Cerrito Theater Creating a "Scene" on San Pablo Ave.

If you've passed by the Cerrito Theater lately, you've noticed a new sign and awning – which are especially striking at night – for a new wine bar/restaurant called "Scene."

The yet-to-open establishment is located in the same building as the theater and will operate as a separate business with its own entrance next to the entrance for theater patrons. It is owned by the company that owns the theater, Rialto Cinemas 

No opening date has been announced yet, said Melissa Hatheway, spokeswoman for the theater, known also as Rialto Cinemas Cerrito.

The sign and awning are on the building's façade. The black awning, above the wine bar/restaurant entrance, says, "Wine Bar, Pizzza, Small Bites."

Perched above the awning are five large black letters spelling the name of the wine bar, "S-C-E-N-E." They are positioned a few inches away from the wall, as if suspended in air.

The letters are more striking at night, when they are lit from the front and cast shadows spelling "SCENE" on outside wall of the theater.

Another new sign and awning have gone up also on the front of the theater on the other side of the ticket booth advertising the food and drink options that have long been available at the theater's concession counter.

This sign says, "WATCH EAT ENJOY" in orange letters that also stand out from the wall. Below this sign is another black awning saying, "Pizza, Beer, Wine, Popcorn, Treats, Flicks."

The two signs, with aluminum letters more than a foot high, and the awnings won a year ago.

At that time, Rialto Cinemas proprietor Ky Boyd and designer Michael Burch, of the Santa Rosa-based ScottAG design firm, said the signs are consistent with the history of the theater building, whose retail spaces were once occupied by a beauty parlor and ice cream shop, along with a striped awning.

Burch said dramatic lighting of "Scene" – with a small spotlight on each letter – would create a "film noir effect" and that it would not only establish the presence of the bar/restaurant as a separate business but also to tie it to the theater, including the reference to film in the name "Scene."

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