There's Almost No Need To Go To The Movies When You're Streaming

[Marcy Sheiner]

@Aunt Bea,we have some beautiful old theaters here in Oakland and Berkeley, CA. This one is gorgeous!

That's one reason to go to a theater. The others are big screen, change of scenery from my armchair, and viewing with other people. But I'm getting lazy and more likely to sit in the armchair and stream. I saw Sinners in a theater, the Grand Lake in Oakland, another palatial one.

 

[JustDave]

I followed your link AB and Lamb also designed the fancy theater in my hometown. I remember it had sweeping white marble staircases 1 on each side of the lobby. It was beautiful ;a few years ago it was completely cleaned and restored and now it's a popular venue for not just movies but for live performances and theater. Weddings too.

I was told one time that those grand theaters were originally for life performances, but were later made into movie theaters as the talkies became more popular. I don't know when they were constructed, maybe before Hollywood. I don't know. But I can't imagine building one of those for a silent film featuring Charlie Chaplin with a live piano player providing the background like they did in the nickelodeons.

When I was young, my father would take me to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. They had at least one large hall filled with old classic cars, which only had to be at least 30 years old to be considered classic back then, but seemed like relics to a 7 year old in 1950. But one hall fed into a wonderland of a night lit brick paved street with an assortment of Model T Fords and other cars outside closed shops of the early 1900s. At the end of the street was an old time nickelodeon, where they actually charged everyone 5 cents to watch a silent film of the past. It was like time travel.

 

[MACKTEXAS]

Aunt Bea's post reminded me of when I was around 8 years old...my grandmother worked in Dallas so I got to spend a few days with her and on one of those days we took a streetcar ride to the 'magnificent' Majestic theater in down town Dallas and saw the movie Grapes of Wrath....the theater, movie and streetcar ride have always stayed with this country bumpkin too.

I loved the Majestic Theater and the other downtown theaters that were grand and beautiful. Most of the others are long gone. The Majestic was rennovated in the 1980s by an architectural firm I was working for at that time. I think it's still in business, but last I knew it's now used for performing arts, not movies anymore.

 

[RadishRose]

those grand theaters were originally for life performances, but were later made into movie theaters as the talkies became more popular.

That makes sense.

 

[Jules]

$3.99 so about the same as DVD from a video store.

I’m pretty sure we don’t have any video stores any more.

 

[feywon]

I’m pretty sure we don’t have any video stores any more.

There was one in my tiny town up until the pandemic. Imagine it was a nightmare to clean. Never re-opened.

 

[KSav]

I have always enjoyed seeing movies in the theater: the big screen, surround sound, and popcorn that always seems to taste the best there. However, with the decline of public courtesy and manners I almost never go these days. I get too frustrated by people who use their phones and/or talk during the film. So I stay home and stream movies in the comfort of my home.

On occasion I will venture out to see an old classic when they play. Of course, in those instances the audience is older and has better manners.

 

[Wombat]

I haven't been to a cinema since my children were old enough to go by themselves, can't remember the last thing I saw, it was decades ago.

For me the local drive-in closing was the last straw.

If you want the big screen experience just sit closer to the TV, it is all about field of view, just turn up the surround sound.