New Signs for Cerrito Theater Win Thumbs Up

A major change in the façade of the Cerrito Theater — more than a foot high that will be lit at night — won easy approval from the El Cerrito Design Review Board Wednesday night.

The theater operator, Rialto Cinemas, wants to open a wine bar and restaurant called "Scene" in an empty retail space next to the theater's ticket booth on San Pablo Avenue. A dramatically lit sign in black aluminum letters saying "Scene" would be mounted on a canopy or awning on the front of the building over the bar/restaurant.

Over another currently unused retail space on the other side of the ticket booth, on the north side of the theater building, another sign in lit orange letters would say "Watch Eat Enjoy" to promote the food and drink menu available to movie-goers.

Much of the design board's discussion focused on the "Watch Eat Enjoy" color, an orange that Rialto Theaters wants to use because it matches their brand color, and on the lighting of the two signs.

The “Watch Eat Enjoy” sign will be lit by a fluorescent tube just below the letters, while “Scene” will be illuminated with flood lamps at the base of each letter that will cast shadows of the letters onto the building façade. (See attached mock-up.)

Three people spoke during the public comment session, none in opposition and all from the Friends of the Cerrito Theater, a volunteer group that mobilized an extraordinary community fundraising and lobbying campaign that the led to the theater's successful resurrection in 2006 after being closed and largely forgotten for 40 years.

The group's president, Dave Weinstein, said, "What I've seen so far looks very good to me. ... It doesn't look to me like it's going to interfere with the integrity of the building or the historical character."

Rialto 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.

"I think they (the Rialto's proposed signs on awnings) are in keeping with what's historically been done," Boyd said.

Burch said the dramatic lighting of "Scene" is meant not only to establish the presence and identity of the restaurant/bar as a separate business but also to tie it to the theater.

"We love this sort of film noir effect this creates," he said of the small spotlight on each letter that will cast a shadow of the letter on the building. "The lighting is intentional and it's very much tied to the identity of the theater."

The name "Scene" also is meant as a reference to film, Burch said.

With three of five Design Review Board members present, members Cassandra Adams, Maggie Leighly and Glenn Wood all voted to approve the design proposal subject to the condition that Rialto strive to harmonize the lighting scheme with the existing lighting of the theater's marquee and neon "Cerrito" sign.

They also suggested that the orange of the "Watch Eat Enjoy" sign be of a more subdued, warmer hue that blends in more with the theater's existing color theme.

Boyd and Burch also described some details of how Scene will look from the street, saying that those looking through the front windows of the new wine bar/restaurant will be able to see the deep red back wall and illuminated wine rack. An outside light will create a pool of light on the sidewalk. The windows will have shutters to block the afternoon sun.