May 25, 2004

• I saw The Empire Strikes Back when it was first released at the Arlington with my dad, still one of the highlights of my childhood. A better view of the front is here, what they neglect to mention in the article is that not only does it look like a Spanish village courtyard inside the theater, but the roof is painted dark blue and its tiny lights resemble a starry night sky. Magical.
• While I have no wonderful stories to go along with the glorious Lincoln Theater in Mt. Vernon, Washington (a mere 20 minutes from my house) I can tell you that the wonderful thing about this theater is it shows independant and foreign films, exclusively. As well as spoken word, lectures, live theatre, music. This all translates into older audience attendance (a luxury to my mind). At the beginning of any show someone comes up to play the Wurlitzer for 15-20 minutes and then we get updated on any current information concerning the theater. Plus they serve gourmet coffee, fresh-baked goods and REAL popcorn with REAL butter. Members get discounts to all the shows. Going to the Lincoln always means a great evening. Can you tell I like this place?
• My first kiss was here at the movie Misery. It was a Sunday afternoon and my dear 9th grade boyfriend had to beg our way in because it was rated R. The theater (a one screen establishment) was later a second-run theater and then after that almost torn down. It is now owned by a local theater/music organization. This theater was the closest source of non-mainstream movies growing up. I remember watching most of the audience walk out of My Own Private Idaho once the gay kicked into the story.
• Great post. Before I moved to the 'burbs, I lived just down the street from this beauty. One day I hope to receive a kiss.
• I saw Secretary and Brotherhood of the Wolf at the Del Mar in Santa Cruz. Beautiful revamped theater. Smashmouth made one of their videos there, I think.
• I miss the Uptown theatre. It had a huge brass escalator, and a stage in front of the main screen, so when you sat in the front row, you didn't need to crane your neck.
• Peculiar story? Kind of. You know the Variety, from the Taxi driver? The pornographic one? Yeah. I used to usher there. They changed it into a legit off-Broadway theatre sometime during the eighties, though, so it's not nearly as impressive as it sounds.
• And that should be Taxi Driver. I should stop typing without reading what I type.
• This is a fantastic post, Diz. I have no particularly interesting stories, but this has me thinking back to all of the old, great theaters I saw movies in when I was a kid. They all had the same charm: patterned carpeting, blood-red seats that swallowed you whole when you sat in them, actual curtains in front of the screen that pulled back when the projector began to roll. Real butter on your popcorn. I'd never gotten to see a movie from an actual balcony until last year, though, at the Malco Theater in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was for the annual Documentary Film Fest, one of the best film experiences I've ever had.
• My local in the UK used to be the Duke of Yorks in Brighton; I lived five minutes walk away. If you arrived a little bit early you could buy a hot chocolate and a small cake before you went in. (For some reason preview is stripping my hrefs ...)
• This historic theater in Birmingham, Alabama is where I saw Grease. Each year they have a summer film series (select July on the schedule) and the Mighty Wurlitzer organ plays before the show. Concessions are CHEAP, too.
• I remember at age 12 seeing the Battlestar Galactica movie in Manila (Philippines). The theater was huge -- it had ushers with flashlights, balconies, the works. However I went to their snack bar to get popcorn & soda only to find they wouldn't allow it in the theater! Missed five minutes of Lorne Green and Cylon action, dammit, while I scarfed what I could.