The following story was first printed in the Daily Post on May 12. If you want to stay up-to-date on local news, pick up the Post in the mornings. Our competition does.
BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A developer wants to convert a closed movie theater at Palo Alto Square into offices, threatening an entertainment venue that residents have fought to preserve before.
Jared Willis of Hudson Pacific Properties turned in plans on May 5 to fill in the sloped seating and add windows to the twin theater in the office complex at Page Mill Road and El Camino Real. The end result would be 14,400 square feet of high-end office space, replacing two rooms that used to show movies.
Council gets final say on use
Council approved the Palo Alto Square development in 1969 as a “planned community,” which required the inclusion of a theater.
Any change in the theater’s use would require council’s approval, and the developer is asking for feedback before turning in a formal application.
“The answer from the city should be a firm no,” said Winter Dellenbach, a resident who worked to save the theater in 2016.
The city and its residents don’t get anything out of having offices, yet they would lose a place for entertainment and art if the theater goes, she said.
“In Palo Alto, certainly we haven’t devalued our culture so much so that we just give away cultural venues — for offices that are not needed,” Dellenbach said in an interview yesterday.
Helping local businesses
The offices would bring in highly paid workers, further straining the housing market, Dellenbach said.
The theater brought business to California Avenue because people went to eat and talk about the movie they saw, she said.
Hudson Pacific Properties signed a longterm lease with Stanford to manage Palo Alto Square in 2014, and CineMark ran the movies.
In 2016, CineMark threatened to close down because it couldn’t afford improvements that the landlord was requiring.
More than 2,500 residents signed a petition to keep the theaters open.
With pressure from city officials, a new lease was negotiated that allowed CineMark to stay.
There were also reports of the theater closing in 1996 and 2001, but city officials supported its continued use then too.
The pandemic led to permanent closure
Public health officials ordered all theaters to close in March 2020 because of the pandemic, and the Palo Alto Square theater never reopened.
CineMark gave the keys back to the landlord in May 2021.
The popcorn machine and concession counter are still in the lobby, Dellenbach said.
• A look back. June 29, 2021, Movie theaters at Palo Alto Square close permanently.
Please bring back the theatre. So convenient and enjoyable art form for many