Bring Back the Balboa Theater: It's Time to Give This Village Icon a Future

Published October 19, 2026

Exterior of the former Balboa Theater in Balboa Village. — Photo: Sewageboy / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

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NEWPORT BEACH | AROUND NEWPORT | OCTOBER 19, 2026

Right in the heart of Balboa Village, at 707 East Balboa Boulevard, sits a piece of Newport Beach history that deserves a second act.

The Balboa Theater.

If you’ve walked past it lately, you might not think much about what’s behind those old walls. But this building was once one of the places people came to for a night out in Newport Beach.

And it could be again.

On October 23, 2026, the theater was sold to a local private real-estate investor. The buyer’s representative has publicly announced plans for an elevated restoration while retaining theatrical, cultural, event-related or performing-arts uses. The sale includes a deed restriction requiring those uses, although ancillary commercial uses are allowed.

BACK WHEN BALBOA HAD ITS OWN MOVIE THEATER

The theater first opened in 1928 as the Ritz Theater, back when the Peninsula was becoming a destination for entertainment, dancing and days by the ocean.

In 1939, it became the Balboa Theater.

Over the decades, the building saw just about everything: live entertainment, Hollywood movies, classic film revivals and even the midnight crowds for The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

It wasn’t always glamorous. The theater went through some unusual chapters, including years as an adult movie house, before eventually closing in the early 1990s.

But whatever was playing inside, the building was part of Balboa’s identity. And that identity is worth preserving.

YEARS OF PLANS, BUT STILL NO CURTAIN CALL

There have been plenty of efforts to bring the Balboa Theater back.

Newport Beach acquired the property decades ago, and a nonprofit organization spent years working toward a performing arts venue. Those plans eventually stalled, largely because of the money needed to renovate the aging building.

In 2016, the city sold the property to LAB Holding, the company associated with The LAB and The CAMP in Costa Mesa.

The vision was exciting: bring the theater back as a place for live music, performances and community events.

In April 2022, Newport Beach approved revised renovation plans calling for an open-air performance space, a restored exterior, a recreated historic marquee and a café.

It sounded like the kind of project Balboa Village could really use. But plans and approvals aren’t the same thing as opening the doors.

More than three decades after the theater went dark, the community is still waiting to see it come back to life.

Now, however, the property has a new owner and a publicly announced restoration commitment. The buyer has not been identified, and no reopening date was announced in the public announcement.

IMAGINE WHAT THIS COULD MEAN FOR BALBOA VILLAGE

Think about it.

A Friday night concert. A small comedy show. Classic movie nights. Local bands. Children’s theater. Community performances.

People coming down to Balboa for something other than the beach.

Maybe they grab dinner at a nearby restaurant, stop at a local shop, or spend some time walking through the Village before a show.

That’s the opportunity here.

The Catalina Flyer, Balboa Pavilion, Fun Zone and nearby businesses already make this waterfront special. Bringing back the theater could give people another reason to visit, especially in the evenings and outside the busy summer season.

It wouldn’t solve every challenge facing Balboa Village. A successful venue would still need a realistic business plan, responsible management, and solutions for parking, noise and neighborhood impacts.

But an active theater could be something Balboa hasn’t had in a very long time: a year-round cultural gathering place.

SO WHAT’S HOLDING IT UP?

That’s still a question worth asking, even with the change in ownership.

The building is nearly 100 years old. Renovation is expensive, modern safety requirements are substantial, and previous restoration attempts struggled to find enough funding.

Those aren’t small obstacles.

But the 2022 approval shows that a possible future for the theater has already been put on paper. And the new owner’s representative has now said the buyer’s goal is to restore the building as a theater.

The public announcement did not provide a reopening timeline or explain whether the previously approved plan will move forward unchanged. Those details remain important as the new owner begins work.

Those are fair questions for the property owner and the city to answer.

BALBOA DESERVES ITS THEATER BACK

There’s a difference between preserving the outside of an old building and bringing it back into the life of a neighborhood.

Balboa Village has plenty of history. What it needs is more ways for that history to become part of its future.

The Balboa Theater doesn’t have to return exactly as it was in 1928.

It just needs an opportunity to become something special again.

Nearly a century after it first opened, a new owner says that opportunity now includes an elevated restoration and a future centered on theatrical, cultural, event-related or performing-arts uses.

Did we miss anything? Do you remember seeing a movie at the old Balboa Theater? What would you like to see there if it reopened? We’d love to hear your memories and ideas.

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