Kristen Stewart restores the Highland Park movie theater in Los Angeles.
The actress and director has purchased the long-shuttered Highland Theater in Highland Park, with plans to restore and relaunch the nearly century-old movie house as a community-oriented cultural space.
Stewart recently shared in a new interview that she has long been “fascinated by broken down old theaters.”
“I always want to see what mysteries they hold,” she said Architectural summary on Wednesday. The Highland Theater, which closed in February 2024 just weeks before its 100th anniversary, was an immediate standout.
Designed by architect Lewis Arthur Smith, the venue first opened in 1925 and was part of a wave of neighborhood movie theaters that once defined moviegoing in Los Angeles.
Stewart admitted that she hadn’t consciously been looking for a theater, but once the Highland came on her radar, the decision felt urgent and instinctive. “I didn’t realize I was looking for a theater until this place came to my attention,” Stewart recalls. “Then it was like a shot went off and the race was on. I ran towards it with everything I had.”
The director of Chronology of Water added that she sees the restoration project as “an opportunity to create a space to come together, plan and dream together,” she said. ADVERTISEMENT.
“We want to make it a family affair, something for the community. It’s not just for pretentious Hollywood cinephiles,” she said. “I see it as an antidote to all the corporate stuff, a place that takes film culture away from just buying and selling. I think there’s a huge desire and longing for what this kind of space has to offer.”
Directed by Stewart The chronology of water is currently in theaters, with more projects already in development, including The wrong girlsdirected by her wife, Dylan Meyer. Stewart stars in the film and co-wrote the script with Meyer.
