What is the best movie theater in your Hometown, USA?

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Why?

Just curious.

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 13:33 (twenty years ago)

Hahaha! Are you jealous of the people who grew up in towns with more than one movie theater?

― The Ghost of Back In My Day, We Didn't Even Have The One (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 13:46 (twenty years ago)

The Student Life Theatre at Florida State. There's a decent selection of movies old and new, huge screen, great sound, and it's a really nice looking theatre, too. Very clean.

― Ian Riese-Moraine: a casualty of social estrangement. (Eastern Mantra), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 13:48 (twenty years ago)

there was only one. the strand theatre, paw paw. showed one movie a week. i used to skip confirmation classes and go to dollar night on mondays in high school. i am such a rebel.

― colette (a2lette), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

Any of the Alamo Drafthouse movie theaters is good, but the new one on South Lamar has better designed tables, service aisles, and stadium seating plus a better menu and more beers on tap. Also, more screens. So they get the nod.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

http://members.fortunecity.com/burzghash/rhps/media/marquee.jpg

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 14:12 (twenty years ago)

Also: The Woodhill Cinemark theater has great sound system + stadium seating, and costs less than most other theaters in town because it's in a "bad neighborhood". Hooray for yuppies being afraid of poor people.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 14:14 (twenty years ago)

Well, Studio 35 sells beer, and not that shitty swill but good microbrews & imports .. but their movies often don't appeal to me.

The Drexel shows great art films and has a great cafe attached that also serves beer, but a more limited selection. Still, it wins even though it's farther away, and people get all artsy-pretentious and self-righteous about being Drexel patrons..

― Draw Tipsy, ya hack. (dave225.3), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 14:16 (twenty years ago)

The Kentucky Theater is where they do the Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Show or whatever they call it, if any of youz radio-listenin' Americans know what that is.

They also serve beer (just domestics, but, hey, BEER) and show good flicks, and will give you refills on any size popcorn for $.25. Right now they're showing March of the Penguins and Murderball.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

Hahaha! Are you jealous of the people who grew up in towns with more than one movie theater?

Yes! Man, I was so excited when the theater showed up. Went EVERY Friday night from 7th-9th grade.

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 14:51 (twenty years ago)

Ok. I am trying to compile a list of sweet independent/art-house/just plain sweet movie theaters around the country. Please assist me!

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 15:46 (twenty years ago)

Were there only two screens? Did they show movies that came out six weeks before? Did First Blood II run for three months?

If so, I am familiar with that kind of theater, giboyeux.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 15:47 (twenty years ago)

Not my hometown, but the only American Small town I have spent an extended period of time in. I used to enjoy going to The Little Art Theater in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 15:56 (twenty years ago)

BEST smalltown movie theater I have ever been to - the Rio Theater, a theater in a quonset hut right on the banks of the Russian River in Monte Rio, CA.

http://www.riotheater.com/r2.jpg

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

Check the NorCal-style hotrod out in front too!

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

Oh that is wicked.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

are new yorkers allowed to answer this?

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:11 (twenty years ago)

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:11 (twenty years ago)

okay, go on then.

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:11 (twenty years ago)

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

fine. fine!

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

hmph. this isnt USA but i dont care, its still the best cinema in my (now) hometown:

http://cinematreasures.org/images/photos/1836.jpg

but this really is the best movie theatre (interior) in my real hometown:

http://www.timewarp.org.uk/reviews/rex03.jpg

― ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:14 (twenty years ago)

Ambrose, where are you from?

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

St Albans?

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

Either The Arlington (for movies where stuff blowed up)

http://www.quovadimus.org/sbarlington03/400/03-g1-022-003-santabarbaraarlingtontheater.jpg

or the Riviera (for movies with emotional center), which I can't find a picture of, but is also very cuet.

― The Original Jimmy Mod: A Negro (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

I'm reminded of Mugs and Movies, which obviously served beer and was a really neat place to watch mainstream films. That place ws pretty spiffy but like almost every small theatre in town it closed after the AMC 20 and the Governor's Square 12 opened in 1996. The only old ones that still remain are Movies 8 (which was expanded to include two more theatres but it still goes by 8 -- but it's a second-run theatre) and Miracle 5 (which used to show mainstream films before '96 and now it shows independent flicks galore -- it's not really a nice-looking theatre and the sound can be a bit dodgy, but they're cool enough that they supported the massive local demand for seeing Bubba Ho-Tep and managed to obtain one of the 20 copies of it in the country at that time and showed it for three weeks straight, and if I'm not mistaken almost every showing sold-out!).

― Ian Riese-Moraine: a casualty of social estrangement. (Eastern Mantra), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

The South Coast in Laguna Beach isn't all that great (it's the only theater in town), but other nearby ones I like a lot are the Lido in Newport Beach

http://www.cinematour.com/location/usa/ca/tourca/lido01.jpg

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:20 (twenty years ago)

And the Bay Theatre in Seal Beach

http://www.baytheatre.com/bay_front3a.jpg

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

The fanciest and most advanced theater in Los Angeles is the Arclight in Hollywood (which incorporates the old Cinerama Dome). However, certain theaters at the Bridge in Westchester have enormous leather seats with their "Director's Hall" screens (I think there's another Bridge in Philly which I've not been to).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Ragtag Cinema/Cafe is easily the best theater in Mid-Missouri and is probably my favorite movie theater in the country, although this thread has shown me plenty of spots that look just as interesting.

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

okay okay, the best movie theater in brooklyn would be the bam rose at the brooklyn academy of music:

http://www.bam.org/img/film/06828_brc_image.jpg

http://www.grandwell.com/images/solns/brooklyn_music.jpg

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~rima/gastspiele/newyork/bam.jpg

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:46 (twenty years ago)

come to think of it, it's brooklyn's version of the arclight!

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:48 (twenty years ago)

The Farmington Civic, tickets cost $1.50 until very recently, and, as you can see from this Halloween-time photo, they've got special programs every once and again.

And, I saw Gallagher II there as a boy.

http://www.crainebrain.com/images/movie/theatre.jpg

― son_of_scrimshaw (son_of_scrimshaw), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

There's only one, and it's haunted!

http://skowhegan.com/discover/cinema1lg.jpg

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

hi adam! im from the same town as simonr reynolds, graham greene, william cowper and beverley craven (!?!) - berkhamsted in hertfordshire. st albans is only 20-30 mins away though.

to be honest i dont think i will see another cinema like that cinema, the rex, which has only just been restored with all its original art deco fittings. it is so spacious and sumptous.

― ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

I love the Grand Lake and the Paramount theaters in Oakland!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

awwwww, Beverly Craven's my girl!

I know Berkhamsted. I'm not from Herts but close enough. Actually, Stanmore IS in Herts and I lived there for a while.

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)

Wait, no it's not! Never mind.

I meant Bushey.

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

gallagher II!!!!

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

I've seen a couple jazz shows at the Arlington, Jimmy the Mod. I went to UCSB in the late 70s.

And this was the theater I went to most as a kid. It is on the Navy (SeaBee) base in Port Hueneme, and the admission was 50 cents (my father had been in the service 20 years, so his dependents could get on the base til we turned 21). There was another theater in Oxnard I liked, but it was turned into a dental complex a long time ago.

ihttp://www.nbvc.navy.mil/mwr/images/theaterNeedham.jpg

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

http://www.chicagomag.com/saf/getaways04/get04pix/alpine.jpg
http://www.silverscreens.com/cinesaucine/images/groundhogday/groundhogday1.jpg
http://www.silverscreens.com/cinesaucine/images/groundhogday/groundhogday2.jpg
Adjacent to the beautiful square in downtown Woodstock is the 1927 Woodstock Theater. One of the highlights of the theatre's history was a part in the filming of Groundhog Day (starring Bill Murray and Andie McDowell). The theatre was used as the Alpine where Bill Murray 's character attended a movie. Each year the theatre celebrates Groundhog Day with free screenings of the movie. Newly expanded and updated, the Woodstock Theatre shows new releases using digital sound and HPS-4000(r) sound systems.

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 20:24 (twenty years ago)

Groundhog Day (starring Bill Murray and Andie McDowell)

That's who that was?! WOW!!!

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 20:30 (twenty years ago)

How come this thread's only about US movie theatres? We have some wonderful old art deco ones in Melbourne! :(

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 23:12 (twenty years ago)

i wanna see some melbourne art deco porn! who cares what the thread title says, post it anyway.

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 23:33 (twenty years ago)

I'm trying to look for photos of the Bijou at Crossroads, which is a small theater located inside a dying mall that has gotten popular by focusing on non-blockbuster films. Then there are the Regal Cinema chain theaters I like, i.e. the Fiesta 16 and Cielo Vista -- I forget which number, but it's about as big. The AMC Huebner Oaks 24 is the neatest, though. I wish Tep were still here because he might be able to describe better why it's so cool, but it's great just being in that building.

― The Edge Of America (Dee the Lurker), Thursday, 18 August 2005 01:59 (twenty years ago)

I'm trying to look for photos of the Bijou at Crossroads

It's listed on Cinematour (a site I really like)

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 18 August 2005 02:06 (twenty years ago)

http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/images/Styx-PT.jpg

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 18 August 2005 02:17 (twenty years ago)

ROCKIN THA PARADISE TONIGHT

TONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 02:32 (twenty years ago)

The Astor Theatre, St Kilda. A lovely and well kept example of classic Art Deco single screen theatre. They show arthouse, re-runs, all kinds of things, 2 shows a night and 2-4 on weekends. They do marathons of things like LOTR and Cremaster.

The sign:

http://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/attachments/o1129.jpg

The magnificent entrance lobby:

http://www.astor-theatre.com/images/astor/astor-present/astor-lobby-m.jpeg

The theatre itself:

http://cinematreasures.org/images/photos/1288.jpg

(I hope all these pics work)

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 August 2005 02:34 (twenty years ago)

The previously mentioned Ragtag Cinemacafe...

― Tape Store (Tape Store), Thursday, 18 August 2005 02:44 (twenty years ago)

I only went to college there, but I worked at and really liked the Fargo Theatre.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 02:55 (twenty years ago)

The Uptown Theater in my original hometown of Washington, DC was pretty great:

http://www.preservationdirectory.com/images/photobase_theaters/new/UptownWashingtonDC.jpg
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/movies/images/theatres/uptown2a.jpg

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 18 August 2005 03:07 (twenty years ago)

But the Loews Jersey City, which is currently being restored, is truly majestic:

http://www.loewsjersey.org/images/auditorium.jpg
http://www.jcedc.org/photoos/loews_scaffoldcrop.JPG
http://www.jcedc.org/photos/loewsbalcony.JPG
http://www.jcedc.org/photos/loewsarch.JPG
http://www.jcedc.org/photos/loewsartsummit.JPG

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 18 August 2005 03:09 (twenty years ago)

That Jersey City one reminds me of the one I visited in Syracuse. I think it was the Palace Theatre?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 03:48 (twenty years ago)

Oh wow that Loews one is amazing!

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 August 2005 04:50 (twenty years ago)

fuck jersey haters, that thing is glorious.

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 05:52 (twenty years ago)

Tis a sad thing that no one makes buildings like this anymore. Such care and attention to detail and glorious elaboration.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 August 2005 06:27 (twenty years ago)

and all that height and open space -- not like a flat, sprawling multiplex where you're vacuum-packed into one of 24 tiny theaters.

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 06:40 (twenty years ago)

I hear that! Its why I love the Astor - they had a proper 70mm widescreen installed some years back, amazing the difference it is to see 70mm films in their full glory. I am very fond of going there to see "Withnail and I" - you know the cinema is packed with fans, and people chanting the lines aloud and cackling, lovely sense of community spirit.

The Astor has a resident cat too! Funny when it rubs up against someones legs in the middle of a dramatic/horror moment, heh.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 August 2005 06:42 (twenty years ago)

In comparison, as you say, sitting in a tiny cramped low roofed ciniplex with such poor soundproofing you can hear the trams outside and the picture is piss and the "surround sound" is crap. Sad. A pox on you, Cinema Nova! You ruined Donnie Darko.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 August 2005 06:43 (twenty years ago)

well, i've gotta mention the loft, it's virtually the only movie theater in tucson i go to!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 18 August 2005 06:44 (twenty years ago)

because you can't in good conscience post about the loft to a thread like this without posting the sign:

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tw/bot97/images/ac_loft.gif

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 06:48 (twenty years ago)

six years pass...

Toronto's Cumberland Four is closing after 30 years.

http://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120507-CumberlandYYZ-0442-DROSTphoto-01-640x426.jpg

Its programming was kind of half arthouse, half leftfield-mainstream. I saw many great films there, although I'm not really associating it right now with specific titles (the way I can tell you where I first saw Mean Streets, The Deer Hunter, Rushmore, and many others). It was sometimes like a ghost town the past year. One night and friend and I were leaving a late show around 11:00 p.m., and there wasn't a single person on staff to be seen anywhere. We started wondering if we were supposed to lock up.

― clemenza, Saturday, 12 May 2012 15:33 (fourteen years ago)

i went with a friend to see the third man at a little theater in seattle years ago and the lobby was totally deserted when we got there but there was a sign on the counter that said PLEASE WAIT -- YOUR TICKET SELLER IS ALSO YOUR PROJECTIONIST. i hope that place is still there.

― their private gesture for bison (difficult listening hour), Saturday, 12 May 2012 16:50 (fourteen years ago)

four years pass...

A first in my memory — local cinemas competing with the same movies. Both the Malco and Cinemark in Tupelo are showing Independence Day, The Purge and The Secret Life of Pets. They've always divvied up the offerings before.

― pleas to Nietzsche (WilliamC), Tuesday, 12 July 2016 14:48 (nine years ago)

dallas:

technically, the AMC at Northpark, overpriced chain theater in fancy mall with unbelievably huge gorgeous screens
for character, Inwood Theater, old and cozy and smells like popcorn throughout

― skateboard of education (rip van wanko), Tuesday, 12 July 2016 15:32 (nine years ago)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/Inuxx/c5648f1d-9e93-4bb5-8c00-32c497e8f29b_zpskukipp8p.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/Inuxx/alesi_20090829_14809_blog_zpsdiicdjyk.jpg
https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e15/10731561_408765542608720_49135001_n.jpg

― le Histoire du Edgy Miley (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 12 July 2016 16:09 (nine years ago)

Castro Theatre, hands down:
https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2F3231%2F2680301761_b81d4141ff.jpg&f=1
https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.terragalleria.com%2Fimages%2Fus-ca%2Fusca43750.jpeg&f=1

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 12 July 2016 16:30 (nine years ago)

two years pass...

Hometown, Canada, but anyway, a Toronto rep that's been closed for at least 10-15 years is reopening:

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/meet-paradise-registration-47045083110

― clemenza, Saturday, 28 July 2018 18:40 (seven years ago)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c6/fa/90/c6fa907f5f39517042515b189d50b120.jpg
https://ssl.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000dP032abS5eY/s/650/650/Tampa-Theater-Marquee-In-Tampa-Florida.jpg

such a beautiful theater that i go see movies i don't care about much just to hang out there for a couple hours... which is good b/c they aren't very imaginative curators

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Saturday, 28 July 2018 18:46 (seven years ago)

i went with a friend to see the third man at a little theater in seattle years ago and the lobby was totally deserted when we got there but there was a sign on the counter that said PLEASE WAIT -- YOUR TICKET SELLER IS ALSO YOUR PROJECTIONIST. i hope that place is still there.

was this the Grand Illusion in the University District?

― 16, 35, DCP, Go! (sic), Monday, 30 July 2018 20:13 (seven years ago)

ten months pass...

Finally. pic.twitter.com/ZBFVjKaB2P
— Peter Labuza (@labuzamovies) June 11, 2019

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 13 June 2019 17:47 (six years ago)

ten months pass...

answer: it could be your house

https://www.theaterseatstore.com/themed-carpeting/movie-cinema-themed-carpeting

― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 16:18 (six years ago)

two years pass...

Don't know where to put this...My two friends and I did a three-part Zoomcast on memorable screenings in our lives. Sometimes they were memorable because of the movie, but just as often it had to do with the theatre or some story attached to the screening.

Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-_D7kg2R_U

Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHnELw7f30A

Part 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7fNypin3oc

I forgot a few: Blue Velvet, 28 Up, and my first non-English films in a theater, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs and Belle de Jour in the toney Fine Arts Theatre on Eglinton (I think), late '70s, long gone.

― clemenza, Monday, 16 May 2022 12:34 (four years ago)

eight months pass...

I'd never heard of Don Rugoff--evidently most people hadn't--so Searching for Mr. Rugoff was inspiring and depressing in about equal measure. A line near the end--"All those theatres are now gone"--sums up the film well. As does the reality that I streamed it at home.

― clemenza, Sunday, 29 January 2023 03:16 (three years ago)

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