The Mainzer Theater

My grandparents spent 3 years renovating The Strand Theater in Merced, CA. My grandfather, Hans Mainz, lead the construction and architecture and my Grammy, Brenda Farley, ran the day to day business operations. They named it The Mainzer-Strand Theater, more commonly known as The Mainzer. In 1999 they opened the doors. Connected to the building was the best breakfast place in the world, the Cinema Cafe, where I would eat at every morning. Outside the theater my Poppy Hans grew banana trees. Inside the theater was a German deli and cafe plus concessions stand adorned with green and gold paint, local artists' paintings, and old Hollywood star portraits filled the walls. Down the hall had two movie theaters on either side. They mostly showed indie and foreign films here although my Poppy swung for Fast & The Furious because he loved cars and Grammy got "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" when it came out. Past the theaters was a concert hall and bar for live music, theater, and comedy shows. Some big names played here like Tech N9ne but it mostly was a home to small local and traveling bands. My mother and Aunt bartended and my little cousin Austin and I would occasionally handle the concessions for fun. It was also very haunted. The most memorable part of The Mainzer though was the community of local 20 something year old artists that became family. They worked with us and some even lived with us. This place was a home to misfit kids. Even when they thought they couldn't keep it going they handed the keys to one of those misfit kids to try. Sadly, my grandparents had to file for bankruptcy and the theater closed its doors in 2006. It wasn't for a lack of love and effort from all involved. In 2004 the Art Deco Society of California gave The Mainzer a "Historic Preservation" award for their renovations. The memories of what my grandparents and those young misfits did here live on even with the corporate take over of the building by the Hyatt in 2017. They kept the name but they wont even pronounce it right. Poppy's banana trees were ripped down and the Cinema Cafe was replaced with a game room. But the ghosts will always be there along with the moments that became core memories for so many.

The Strand Theater was constructed in the 1920's. In the the 30's there was a fire that destroyed a large portion of the theater.

All of our pictures and videos of our time at The Mainzer was lost to a fire at my Grandparents' trailer home after leaving the theater and moving back to Santa Barbara. All of these pictures have been found online. I was lucky enough to stumble upon some youtube videos (below) that show the interior of the building we called home. I do not own the rights to these videos they are simply the only remnants of this era of our family's story I could find. The video opens with Grammy interrupting a punk show to scold someone in the crowd LOL. Then features a band talking to Grammy and Grammy recommending the movie "The Secret Window", while my little cousin Austin is next to her flipping his hat in the air. I included some extra footage that shows the marquee and the inside of the cafe. So cool to find this when I thought everything was lost.