On Nov. 10, Cinemark Century Northgate Theater in San Rafael closed its doors permanently. The Northgate Theater opened 30 years ago and played a prominent role in many students’ childhoods. According to a December Bark survey, 83 percent of students have attended a movie at Northgate Theater. However, only 32 percent of students have attended a movie at Northgate Theater over the last three months.
Theaters have been closing more frequently since the COVID-19 pandemic, as viewers have switched to online streaming services and opted out of visiting local theaters.
Northgate Theater isn’t the only local theater plagued by issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cinemark temporarily closed the Century Cinema in Corte Madera on March 16, 2020, and later permanently closed the theater in June 2020. According to the Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC), the total number of movie theater screens in the United States has decreased by about 3,000 since 2019.
Senior Kaitlyn Widman used to go to the Northgate Theater about once a month before the COVID-19 pandemic, but her visits decreased during the pandemic. Widman last went to Northgate Theater during the summer and was surprised to hear about its closure.
“The [Northgate] mall itself has kind of deteriorated, but I felt like that movie theater always stayed strong [so] I was surprised [to hear of the closure]. I didn’t believe [Northgate Theater had closed] at first because I never thought it would close,” Widman said.
Widman has fond memories of going to the movie theater, whether on a fifth-grade field trip to see “Wonder” or experiencing the tearful story of the Judy Bloom adaptation, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.”
“That movie theater is nostalgic to me. [Northgate Theater is] the one I remember going to as a little kid,” Widman said.
Widman believes the fact that Northgate was an indoor mall, the only one in Marin made it a different experience for moviegoers.
“Northgate used to be a huge mall, and you got to do whatever. It [also] had the most ‘movie theater’ vibe. It’s different than, [for example], the Larkspur Landing Cinema because [Northgate’s] theaters are bigger,” Widman said.
Senior John Rodriguez grew up attending movies at Northgate and was a frequent visitor until the closure.
“[Northgate Theater] is the only theater I’ve been to. I’ve watched all my movies there,” Rodriguez said. “I always went there as a kid and still go there now. But I can’t now because it’s closed.”
While senior Bella Beach visited Northgate Theater almost monthly, she ultimately expected the closure.
“I had an initial shock, but I wasn’t completely surprised because everything else was closing [at Northgate], and [the theater] was always empty,” Beach said.
Michael Liberatore, the General Manager at Merlone Geier Partners, which owns Northgate Mall, was unavailable for comment.
Ross Guehring, the proprietor of Town Hall Public Affairs in the San Francisco Bay Area, was excited about the mall’s future plans.
“With respect to [Northgate’s] redevelopment plan, we see an exciting opportunity to welcome a new theater operator, an innovative entertainment concept or other retailers as part of our revitalization efforts,” Guehring said in an email. “In any scenario, we are confident that the Northgate Town Square redevelopment project will attract strong interest from a variety of new tenants.”
According to the city of San Rafael website, the Northgate Town Square redevelopment project proposes “a comprehensive redevelopment of the existing mall into an open-air ‘main street experience,’ surrounded by mixed-use development of retail and up to 1,422 residences. The Project proposes to reduce the existing commercial retail from 775,677 square feet to 225,100 square feet and construct high-density multifamily residential buildings in the form of townhome units and apartment buildings ranging in height from two to seven stories.”
On Dec. 2, the Northgate housing plan was approved at a public hearing held by San Rafael City Council, yet the issue concerning the open space left by the Northgate Theater closure was left unresolved.
