GM Goes to the Movies

Where once Camaros and Firebirds traveled the assembly line, the new 16-screen Mann Theatre opened in Van Nuys this January in an unorthodox setting indicative of the burgeoning consumerism and declining industry of L.A. Dan Selleck, born and raised in Van Nuys, was more than familiar with the site for his monstrous 68-acre commercial project known as “the Plant,” which Mann’s shares with, among others, a Home Depot, Babies R Us and Office Max. He and his brother, actor Tom, had lots of friends whose parents worked there in its former incarnation, the General Motors assembly plant that, over a 45-year history, churned out 6.3 million autos and, at its peak in 1979, busied 5,132 workers. Abandoned in 1992 and demolished in 1995, the plant “was such a huge part of the community, for so many years, it’s a nice thing to try to remember,” Dan Selleck says.

Mann followed suit, naming the theater “Plant 16.” Industrial architecture is the prevailing theme, Selleck says of the fortress-like melange of gray and green cinder blocks and brightly painted pipes, “and the signage ties in with automotive history. It’s subtle.”

Jeffrey Lewine, president of WestStar Cinemas, inherited the GM Plant project when he bought Mann Theatres in December 1997. His first thought was not, “Why in the world are we opening a theater on a forsaken industrial site?” He’d converted an Erie, Pa., warehouse into a movie house, and had witnessed condemned steel mills turned into successful commercial developments. Lewine was more knocked out by the Plant’s ampitheater-like stadium seating, though he concedes the idea’s “been around since 350 BC.” Would he consider such a project again? “I’m not a developer,” Lewine says. “I’m the guy you come to and say, ‘I just bought this uranium mine. Would you like to build a theater on it?’ ”