The Arlington Theatre is the largest movie theater and principal performing arts venue in Santa Barbara, California, United States. In addition to regular screenings and artists, it is home to many events associated with the annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.HistoryLocated at 1317 State Street, the Arlington was built in 1931 on the former site of the Arlington Hotel, which was destroyed following the 1925 earthquake. The current structure was erected in 1930 as a showcase movie house for Fox West Coast Theaters. It was restored and expanded in the mid-1970s by Metropolitan Theaters Corporation. It opened in its current incarnation in 1976.ArchitectureThe Arlington was designed in the Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles in a period when Santa Barbara was being rebuilt in that style following a powerful earthquake in 1925. The exterior has a Mission Revival steeple that ends in an art deco finial.The red tiled building features a covered courtyard with fountain and a free-standing ticket booth.The interior is elaborately decorated. The ceilings of the lobbies are heavily beamed and painted. The auditorium itself seats 2,000 on the main floor and balcony.
