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Ours is (and was before we were "we") The Castro, where we went to see "Rancho Notorious" (1952) last night - which was an entertaining hoot, much of it not intended (the "Murder, Hate, Vengeance" repetitious theme song sung by some hack) and a great vehicle to see (and attempt to understand) Marlena Dietrich.
Anyway, my first viewing at The Castro was "Planet of the Apes" in 1967 and I've seen hundreds of films there since, as has my wife. You get the Mighty Wulitzer, great popcorn, interesting film festivals, silents, silents with live bands (saw Bill Frisell doing Buster Keaton), 3D (saw "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" there in 3D and with incredible sound)... pretty much the whole kit and kaboodle without the mall mentality of multiplexes.
It's our local movie house and the only place we will go to see a film on the big screen anymore. It's an old, comfortable friend.
You have a similar joint?
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" - Michael McClure
Follow Ups:
What a grand olde place - big curved screen, spacious balcony, and always the very best commercial films. I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and Apocalypse Now at least 7 times each there as a lad. Later, saw the 2nd night of Alien, never seen so many people streaming for the exits as I did that night.
That went downhill in the 90s - filthy conditions and poor management ruined it.
Later, the Bethesda Cinema & Drafthouse opened with a new concept at the time, dinner/drinks and a movie - all in one location. I spent several very enjoyable evenings there. Now I'm down in So. Fla., where the movie experience is ruined by 18 screen cineplexes, ugh!
-CD-
nt
As long as my feet stick to the floors.
...in my neighborhood.
When I think of a theater I've liked, I have to look back in memory to a time that seems almost completely gone. I had lived in Portland for about 30 years. And that was over a decade ago. Even when I'd just arrived in Portland, the older theaters were the ones with the most class. The ones built in the 1920's and 1930's. Art Deco styling.
I have a memory of seeing 2001 A Space Odyssey at the Lauralhurst Theater at 2735 E. Burnside, Portland, Or. It was around 1969. By then the place was looking shabby and worn about the edges. But still playing mainstream movies. At the time it was a single screen theater and it had a sound system to die for. I'd venture a guess that it must have been Altec-Lansing VOT. full range sound that could pressurize your chest and rattle your innards...:-)
That's my memory of The Lauralhurst Theater in Portland circa 1969. I found out today that it's been converted into a 4 screen multi-plex / pub. Sigh. At least the building still lives.
-Steve
Yeah, I lived in Portland for some time. Went to a number of films downtown. Several of the old theatres turned into porno only places. One on west Burnside and another across the river on Powell.
...decline. ... just one part of neighborhoods becoming slums. Then, a couple generations later that old disrespected theater is either torn down or re-cycled into something modern.
What I like about the older theaters is the sound systems that 'some' of them had. I'd rather see an old theater restored to original trim than remade into something different.
It was always a let-down to come back to a town I'd once known several years later only to find that the landmarks I had often frequented had fallen into disrepair.
-Steve
corporate place. It has maintained the style, though the screens are smaller, sure.
21 still is original.
Clinton St. Theater.
And the Hollywood.
Also, the NW Film has a huge screen and shows only "art" films.
You should have stayed (where'd ya go?).
Edits: 04/26/14
re: Hollywood on Sandy blvd. I recall seeing at least one movie there. An older style theater with a substantial balcony, iirc.re: Clinton St. Theater. Been there at least once. Not memorable but in the older style. Circa 1980's when I visited.
haven't been to the NW Film theater.
re: where am I? Just north of Seattle.
I've been up here about 13 years. I still don't feel at home here. The traffic situation is gnarly. Population is densely packed. Much more so than what Portland was back when. I tend to avoid driving downtown. It's a chore to get there.further notes re: Portland. Bicycle friendly. For the most part it seemed doable to ride the bike all over the East side, (where I lived)
Seattle: not bicycle friendly. No matter how many bike lanes get marked off, it seems far easier to get killed riding a bike up here than it did when I was there.I'm sure there are some great theaters to haunt up in the Seattle area. Not to mention a couple of jazz clubs, the classical music scene, opera and an active drama scene. But I'm rather put off by the traffic situation. It may be time to move on. But I haven't decided where to. Some place smaller, to be sure.
-Steve
Edits: 04/26/14
d
Angelika Film Center. That's like a movie theater to you civilians.
the ceiling was dark with 'stars' that moved.
pretty cool
Haven't made it to the Festival the past few years due to scheduling conflicts with San Diego Comic Con. This year the SFSFF is much earlier, but other commitments are getting in the way of the trip. Maybe next year.
The other grand theater in your area is the Paramount in Oakland, where my wife & I saw Kevin Brownlow's restoration of Abel Gance's Napoleon two years ago (image above from that trip). California is a long haul from Fort Worth, but it seems like we're spending more time out there every year!
a film OR a live show! Seen, Boz Scaggs, Miles Davis, The Buena Vista Social Club, Bob Dylan and other there over the years.
Saw The Adventures of Prince Achmed at the SFSFF a few years back, WHAT a treat!
The Film Noir Fest at the Castro is world renown too, worth going to if you can make it though quite a ways to go for a film festival.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" - Michael McClure
...Harkins' Cine Capri/Scottsdale. Large, excellent sound (Dolby Atmos), and excellent, bright, digital projection. (I have no love or nostalgia for the 'nervousness' of film projection.)
Phoenix has a fully restored 'old-time' theater, the Orpheum (link). It's been many things since built in 1929. Now owned by the city of Phoenix, it backs against the very modern Phoenix City Hall...
I recently saw, a few days apart, 'Capt. America...' at Cine Capri and at another Harkins theater. The image at both theaters was about the same and very good, but the Dolby Atmos sound at SC was clearly superior in locating sounds and bass extension. All the Harkins theater are at least very good; we're lucky in Phoenix that way.
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Tin-eared audiofool, large-scale-Classical music lover, and damned-amateur fotografer.
William Bruce Cameron: "...not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
But, alas, they tore it down in the late 1980s, a victim of multiplexes that were becoming the rage.
It was a beautiful modern design with a huge interior space, built about 1962. The picture and audio were top class. The movie screen was gigantic. It was the first theater in the area to have reclining seats. I loved sitting in the first row in the balcony or in row 7 on the main floor.
In the lobby, the theater had a large gallery of original artwork, primarily paintings, that were for sale.
My fondest memory was an afternoon in December 1964 during the Christmas break from school. Eleven years old at the time, my parents dropped me off that day to see the most talked about movie of the year. There was an endless line of people outside the building waiting in the freezing cold to purchase tickets. I eventually obtained my ticket, sat in row 7, center seat, and was stunned by the most exciting movie this then-adolescent had ever seen.
The film was Goldfinger. I still sometimes get goose bumps when I hear the title song or the James Bond theme. It is funny how some seemingly trivial childhood memory can affect one much later in life.
Gotto see the first one before the hype hit and nobody knew about it and waiting in like for the first showings of the second two.
Saw it at the drive-in theater, sitting on the back end of our station wagon. It made a similar impression on me. Theaters are cool, but not essential.
Sad that theatre is gone. Many of the great theatres that graced this city are long gone. I remember going to the Fox Theatre
once as a child and being overwhelmed at the grandeur and immense scale of the place.
As far as Bond films go, I didn't get to see any of them on the Big Screen until the early 70's at a repertory house
(of which SF had many great ones). Had seen them all up to that time on TV.
Seeing any of those Connery Bonds on the huge screen of the EL Rey (a church now for 30 years)
was an ABSOLUTEY MIND BLOWING TREAT! Especially Goldfinger (followed closely by Thunderball)!
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" - Michael McClure
you have to look at her earlier work.
An example of a similar challenge is Barbara Stanwyck. She, in her middle-years, became the "ball-buster" actress of choice for many directors. Yet, when she was young, she was THE femme fatale. Joan Crawford is another example. Bette Davis, yet another.
The Castro indeed looks like a beautiful venue. So few of them remain…..
Here, in Eugene, we have a former church that then became a funeral home: it still smelled of chemicals when I first started attending films there twenty years ago.
Portland has more than a few old theaters, though none as magnificent as your pictured one.
21. The Hollywood. The Clinton Street. Portland's by far the best film town anywhere near its size. There also is a terrific film school that continuously shows art-house films, both today's and yesteryear's.
Edits: 04/24/14 04/24/14
The Keith Albee in Huntington, WV
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