ENCINITAS, Calif. — 2024 is a big year for KFMB TV.
On May 16, CBS 8 will celebrate our 75th Anniversary.
In this Zevely Zone, I headed to Encinitas to profile another longtime success story.
When you talk about the most iconic businesses in San Diego County, La Paloma Theater has to make the marquee. On February 11, 1928, La Paloma Theatre opened with the film "The Cohen's and Kelly's in Paris."
The gala event was attended by Hollywood starlet and soon-to-be Academy Award winner Mary Pickford.
Today, up in the projection booth at La Paloma Theater, Allen Largent is a one-man show.
"I've done this a few times. I wear a lot of hats," said Allen. "They say the restaurant business is tough, this is a tough business too."
Since La Paloma opened in 1928, stars like Bill Murray and Jane Fonda have visited along with musicians too. "He rang the doorbell and I came downstairs and I said wow this guy looks like Jackson Browne. He says, hello I'm Jackson Browne," said Allen.
Allen got the 'Box Office' bug when he worked as a projectionist here at 19 years old.
He then bought the theater for ten thousand dollars in 1992. "Yeah, it's a lost art," said Allen. Although many films are shown on 35-millimeter reel-to-reel, La Paloma also upgraded to a digital projector.
CBS 8 was San Diego's first television station in 1949, a full 21 years after La Paloma opened its doors. Something television stations and old theaters share in common is old equipment and relics, Charles found a pin of Charles Lindbergh from 1928 in the theater years ago.
Throughout the years, you never who would pop in and out of La Paloma.
In 1993, Pearl Jam was supposed to play here but the show got cancelled. "Within a few months Eddie called me, he was in Chicago and he just wanted to do something without the rest of the band," said Allen. "He's a local and he had some fondness for La Paloma and he just wanted to help I think, he didn't do it for the money."
Neither does Allen, who says keeping this old theater alive is a labor of love. "Well it's seven days a week, 365 days a year," said Allen. But he loves it. "Yeah, sometimes I wonder," he laughed.
In an age, when many movie theaters have 24 screens, La Paloma still only has one and proudly uses it to present the classics on holidays. "We play Princess Bride on Valentine's Day. We play Jaws over the Fourth of July and Die Hard on Christmas," said Allen.
The show just goes on and on and in four years, La Paloma will celebrate one hundred years in business. "We are grateful to the community and our partners in the community for helping us and supporting us," said Allen. "Enjoy the show at La Paloma Theater."
La Paloma in Spanish means 'The Dove'. It was one of the first theaters in the country to show talking movies or "Talkies" as they were called. For more information about the theater, click here.