Poor bougie Santa Monica, lagging in fancy movie theaters all these years behind El Segundo and Hollywood, how awful. NO MORE, they've said. The new theater going into the Santa Monica Place mall—the first theater built in the city in more than 20 years and its first modern multiplex—will be an ArcLight Cinemas. They plan to open 14 screens, plus a cafe and lounge with a full bar, on the third floor of the mall, above Bloomingdale's, in spring 2015. According to a press release, Santa Monica will be getting all the good ArcLight stuff, "including all reserved seating, a commercial-free environment, unique programming and black box auditoriums with extra-wide stadium seats and state-of-the-art sight and sound." The multiplex will replace the little-used L3 event space, and will require a 29-foot-tall addition, none of which has been approved yet. Movie theaters are only allowed in downtown in Santa Monica, and there's an overall seat cap; officials have been looking for a new theater for about a decade.
· Santa Monica Place Could Get SaMo's First Modern Multiplex [Curbed LA]
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