New owner to upgrade Vinegar Hill

The curtains are closing on Charlottesville’s Vinegar Hill Theatre, but only temporarily as a new owner takes over.

Adam Greenbaum, owner of Staunton’s Visulite Cinemas, said a deal to purchase the art house was finalized in the past few weeks.

“It’s a great theater and it’s kind of a Charlottesville institution,” Greenbaum said. He also owns a similar venue in Staunton that opened in 2006.

Ann Porotti and her then-husband, Chief Gordon, founded the Vinegar Hill Theatre in 1976. Porotti could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

After this evening’s showing of Bill Maher’s “Religulous,” theater manager Hain Laramore said, the establishment will go through a “transitional phase” before opening back up Nov. 14.

The West Market Street theater, known for showing independent and foreign films, also will host events this weekend for the Virginia Film Festival. David Wyatt, Porotti’s husband, said that the theater then will go through a technical upgrade, including the installation of a new projection system.

Greenbaum said the theater will reopen with a showing of “Rachel Getting Married” and keep the atmosphere it has cultivated during the last three decades.

“We’re definitely going to keep it in that same vein,” he said.

Though he would not comment on the financial aspects of the deal, Greenbaum said he has not heard of any monetary struggles with the theater. Rather, Greenbaum said, his main competition is going to be from neighboring chain theaters such as Regal Cinemas, which has a Downtown Mall location.

Although some upgrades are being made, Greenbaum said, they won’t be the last.

“Over time we really would like to make some more significant upgrades and bring it to the comfort level that I really think would be great for Charlottesville,” he said.