Grand Illusion Cinema
1403 NE 50th Street,
Seattle,
WA
98105
1403 NE 50th Street,
Seattle,
WA
98105
8 people
favorited this theater
Tucked up behind a bookstore in the University District, the Grand Illusion shows a variety of films — foreign, classic, independent, etc. It opened in 1970. It seats about 70 patrons. It was a tiny screening room in the 1930s.
Contributed by
Katie Mac
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
David Kleiler used to run a regular series called “The Rear Window” in various rented spaces around Boston.
And, in fact, there was indeed a “Ben-Hur Drive-In” in Indiana…also a “New Merry Widow Theatre” in St. Louis, possibly named after the operetta rather than the Ernst Lubitsch/Jeanette MacDonald film.
This is the Grand Illusion Cinema marquee.
I’m sure the late Mr. Powell and Ms. Loy would appreciate their films running alongside of a classic like Pootie Tang.
For many years the auditorium space was occupied by a dentist’s office. The Grand Illusion was originally The Movie House, the first cinema in what became Randy Finley’s Seven Gables circuit, now part of Landmark Theaters. The current name came from Paul Doyle, who ran the cinema for 20 years before selling to a non-profit. He now owns the Columbia City Cinema in Seattle’s Rainier Valley.
Here is a website for the Grand Illusion Cinema.
According to this article, the theater is not doing well financially: View link
Well it is a Grand Illusion.
We’re doing fine now, thanks!
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7275
A bit of history as to how everything got started.
Wonder if they’ll play Inadmissible Evidence when they hit 50 years?