The Historic Orinda Theater reopened to much fanfare in 1989 after a prolonged community battle to preserve the theater and the adjacent 1950's American Trust Bank Building. The theater was carefully restored in its Art Deco decor by a team of fine arts conservators and artisans.

in April of 1996, two additional auditoriums with classic movie palace themes were added to the Orinda Theater by constructing them inside the adjacent bank building enabling the original movie palace to remain unaltered.

Murals salvaged from the Garden Theater in San Jose were restored and utilized in the new addition. The Garden Theater was designed by Anthony Heinsbergen, the same architect that designed the Orinda Theater.