In 2020 and early 2021 the Orinda Theatre was closed for the pandemic. During that time Derek Zemrak and a small crew cleaned carpets, restored paintings and repaired neon fixtures, some of them nearly 80 years old. Neon expert Greg King mentioned in passing that he wished "the black lights were back." Zemrak didn't know there had ever been black lights. He held a small one up to the auditorium walls, and the murals lit up. Lamorinda Weekly reported that the murals were painted by Anthony Heinsbergen, whose studio worked on hundreds of theaters. They show earth, wind, fire and water, and they were designed to glow under ultraviolet light. Taking down a white panel over the exit doors uncovered blue and yellow neon that nobody had seen since 1986.
That was one of several rescues in the building's history. The current one depends on people who pay for their seats months ahead, and the 85th anniversary season shows how it works.
The film that opened the house opens it again
The Orinda Theatre showed its first movie on Dec. 27, 1941. That movie was "Texas," starring William Holden and Glenn Ford. For the 85th birthday, The Orinda News reports that Sony and Columbia Pictures made a new restoration of "Texas," and the Orinda will be the first theater to show it. The theater's listing calls it an "85th Anniversary Party." The screening is Sunday, Dec. 27, at 5 p.m. After that, Walt Disney's "Fantasia" runs for four days, Dec. 28 through 31.
The main auditorium seats 750, and there's a 75-foot sign tower over Orinda Way. On Dec. 27 the room will show the same film it showed on opening night. Standard main-auditorium tickets cost $15 general and $13 for seniors and children, and orindamovies.com is the place to buy anniversary tickets in advance.
Orinda has rescued this building before
The building is still standing because people organized for it. In 1982 the state Historical Resources Commission voted to recommend the theater and the bank next door for the National Register. Two years later, a development plan for the Crossroads area included tearing both buildings down. On Sept. 27, 1984, Friends of the Orinda Theatre, the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association and the Orinda Association sued. On May 30, 1986, the California Court of Appeal reversed the approvals and ordered the demolition permit vacated.
The building was designed by Alexander Aimwell Cantin and is a concrete Art Deco and Moderne structure. After the lawsuit, Kirk E. Peterson's firm restored the lobby and the main theater. It also designed an addition with two new screens. The theater reopened in 1989 with three screens, and the original 1941 auditorium was kept intact.
Those two smaller rooms matter later in this story. The 1980s effort saved the big room, and it also built the small rooms that now help keep the big one running.
What the rent roll says about the building's economics
Zemrak owns the theater business, but he doesn't own the building. He leases it from Dunhill Partners, a Dallas real estate firm that has owned the surrounding Theatre Square center since 2015. In July 2025, Dunhill refinanced the center with a $22 million loan. The securities filing for that loan includes a rent roll dated July 8, 2025. It shows what the theater pays compared with the rest of the center.
| Rent roll, July 8, 2025 | Orinda Theatre | Theatre Square, occupied average |
|---|---|---|
| Share of center's rentable space | 15.7% | n/a |
| Share of center's underwritten base rent | 4.1% | n/a |
| Underwritten base rent per square foot | $8.98 | $39.84 |
The theater takes up more space than any other tenant in the center, and it pays roughly a quarter of the average rate per square foot. The same filing lists the theater's lease through Nov. 30, 2027, with one five-year renewal option. For a landlord, the theater pays very little rent. It pays its way by bringing people into Theatre Square.
Dunhill's executive vice president, Mark Hutchinson, said as much. He told The Orinda News in July 2025, "We are very happy to own it for the next five years." He said he enjoyed the crowds a Starship concert brought to the Square's restaurants and bars. He also worried that the theater's interior and seats might not hold up to heavy rock-concert crowds, and said live acts need "balance." In that same article, the Orinda Community Foundation said it had offered to buy the theater building on its own, separate from the rest of the center. Dunhill turned the offer down. A few months earlier, a sale of the theater business to Tommy Thomas, a comedy-club veteran, had fallen through. "The sale didn't go through; it fell out of escrow," Zemrak told the paper.
So outside buyers couldn't buy the building or the business. The theater had to find support from within its own audience.
One series ends on the birthday, and another has a waitlist
The anniversary week ends one experiment. Cinema Craft, a series of art, foreign and unusual films, started on Oct. 26, 2025. According to The Orinda News, the series "did not generate enough support or sales in 2026" and will not continue next year. Its last film is Grace Kelly in "The Country Girl" on Dec. 27, the same day as "Texas."
Live at the Orinda is going in the other direction. It's a cabaret-style concert series organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit performing arts group. Shows are Sundays at 5 p.m. in an intimate 178-seat room, which has to be one of the two auditoriums added in 1989. All seats are reserved, and most tickets cost $65 to $105. Season subscriptions cost $430 for Bronze and up to $645 for VIP, which includes seats in rows 1 through 6 with the subscriber's name on them. New subscriptions for 2026/2027 are sold out, and there is a waiting list. Show underwriting starts at a $1,000 donation. The series says that money helps cover production costs, a custom Meyer Sound system and lighting upgrades.
The community foundation is involved here too. The Orinda Community Foundation accepts gifts set aside for "Live at the Orinda Theatre." In the Orinda Association board's October message in The Orinda News, the board thanked the foundation for helping fund events like the season's first concert on Oct. 4. The message said tickets "will be scarce because these cabaret-style shows are so popular."
The format fits what the landlord asked for. It brings the live crowd that helps Theatre Square, but in a small reserved-seat room with a Sunday 5 p.m. start instead of a rock show in the 1941 auditorium. In 1984 the community went to court to save the building. In 2026, a similar group of Orinda organizations is paying ahead for named seats and underwriting shows.
The building has also drawn audiences who don't live in Orinda. In November 2025, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival held its five-day festival at the Orinda, Nov. 12 through 16, while the Castro Theatre was being renovated.
The rest of the season on the theater's calendar
Here's what's left on the theater's calendar between now and the birthday:
- Tuesday, Nov. 24, 1 p.m. The monthly Orinda Classic Movie Matinee shows Bette Davis in "Now, Voyager" with short subjects, the way it was presented when it played the Orinda in 1942.
- Sunday, Nov. 29. Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" screens at 1 p.m. as the second-to-last Cinema Craft film. A theater tour is also scheduled that day.
- Sunday, Dec. 6, 5 p.m. Bryan Eng performs at Live at the Orinda. The show is produced by Derek Zemrak, Michael Williams and Leonard Pirkle.
- Thursday, Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m. "The Piano" is on the schedule for the Certain Women series, which features films by women directors.
- Sunday, Dec. 27. "The Country Girl" closes out Cinema Craft, and the restored "Texas" screens at the 85th Anniversary Party at 5 p.m.
- Monday, Dec. 28, through Thursday, Dec. 31. "Fantasia" runs for four days to finish the anniversary.
At the Orinda Library Gallery, Orinda filmmaker Greg Garthe's photography show "All Natural Images" runs Nov. 30 through Dec. 30. The theater also sends a weekly email newsletter, which you can sign up for on the homepage of orindamovies.com. Ticket prices change from one kind of event to another, so the site is the best place to check.
If you own a home near Theatre Square and want to know how its character and upkeep affect its value today, Teri Carlisle & Alexandra Dierkx can walk through it with you. Request a complimentary home valuation.
