It's always been a shoestring-budget type of operation, the Columbia City Cinema, but that has never quashed the humor-ladden, independent spirit of theater owner Paul Doyle. His latest newsletter e-mail sent on Sunday, Sept. 30, is a prime example. Doyle and his die-hard cinematic cohorts preface it by saying it's a letter they didn't want to send before posing a question to the community:
"You know the iceberg we've been trying to avoid since we opened? Here we are standing on the bridge of the Cinema Titanic and we've finally hit it. A glancing blow only, but we're taking on water and we need your help. For the first time since we opened, we don't have enough money to pay the rent... The trouble is, with our downstairs tenant gone, our rent has suddenly doubled.
"We have to make up an additional $3,000 a month. After the long drain on the business we don't have it. It's October 1, the rent is due, movie income is nonexistent and the wolf is at the door. Oh me, oh my, what to do? Especially with our trust fund already gone."
Why should you have sympathy? Well, the Columbia City Cinema is the only movie house serving the South End. You have to head north to the generally small, and often not-too-family-friendly, art theaters on Capitol Hill to see a show. Your other options are to drive into to the downtown Seattle maze, or leave the city altogether and head south to Renton, to have some more quality time in your car in order to experience the too common chain-movie house ennui that has something to do with overpriced, mediocre popcorn, fast-food-style teenage customer service, and building architecture that's as uplifting as the Costco on Fourth Avenue South.
While the Columbia City Cinema runs the same movies as the soulless multiplexes, they do it on one fantastic screen housed on the second floor of the historic Columbia City Masonic Lodge. After ascending a stout wooden staircase, moviegoers are often greeted by an enthusiastic Doyle at the ticket podium or small snack stand, which features his killer gourmet popcorn. If folks arrive early, they can linger with friends and strangers in the expansive, stylish lounge that often doubles as a gallery for local artists and features some comfortable couches and chairs all framed by turn of the century woodwork and tall windows looking onto Rainier Avenue toward downtown.
Yes, it's got history and soul, and no modern multiplex can claim that. Unique, independent businesses like the Columbia City Cinema have a powerful effect on the thriving cultural landscape of our South End neighborhoods. Seeing any of them snuffed out from a lack of local community support is a damn shame.
Our society loves movies, and I'm guessing South Seattle loves its independent cinema stalwart. However, we have only one week to prove it. That's how long Doyle says his team has to raise the additional $3,000 to cover for their deadbeat downstairs tenant who lost an eviction lawsuit and is not going quietly. Doyle notes that the subsequent legal fees and increased rent have cost the cinema nearly $28,000 over the past 16 months.
During the next week, if Doyle can raise this modest amount of money he needs to keep the lights on, we will all see a fun payoff in the near future: an expanded, and more financially stable, cinema.
Doyle recently announced they are beginning raising funds to build two more screens on site, a $250,000 project. The expansion is a survival move. With decades of experience in the movie house business, Doyle asserts a single screen theater of his size cannot survive in today's market, but three screens, with the resulting movie choices given to the neighborhood, can. The successful, and independent, Majestic Bay Theater up north in Ballard comes to mind.
It's go time, South Enders, go to the movies time.
Playing this week at the Columbia City Cinema is The Kingdom, starring Academy Award winners Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper along with Jennifer Garner. The critically acclaimed story follows an elite team of U.S. government agents sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East. It's topical, explosive and rated "R."
Show times are at 3, 5, and 7 p.m. Monday-Friday with an added evening showing of 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday. The Columbia City Cinema is located at 4816 Rainier Ave. S., phone 721-3156. Visit www.columbiacitycinema.com for Doyle's entertaining updates and a list of, hopefully, coming attractions.
Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for seniors and children. That said, paying more for your admission and concessions will go a long way to save the cinema. I know I'll be digging deeper in my pockets when I visit the cinema this week.
If you don't catch him munching on popcorn in the Columbia City Cinema's lobby this week, try reaching Erik Hansen at this link.
