City of Santa Clarita officials held a groundbreaking ceremony for the future Laemmle Theater location that is scheduled to open at the end of 2019.

Dozens of Santa Clarita community members came out to the corner of Lyons and Railroad Avenues in Newhall to take part in the customary gold shovel ceremony that officially kicked off the construction project for the “Laemmle Newhall 7.”

Mayor Laurene Weste was joined by other Santa Clarita City Council members and staff to help celebrate the launching of the Laemmle construction project.

“This is really a historic day for Old Town Newhall … and the entertainment district in our city, and we’re very proud to finally get here,” said Weste. “Today’s groundbreaking will mark the start of a final project that began on this corner lot which is apart of the redevelopment area.”

Weste took a moment to recognize City Manager Ken Striplin, as well as the other city council members who worked to bring the Laemmle Theater project to Newhall.

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Greg Laemmle, president of Laemmle Theaters, opened the event and gave the audience a little backstory of the family-owned movie house company.

“It is my honor and pleasure to be here today as we celebrate the groundbreaking for our next movie theater, the ‘Laemmle Newhall 7,’” said Laemmle. “When my grandfather Max Laemmle and his brother Kirk started the business with two leased location in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, I don’t think they could have imagined that we would be here today, 80 years and three generations later.”

Laemmle went on to say that the multimillion dollar construction project is the culmination of decades of work by his family, who have worked to become the premiere “exhibitor of foreign and art cinema” in Southern California.

The Laemmle Newhall 7 theater is a part of the Old Town Newhall Specific Plan, which began in 2015. The construction of the Laemmle Theater fulfills the city planner’s promise to bring Santa Clarita Valley residents increased access to foreign and art cinema.

The downtown Newhall mixed-use project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019.

For more information about all the new amenities coming to the area, including more on what the Laemmle Theater plans to bring to Santa Clarita, visit the project’s website here.

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