cult beloved prog-psych-rock quartet have announced the band’s farewell headlining tour. The long-running group has seen many triumphs in its 16-year existence and goes out at the height of its career, following their 2010 series of sold out shows performing three previous albums in their entirety, playing Bonnaroo, Coachella and Bamboozle festivals and receiving considerable critical and fan praise for its 2009 release, Mandala. In an age where taking risks and being fearless can make or break you, RXB emerged as a tidal wave, a force that shatters all the boundaries set against them. Throughout their long career, the group reinvented and revolutionized their identity while retaining their socially conscious lyrics and eruptive instrumentation. This concept has been the catalyst for the band’s ever-growing fan base, which revels in their uniqueness and continue to storm their celebrated, incendiary live shows.

• YVES SAINT LAURENT-L’AMOUR FOU
“Fascinating….remarkably candid!”-LA Times
The public life of Yves Saint Laurent was as extravagant as it was decadent, as a design prodigy and then the grand coutourier of an fashion empire he influenced fifty years of style–but few are familiar with the private life of the legend. Pierre Bergé, the man with which YSL shared four decades of his life and love, reflects on the equally extravagant history of their personal relationship. This extraordinary documentary provides an unprecedented look at the life of a mythic personality, whose personal life matched his public for elegance, extravagance and passion.

About The Art Theatre:
Voted THE NUMBER ONE INDEPENDENT THEATRE in Long Beach by OC Weekly and District Weekly, the Art opened as a silent movie theatre and included a pipe organ and orchestra pit. It is the oldest operating single screen house in Long Beach in 1924. Our art deco, streamline moderne-style historical landmark is famous for its screening of the most imaginative and stimulating independent, documentary, animated, alternative lifestyle, and foreign language films. After one million dollars of loving restoration, and the addition of a wine bar and coffee bar to round out a full evening experience, we are proud to continue this long-running tradition.