1929 – The Sequoia Theater is built and opened on 21 February, 1929 as a single screen 1200 seat cinema by Blumenfeld Theaters of San Francisco. In these early days, in addition to silent films and ‘talkies’, it featured vaudeville style acts, hosted the Marin Light Opera Company and beauty contests, live musical entertainment was played between shows on a Wurlitzer organ. 

FUN FACTS:

The opening night feature was The Kid’s Clever, accompanied by a newsreel.

A Mill valley school boy named Ralph Kliewe, whose family were the innkeepers at West Point Inn,  won a contest to name the theater with deference to a historic or other feature distinctly typical of Marin County. His prize was a year of free admission to watch movies at the Sequoia. 

Elise Smith grew up on Walnut Avenue in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and remembers:

“Before the war, the Sequoia Theater hired only boys to work as ushers. During the war they hired usherettes, and a lot of girls applied. You had to be able to work weekends, matinees and evenings, and ‘close up’ every third night… that meant that you worked until the theater closed for the night. You took turns working the matinees and you got to leave school early to work on Tuesdays. They hired three girls, and I was thrilled when they picked me as one of the three. I worked there during my Junior and Senior years at Tamalpais High School. My paycheck for the last week that I worked there was dated January 18, 1944. I had worked a total of 26-½ hours. I took home the grand total of $14.18 for the week. The teenage boys who worked there as marquee letter- changers and ticket takers were part of a group of friends which we socialized with. In a way it seemed like a small family group. Although we all came from different family situations and backgrounds, we all were brought closer together by our association at the Sequoia Theater.”

1975 – The Sequoia is “twinned”, creating two exhibition auditoriums, lobby and facade updated according to aesthetics of the time.

1976 – Pacific Theater Corp. of Los Angeles takes over operation of the Sequoia.

1978 – The Sequoia is host to film screenings during the first Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF).

FUN FACT:  A midnight screening of Woodstock was the first MVFF film to play at the Sequoia!

1999 – The Sequoia gets another remodel – at this time some of the original architectural details were uncovered and restored. The facade is given a refresh and the marquee replaced with one fashioned after the 1929 original.

2001 – Pacific sells its Marin division to Cinemark who operate the Sequoia as a CinéArts venue, specializing in art, independent and foreign language films.

2004 – A section of roof collapses during an August afternoon matinee of Garden State.

2008 – A group of like minded film enthusiasts and local culture preservationists purchase the building from the heirs of original owners, Blumenfeld Theaters. Ownership is now held  by the California Film Institute (CAFILM), the non profit arts organization that produces the Mill Valley Film Festival. CAFILM also owns and operates the historic Christoper B. Smith Film Center in San Rafael. At this time, the Sequoia is still under operation and management by Cinemark/CinéArts.

2023 – The Cinemark/CinéArts lease expires in late 2023.

2024 – CAFILM assumes operation and management of the Sequoia Cinema – film screenings resume on 20 May.