Landmark’s Guild Theatre, a single-screen movie theater that’s been in Menlo Park since 1924, is set to officially close after showings on Thursday, Sept. 26, according to the operator.
Landmark spokeswoman Laine Kaplowitz confirmed with The Almanac that the theater will be closing, a development first announced on Facebook on Sept. 20.
“Landmark Theatres will continue showcasing our signature variety of quality films paired with a top-tier entertainment experience at the Aquarius Theatre in Palo Alto,” the announcement adds.
The Guild was built in 1924 and began offering “moving pictures” around 1925, according to a historical report by Bonnie Bamburg, excerpted on the Imagine Menlo website.
According to the report, the theater, initially called The Menlo, started out showing silent films accompanied by a live organist, but by 1929 had upgraded its sound system to offer “Movie-Phone” sound. The lobby was shortened by about 30 feet in 1942 when El Camino Real was widened. The theater changed its name to the Guild when a newer theater in town took the name “The Menlo.”
Ownership changed hands several times. In the late 1980s, the theater was remodeled in the Art Deco style, and it moved into its current niche in the local theater-scape as an art house theater, the report explains.
The new Guild
The Menlo Park City Council approved plans in May 2018 to transform the vintage movie theater into a nonprofit live music venue.
The initiative is led by the Peninsula Arts Guild, made up of Menlo Park resident Drew Dunlevie and backed by two locals: investor Pete Briger and entrepreneur Thomas Layton.
As to the current status of the project, Dunlevie explained in an email to The Almanac on Monday, Sept. 23, “We’re (hopefully) close to getting permits from City of Menlo Park so we can get started in earnest.”
Dunlevie said he gave Landmark 30 days’ notice a few days ago and is in conversations with the theater operator to have some additional final film screenings after Sept. 26.
He said he thinks they’re close to completing all of the steps necessary to get permits from the city, but acknowledges that it’s been a complex process. “I don’t want to jinx it,” he said.
According to the preliminary plans for the new Guild, the project would convert the single-screen theater into a three-level venue with a main viewing area on the ground floor, a second-story mezzanine, and a basement with a “green room” and a comfortable area where performers can shower and relax prior to shows.
The organization plans to operate the venue as a nonprofit, Dunlevie said. It would charge for admission to cover the costs of operations and paying the musicians, and would funnel any extra revenue back into the venue’s programming, and offering discounted tickets.
The new Guild would be about 11,000 square feet, with a maximum height of 34 feet and a capacity of about 150 to 200 seats, or about 500 people at a standing-room-only show.
For those interested in one last movie at the historic theater, the Guild is screening the film “Official Secrets” at 1:45 p.m., 4:15 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. through Thursday. Ticket information is available at tinyurl.com/guildshowtimes.
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