Newport Beach Council OKs extended hours for alcohol at Port Theater

Sometimes it takes more than popcorn and hot dogs to pay the bills.

The owners of a Corona del Mar movie house have been granted permission to serve alcohol into the early morning to keep the Port Theater competitive and customers happy.

The Newport Beach City Council this week upheld a recommendation that the theater — an East Coast Highway landmark built in 1949 — be allowed to extend its hours for serving alcohol from 11 p.m. until 1 a.m.

The ruling clears the way for the theater to serve wine, beer, champagne and mixed drinks anywhere in the building, not just the balcony — which had been the only section where alcohol was permitted, open only to those 21 or older.

Still, not everyone is thrilled with the arrangement.

“We are being painted this picture that people need to be sipping wine while they’re watching the movie,” said Jim Mosher, a Newport Beach resident who said he had trouble with the idea.

“I don’t understand why a movie house has to serve alcohol at 1 a.m.,” added Nancy Gardner, the Newport council member who represents the area and pushed for overturning the Planning Commission’s recommendation.

Councilman Keith Curry described the theater as a “venue that’s provided tremendous value to the community” and should be given what it needs to survive — in this case, longer drinking hours.

The extended drinking hours apply only to movies, not the private events or public performances that also are staged at the theater.

Jessica Prause, a theater representative, said the nearby Island Cinema at Newport Center serves alcohol until the later hours and that, to remain competitive, the Corona del Mar theater needed to extend its hours as well. The Port Theater went dark for 14 years ending in 2012, when it reopened as a boutique cinema.

Resident Gary Sauter contended that the theater should not be trying to compete with the Island Cinema. The Port Theater is in a residential neighborhood and does not provide the buffer for noise that Newport Center does, he said.

Mayor Rush Hill noted that police can adjust the time constraints if problems arise. Councilwoman Leslie Daigle said that because the police have accepted the rules, she has too.

emily.foxhall@latimes.com