Long Beach’s only former movie theater, once shuttered and reopened after Superstorm Sandy, is being transformed into a Chipotle Mexican Grill.
The struggling Long Beach Cinemas, which has been closed since 2023, will be transformed into the fast casual chain Mexican restaurant, city officials confirmed.
New signage was posted outside the former movie theater Wednesday, at the corner of Long Beach Boulevard and Park Avenue, just over the Long Beach bridge. There is no scheduled opening date for the new Chipotle, which joins other franchises in Oceanside, Merrick, Lawrence and Valley Stream.
The movie theater is being transformed after several failed attempts, including flooding from Sandy 13 years ago and a two-year closure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The four-screen movie theater was rehabilitated and first reopened in 2015, three years after floodwaters from Sandy inundated the theater, damaging seats, carpets and movie screens.
The independent theater closed again during the pandemic and the owners for 20 years, from the Manhattan-based real estate firm Philips International, resisted selling to a larger movie chain after Sandy.
The theater shuttered again in 2020 during the pandemic and didn’t reopen again for two years. Despite a new grand opening, the theater closed permanently a year later.
In its absence, Long Beach moviegoers have had to travel to Lynbrook or Rockville Centre to see movies on the big screen.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.