Lido Theater in Newport Beach celebrates 80 years

When Lenard Davis was a kid, he saw “Bambi” at the Lido Theater in Newport Beach.

In the movie, Bambi’s mother is killed by a hunter. That upset little Lenard, who was about 4 at the time.

“We saw the movie on the lower level, and my father said, ‘If you go up to the balcony, there’s a different ending and the mother lives,’ ” Davis said. “I never went up there to see the alternative ending, but just the idea of a different ending cheered me up. I love the Lido. My first memory of going to the movies was going to the Lido Theater.”

Davis, 65, is now a retired schoolteacher and a Newport Beach historian and novelist. He wrote the book “Lido Isle: An Illustrated History” and serves as secretary of the Newport Beach Historical Society.

The Lido Theater is “one of our great city landmarks, second only to the (Balboa) Pavilion or McFadden Square,” he said. “We don’t have too many things that are that old. Everything gets torn down around here. That’s one of our iconic landmarks.”

The Lido Theater celebrates its 80-year anniversary this year. The historic, single-screen theater has seen its share of changes over the years, but has essentially maintained its elegant Art Deco character. The 550-seat movie palace used to be home to big, Hollywood first-run premieres. It’s still a special place, serving as a key venue for other premieres and Q&As during the Newport Beach Film Festival, which is currently enjoying its 19th year.

“The Regency Lido Theater is one of my favorite places to see film,” said Gregg Schwenk, CEO and executive director of the Newport Beach Film Festival. “It’s a theater the way theaters were meant to be — single screen, with a balcony, character and class. It’s an incredibly important part of the Newport Beach Film Festival. Many of our special events and spotlights are held there, and it’s host to our closing night film.”

The Lido also serves as home base for the Orange County Film Society, a yearlong outgrowth of the Newport Film Fest. More than a dozen critically acclaimed films, many of them Oscar nominees, are shown there throughout the year.

A historic past

The Lido Theater was built in 1938 by the Griffith Family — developers of Lido Isle — to entice people to the isle, which was mostly empty then, and to Balboa Peninsula. Clifford A. Balch was the main architect.

Constructed during the Great Depression in an ornate Art Deco style, the theater opened with “Jezebel,” a romantic drama starring Bette Davis and Henry Fonda. Davis was a Corona del Mar resident at the time, and legend has it that she used to travel by the site daily. Once, she stopped at the venue and told the owner that “they had better open with my picture,” according to the website cinematreasures.org. The theater complied.

Davis also was responsible for the sitting parlor in the ladies’ restroom, according to cinematreasures.org. A framed poster of “Jezebel” hung on the wall of the sitting room for many years. It’s gone now.

The Lido is known for vibrant marine scenes painted on the walls, black lighting that makes the scenes glow in the dark, a waterfall red velvet curtain that rises before each screening, crystalline chandeliers in the lobby and an old-fashioned, stand-alone box office outside the entrance. The neon marquee is also large and recognizable, and has been used in commercials, advertising and film.

The tile work done in the 1930s by an Italian family, called Catalina Tile, has been restored to its original luster. The balcony holds about 188 seats, while the lower level contains just over 360.

“The architecture alone is very historic,” said Fritz Duda, who bought the property from the Griffith family and has owned the entire Via Lido Plaza for more than 25 years. “We’re more into the historic preservation of it right now than we are (into) doing something more aggressive with it.”

The exterior used to be painted pink, and the theater was known by locals as the “Pink Flamingo.” It’s now painted gray with a hint of green, or “alabaster,” according to Paul Bernard, vice president of Fritz Duda Co.’s western region. The exterior sports a mint green trim.

Cynthia Bell, who grew up in Newport Beach, said the Lido was always the “elite theater” of the region.

“It was always beautiful; it was the more expensive one, but it was worth it,” said Bell, 81, who now lives in Thousand Oaks. “The best films were showing there, before they were released in a lot of areas.”

Bell recalls seeing “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Cinderella,” “Psycho” and “Alice in Wonderland” there.

Over the years, the Lido went from being an independent movie house to being operated by Edwards, Laemmle, then Regency Theatres.

In 2014, Regency lost its lease on the property after about 13 years and a new company, Lido Live, took over. Lido Live presented live concerts, comedy shows and other events through the end of 2015, but broke the terms of its lease.

“They had some operating issues that were such that, we were not able to let them continue in occupancy,” Duda said.

So Regency was invited back, and after about four months of darkness, the theater reopened as a movie palace in April 2016. The first event was closing night of the 17th annual Newport Beach Film Festival.

Where memories were made

Over eight decades, the Lido Theater has shown hundreds and hundreds of movies, some art house and some just popular entertainment. Jaki Kakert remembers seeing “Arachnophobia” there in 1990.

“People would sit up in the balcony and drop fake spiders down,” said Kakert, 53, a marketing consultant. “I always had such amazing memories of the Lido.”

She added that her father and uncle used to do tumbling shows and gymnastics onstage at the Lido in the 1940s.

“People used to drop popcorn from the balcony on the people below,” Davis said. “You knew at an early age never to sit right below the balcony.”

According to owner Duda, a time capsule is buried in the mezzanine area between the ticket booth and the entrance of the theater. It was opened 30 years ago, during the 50th anniversary of the theater, and photos were taken of the contents. A few new items were added. But hardly anyone remembers what was in the capsule.

“It ought to be opened one of these days, but maybe the 100th anniversary might be the time to do it,” Duda said. “Everyone loves a little mystery.”

Richard Chang is a contributor to Times Community News.