In this newsletter:

• Feature: Cinerama drama
• The robot with cat ears that can serve you restaurant food
• Fifty years of crisis for LA’s jails
• A new documentary on Eastside comic Marc Maron

Cinerama Fan Revisits LA’s Coolest Movie Theater
By Steve Chiotakis

The first time I came to LA 25 years ago, I had a week, a rental car, and a job interview that didn't take up too much of my time. The folks at the company wanted me to 'see' Los Angeles in all its geographically-blessed-yet-gritty glory. To say I put some miles on that Nissan would be an understatement. And one of the first places I went was Hollywood. Because... of course.

Showbiz! Stars! Paparazzi! Theaters! When you're coming from middle America, you're not thinking of Hollywood as just a part of town, but as a destination — "Hooray for Hollywood!" And there, I laid my eye on it for the first time, in all its geodesic glory — the Cinerama Dome. From afar, it looked like the surface of the moon. Three hundred and sixteen concrete panels locked into one another. But close up, and inside, it was a 1963 mid-century modern marvel.

Even though I didn't see a movie that day, I felt like I was a part of history by going inside and checking things out: curved ramps, velour curtains, the smell of naugahyde and popcorn. I was mesmerized.

Over all the years I've lived in LA, the Cinerama Dome has become my favorite, along with its neighbor, the Arclight Hollywood. It's where I learned that seats at movie theaters could be reserved, just like at the Pantages or Orpheum. I learned that a whole lot of Angelenos stay for the credits, for obvious reasons. I learned that cinema is a way of life here in Tinseltown, as opposed to a place that just shows the movies. And that a curved 126º screen really does immerse you in the action.

I learned that geodesic really is a word. (Hey, I didn’t know!)

And in more recent history, I learned that plywood boards, the ones that stop you from entering, stink.

The Cinerama Dome has been closed since the pandemic shut a lot of things down in 2020. The company that owns it, Decurion, filed for bankruptcy and closed the rest of the theaters it owns. I know there are a lot of folks who want the Cinerama Dome to reopen, and soon. I talked to one of them recently, a man who gathered tens of thousands of signatures in a petition.

Behind those pieces of plywood is LA history, and if the developers, permit-granters, and cinematic gods one day align, I’ll see you at the movies. The popcorn awaits.

Got any stories to tell about the Cinerama Dome? Share them with us here.

In The Neighborhood

• KCRW’s Megan Jamerson follows a robot salesman to Santa Ana where he shows a hotel manager how his floor-cleaning robot can do a human's job. Local employers are asking, "Do I need to keep paying these workers?"
• In the 1970s, a judge ordered LA County to fix its “constitutionally intolerable” jails. Fifty years later, the state of California filed a lawsuit demanding essentially the same thing. On Press Play, Madeleine Brand discussed jail conditions with Max Huntsman, inspector general for L.A. County, where he leads independent civilian oversight into the Sheriff’s Department and the Probation Department.
• Comedian Marc Maron is known for going deep on his WTF with Marc Maron podcast, which wrapped after 16 years in October. In the documentary Are We Good?, director Steve Feinartz turns the spotlight on Maron himself as he navigates life after the sudden death of his partner. All Things Considered host Steve Chiotakis sat down with Feinartz to talk grief and filmmaking.
  

Local Meme of the Week

KCRW's Local Letterbox

• 5 Things to Do This Week — Get into the spirit of the holidays with LA Zoo Lights Alglow. Plus, head out to Palm Springs Food & Wine Fest for a feast for the senses.

• Art Insider with Carolina Miranda — A woman becomes a mountain in surreal drawings at ICA LA. Sandra Vásquez de la Horra’s solo show is a paean to bodies — human, environmental, political.
  
• Design & Architecture with Frances Anderton — Could a Santa Monica traffic median become a park, and other ideas for "porch-like" spaces in the beach city...

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