Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre is still alive thanks to one man’s stubborn love
The Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland turns 100 this week, which feels like a minor miracle in the era of streaming and multiplex chains.
The real reason the ornate 2,000-seat movie palace still exists is simple: owner Allen Michaan fell hopelessly in love with the place decades ago and has spent nearly half a century pouring money, time, and stubborn energy into keeping it alive.
The Grand Lake, which turns 100 years old Friday, has been cast as a survival story. Michaan as a leaseholder has pumped money into the building for nearly half a century, fending off competition including predatory multiplex owners, the popularity of the VCR and now streaming services.
But in the Grand Lake stories I’ve written over the years, I’ve come to see it as a romance. A man fell in crazy, stupid love with a building that just happens to show movies. And we’re all benefiting from his madness.
Sometimes, the only thing standing between a historic theater and the wrecking ball is one person who refuses to let the lights go out.