A Love Letter to SoCal Revival Houses

The first time that I went to a revival house in Southern California, I did not know that stepping into these theaters would become a vessel for me to learn how to love. During January of 2025, I was invited by a friend to watch the film, ‘Mulholland Drive’ directed by David Lynch at a theater nearby. A few weeks before this showing, the director had passed away very suddenly and many theaters were playing his films in memoriam. Before this showing, I had seen one of his other films, ‘Eraserhead’ so I expected to be engrossed in a similar surrealist world. What I did not expect is that the world that I would be swept up within would not come from the film, but from the theater itself. 

As I walked into the theater, I was met with adorned posters of classic films plastered over the walls of the cinema. It was a quaint theater, but you could feel in the environment that every person who came consumed films with a distinct passion and enthusiasm for the art form. As the movie began, it was not long before every person in the less than twenty-seat theater was utterly entrenched in the film cascading across the screen. While this speaks to the greatness of ‘Mulholland Drive,’ it also highlights the capacity of this environment, becoming a space for people to truly allow themselves to be absorbed in the art form. After I left the theater, I had an emerging passion to learn about other similar theaters. Even though I could never find the name of this mysterious theater I went to, that experience would soon be the beginning of a growing love for revival houses. 

The next movie that I saw at a revival house was only a month later on Valentine’s Day at the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana. The film was, ‘Chunking Express’ directed by Wong-Kar Wai and is a film that deals with themes of love, longing, and learning to know when to let go. Before attending this screening, I knew the film generally dealt with themes of love but I was a bit confused on why it was selected to be screened on a day of commercially propagated romance. Although after walking out of the theater, I could not think of a better choice. The film, through humanity and wit, recalls the devastation of an ending of a love and how it can simultaneously bring unexplainable magic, and remind audiences that the experience of love can be both beautiful and unexpected. At that time of watching that film, I could relate to that complex feeling in a variety of ways. Most significantly I was beginning to feel that through my growing love of film and the feeling that comes from being captivated by the screen that floats above my eyes. 

For the next couple of months, I was slowly continuing my hobby of going to screenings at different revival houses across Southern California. This was most significantly improved from finding the Revival House database website, which details every upcoming screening and ticketing information for the rest of the year. During this time, I saw movies that I both had already adoredly watched and ones that I had never even heard of. My passion was making its way slowly, and one wonderful day in early May, I went on a date with someone very special to me. We started our date initially around Downtown Riverside but through expressing our mutual interest in film, he suggested that we find a screening at a revival house. This ultimately led us to the Los Feliz 3 Theatre in Los Angeles where we watched a midnight screening of the French film, ‘La Haine.’ My only conception of this film was that it was one of actress’ Jenna Ortega’s favorites, but I left with it becoming a personal favorite of mine. 

As we continued our date trajectory for the next couple of months, our favorite date idea quickly became going to a screening at a revival house. Less and less the specific film we watched became important and it was more about the sense of engrossment and engagement that each theater produced in its environment. Along this progression, came the further development of our love for each other, as it intensified through each theater we walked into. We were able to allow ourselves the time and silence to take in what we are watching, and be able to understand and learn more about each other as we discussed it in detail afterwards. The films and theaters became a roadmap for us to go on adventures that would ultimately lead us to a path that made us closer and more interconnected. We were able to learn more about the facets that make up who we are and how aspects of ourselves fit together in a relationship. 

Now, almost exactly a year since I attended my first revival house screening, I have been to 29 revival house screenings at 12 different theaters across Southern California. I have seen the most screenings at the Frida Cinema with the amount being 10 and the second being at the Academy Museum theater in Los Angeles with 4 screenings. My boyfriend and I usually try to go to a screening at least once a week or every other week depending on our schedules. I have also been able to introduce my sister and one of my friends to revival houses as well. As we further our love for revival houses, we turn in further our love for one another. In the spring, we are planning on continuing this mutual passion abroad in Paris and visiting some of the iconic revival houses there that had been historical homes of our favorite films. I’ll make sure to report back when I can review how Parisian houses compare against southern California’s. From what I can assume, it would be quite a challenge for them to beat.

• entertainment
• film
• love
• movie
• romance
• theater