C6 THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2021
Varsity/Mishka’s: A great combo A historic cinema By Caleb Hampton Enterprise staff writer The Davis Varsity Theatre is Davis’ oldest cinema and one of the town’s most iconic cultural landmarks. The original Varsity Theatre was built in 1921 on the site of a blacksmith shop. In 1949, the theater changed ownership and location, reopening the following year in a newly constructed Art Deco building on Second Street, which houses the cinema to this day. The theater was designed in a Streamline Moderne style by William B. David, one of the most prolific theater architects of 20th century California. (David previously worked as a set designer for famed media mogul William Randolph Hearst.) In addition to the Varsity, David designed Sacramento’s Tower Theatre, Woodland’s State Theatre and many others. During its eight decades on Second St., the Varsity has lived several lives. In 1990, with the
LEFT: The classic Varsity exterior is a mainstay in downtown Davis. BELOW LEFT: The Varsity offers traditional movie treats. BELOW: Guests can also grab the unconventional but tasty treat from Mishka’s. Crystal Vagnier/ Enterprise photos
demands of mainstream film distribution outstripping the theater’s capacity, the Davis City Council gave Signature Theatres, which owned the Varsity, permission to build two new movie theaters in Davis. No longer
needing it, Signature stopped screening movies at the Varsity that year. To save the historic venue — there was a proposal to demolish it and redevelop the site as office buildings — the city leased the building and reopened it in 1992 as a community theater and performing arts center. It served in that capacity for 14 years, during which time the city acquired the building. The theater provided a venue for musicals and other performances, but it stayed dark on many nights. By the early 2000s, the City Council began searching for opportunities to put it to better use. It received several proposals, but only one group offered to put their own money into the theater. In 2005, the City leased the building to Sinisa Novakovic and Jon Fenske. Today, Novakovic runs the Varsity as an art house cinema, screening independent and foreign films that otherwise would never be
brought to Davis. The theater has maintained its connection with its landlord, the City of Davis, hosting annual community events like the UC Davis film festival and Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration. Novakovic, a UC Davis alumnus who came to California from his native former Yugoslavia in the 1980s, added to the Varsity’s attractions by opening a gelato shop called Icekrimski in a storefront attached to the theater. The owner’s run at the Varsity hasn’t been without its trials. Turning any kind of profit running a one-screen independent cinema was seen as “essentially impossible,” Novakovic said. The Varsity beat the odds and was rewarded in 2010 — per a deal with the city — with a second screen. It has continued to just about stay afloat, which is
good enough for Novakovic, whose ownership of the theater seems to be as much a passion project as a business venture. “I’m perfectly happy,” said Novakovic, who did his graduate studies in microbiology and described himself as someone who always has a bunch of side projects going on. Aside from the Varsity and his other downtown business, Mishka’s Café, Novakovic’s streams of income include “wheeling and dealing in antique fountain pens,” he told The Enterprise. Like every cinema in the country, the Varsity shut down in March 2020 due to the pandemic. With the theater bringing in no revenue, Novakovic informed the City he would be left with no choice but to terminate his lease. In August of that year, the City Council voted to forgive the $5,500 monthly rent on the theater for the duration of the city’s restrictions on business operations during the pandemic plus an additional three months, which will be up on Sept. 15. In total, it has cost the City close to $100,000, which would
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