Getting Around the Jack London Regal Oakland Situation
What Jack London Regal Oakland Actually Is
The Regal theatre at Jack London Square in Oakland sits at 2200 Powell Street, right near the BART station and the ferry terminal. It closed permanently in early 2021 alongside a lot of other AMC and Regal locations nationwide when the pandemic hit. The building itself still exists, but it's been empty for a while now. Oakland has been trying to find a buyer or a new tenant for the space, and there have been a few proposals floated over the last couple of years, but nothing has actually materialized into a reopening yet. If you're seeing references to this place online, some of them are outdated. I've had people ask me about this theater a few times over the years. Mostly they want to know how to get tickets or whether it's still open. The answer is no, it's not open. The closest operating Regal location now is the one in San Leandro at the Bayfair Center, which is about a 20-minute drive depending on traffic through the tunnel. If you need a closer option, there's the Castro Valley theater or the one in Emeryville at the Shoreline Center. All of those are viable. One thing that trips people up: the Jack London area itself is still very much active, just without the theatre. There's a Whole Foods, some restaurants that survived the pandemic, and the public square by the water. If you were planning a trip there specifically for the movies, that's not going to work. You'd need to adjust your plans.
I ran into a specific problem last year when someone asked me to help them figure out the exact address for a meeting near the old theatre. They had an old business card with the Regal address on it and assumed the surrounding businesses had kept the same numbering. They hadn't. The Powell Street corridor got reorganized a bit after the closure, and a few of the restaurants there changed their door numbers or moved. I ended up calling the Jack London Square office directly just to confirm which units were still occupied and what their current addresses were. It took about ten minutes. Worth doing if you're navigating based on outdated information.
Parking and Transit If You're Going Anyway
If you're driving up from the East Bay toward Jack London Square, you're probably coming through the MacArthur oroe Tunnel. That tunnel gets congested around 5 PM on weekdays. Not negotiable. If you have flexibility, going midday or after 7 PM saves you roughly 20 to 30 minutes of delay. During the pandemic, traffic patterns shifted and some people stopped commuting through the tunnel altogether, but that's mostly normalized again. Parking near Jack London Square runs about $2 to $3 per hour in the public lots off Webster Street, and some of the Garbarino-owned lots charge flat rates on event days. There's a structure behind the old Regal building that sometimes opens for events. It's unpredictable. I usually tell people to park at the BART structure on Harrison Street instead. It's $2.50 for the first three hours and then $1.50 per hour after that, which works out cheaper if you're staying more than four hours. Plus you can walk to the square in about six minutes. The ferry from San Francisco docks right nearby at Pier 40, which is about a block from the square. That's a decent alternative if you're coming from the Peninsula and want to avoid the bridge traffic. It runs every hour during the day and gets crowded on weekends. Not a dealbreaker, just something to plan around.
Get the Full Details
What's in the Building Now
The former Regal building at 2200 Powell has sat vacant since the closure. There have been rumors about converting it into mixed-use space, possibly retail or light commercial. Oakland's planning department has had applications on file, but I haven't seen any groundbreaking announcements. The building's exterior has been reasonably maintained, but the interior has been stripped. No equipment remains from the theatre run. If you're curious about what's inside, there isn't much to see from the outside — the windows are dark and the doors are secured. I mentioned this to a colleague who works in commercial real estate in Oakland, and he said the main issue has been the lease structure. The previous tenant had a long-term deal with favorable terms that made it hard for the landlord to attract a replacement at market rate. By the time the lease expired, the market had shifted so much that finding a tenant willing to take on a single-purpose theatre shell in a struggling downtown area was basically impossible. That's a common pattern across the Bay Area right now. Empty retail and entertainment spaces everywhere, landlords stuck between holding out for pre-pandemic rents and needing to fill vacancies.
If You Need an Oakland Theatre Option
The Emeryville AMC is the most reliable backup. It's on the bus line 51 or 72 if you're coming from Oakland proper, and it's right off the 80 freeway if you're driving. Screenings run regularly, the IMAX is decent, and the parking garage is predictable pricing. The Castro Valley Cinemas is another option if you're coming from the southern East Bay — it's smaller but less crowded on weekdays. There's also the Fox Theater on Broadway in Oakland, which is a historic single-screen venue that shows second-run and indie films. It's managed by the Oakland Cultural Center, not a chain. The seating is fixed and the AC is old, but the screen quality is good and you're supporting a non-profit. Tickets are $12 to $15 for adults. I go there occasionally when I want something other than the usual blockbuster lineup. The bottom line is that the Regal at Jack London Square is gone, and there's no firm timeline for its return. If you were relying on it as your regular theatre, you'll need to pick a substitute and adjust your routine around it. The area itself is still worth visiting for food and the waterfront, just don't plan a movie night around a building that isn't screening films.
