A shuttered Los Angeles movie theater is lining up a Hollywood-style comeback with help from Oscar-nominated actress — and now real estate investor — Kristen Stewart.
Stewart was part of an LLC that bought the 100-year-old Highland Theatre in Highland Park last March; now, the investors plan on transforming the cinema six miles northeast of Hollywood into a community-focused performance space.
CoStar data reveals the investors paid San Francisco-based Cyrus Etemad just shy of $7 million for the landmark venue, roughly two years after he acquired it for $5.3 million.
Stewart, whose career spans the "Twilight" franchise to an Oscar-nominated performance as Princess Diana in 2022's "Spencer," has long moved between studio projects and independent films. Now, she is looking to blend cinema with social gatherings in a renovation of the historic site.
The Highland Theatre opened in 1925 as a vaudeville-era movie palace designed by architect Lewis Arthur Smith, later operating as a 465-seat triplex before closing in 2024, leaving behind an ornate mezzanine and stage.
In an interview with Architectural Digest, Stewart said the restoration will preserve those historic bones while introducing a modern social cinema concept aimed at reconnecting the building to Highland Park’s creative community and Los Angeles’ film culture.
The purchase places the Highland among a growing roster of legacy Southern California theaters trading hands as investors reposition historic entertainment properties.
This includes Quentin Tarantino’s revival of the Vista in Los Feliz; Netflix's renovation of the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood in 2023; and director Jason Reitman's purchase of the Village Theater in Westwood in 2024.