Pontiac’s Little Art Theatre

Downtown Pontiac’s Saginaw Street is full of grand old buildings, but few have a second act as charming as the PLAT. Pontiac’s Little Art Theatre lives inside an 1868 building — originally a dry-goods store called the TURK building — reborn as a tiny, all-purpose arts venue: part independent movie theater showing classic and contemporary films, part live-performance room for music, comedy, and local premieres, part intimate event space. It seats only around 72 (up to 130 for a show), which is exactly the point — everything here feels close-up and personal, the opposite of a multiplex. It’s woman-owned, run by Karen Jorgensen, who kept the dream going after co-founder Robert Karazim’s passing, and that labor-of-love energy is all over the place. Catch a themed film series, a local band, or just poke your head in during a First Friday art crawl — there’s a little café attached, too. On our list as one of the most genuinely lovable small venues in Pontiac — proof that a 150-year-old building still has plenty of show left in it.