This is hard to explain, but here goes: as much as I love the fact that slightly grubby sub-run theatres like Lyndon Golin‘s Regency Fairfax and the Silent Movie theatre a block or two south are doing pretty well, I never really feel like actually driving over and plunking down five or six bucks for a cheap seat at either establishment.
That sounds shitty and unhelpful, but most of us are fairly passionate about seeing movies only at deluxe, blue-chip locations or at home on DVD, and no in-betweens. Call them high-thread-count venues….I don’t care…but I just don’t want to schlub it when I’m out seeing a film. Same deal with the New Beverly Cinema…wait, they’ve put in new seating and have cleaned up the sticky floors?
And yet I love the fact that others in the Fairfax disrict (i.e., the nearby retirement-age community, under-30s with not much money, etc.) love the Fairfax and the Silent Movie theatre. The Fairfax district would be immeasurably harmed if either one of these theatres were to shutter. I mean that. Is this coming out right?