Big changes at Crest Theatre as Sid Garcia-Heberger says she's leaving the historic moviehouse

Arenas, mermaids, 24-hour gyms–there’s a lot of new on K Street these days.

Unfortunately for fans of local arts, events and cinema, a little bit of K Street history will be leaving in the coming months.

Sid Garcia-Herberger, who’s booked films and performances at the Crest for the past 28 years, told SN&R today that she will be leaving the iconic moviehouse later this year.

She and new Crest Theater owner Bob Emerick, who purchased the iconic moviehouse in 2011, couldn’t come to terms on a new lease agreement.

“This is certainly not the outcome we wanted,” said Garcia-Heberger, who operates the Crest with her husband and others. Their last day will be October 31.

Garcia-Heberger made the Crest accessible to local artists, musicians, comedians, performers and more over the decades. Sure, she booked classic films and put on big concerts. But it was events like Trash Film Orgy, the French Film Festival and others that established a strong connection between the Crest under her leadership and the Sacto arts scene. In recent years, however, the Crest stopped showing movies on most days.

SN&R tried to contact Emerick to discuss the future of those kind of events and art house movies at the Crest, but he didn’t return a text message in time for this blog post (his voicemail inbox was full).

In 2011, Emerick told the Sacramento Press that he’d like to see marquee events be a staple of the Crest for years to come.

The theater once housed two smaller movie theaters in its lower levels. Those will soon become Empress Tavern, a new restuarant from the owners at neighboring restaurant Mother.

(Crest Theatre marquee photo by Tony Sheppard, courtesy Wiki Commons.)

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