Phoenix Theatres Union Station 9

Funny. Or, I guess more intriguing. I saw a movie here once, while on vacation to DC. I didn’t recall that the theater had just opened, but it was opening week. I never got around to visiting the theater again when I visited DC almost 4 years ago. Now I wish I had.

Anytime a theatre closes it’s a shame. This is a particular shame because of the failure of a theatre in a mixed use facility where going to the movies was part of a travel, shopping, dining, after work experience. And the theatres were an above average of their time multiplex.

I ran restaurants in Union Station 10 or so years ago and the theatres were business drivers and part of the lifeblood of the complex. We ran some classic movie nights together – Citizen Kane, Casablanca and Some Like It Hot. I took over a theatre one night for the team – Robert de Niro in The Fan – ok great idea not so great movie. And took a break for myself to see such classics and non classics alike as Usual Suspects, Leaving Las Vegas, Cable Guy, White Squall, Mission Impossible, Species, The Quick and the Dead, Extreme Measures, Ace Ventura 2 and The Quest. The AMC management at the time was positive and proactive and much as we could joke about the level of the movies sometimes, there was a theatre there.

I remember taking calls the day of the blizzard asking if the theatre was open and sure enough with a skeleton crew they opened for a couple of shows.

RIP Union Square 9

Why is it closing?

from Washington Post:
Editorial Review
Although it’s basically like a multiplex in a mall, the AMC Union Station is not your cookie-cutter theater. The place has character. Built inside catacombs that were once used for storage, its ceilings are two-stories high. Each house has a different name taken from a long-gone Washington movie palace, which is displayed on an old-fashioned facade. This theater on Capitol Hill is the prime movie stop for most people in Northeast, Southeast and even Southwest Washington. And with shops, restaurants, a parking garage, the Metro and MARC trains right here, it’s easy to see why. The largest theater is the Avenue Grand with 364 seats, a large screen and DTS sound, which led to THX certification. All nine are equipped with SDDS. Two other theaters have big screens, two more have medium-size screens, and the rest have small ones. The capacity of the smallest house is 148.

— Matt Slovick
Theater Office: 202-842-3757
Modified for Hearing Impaired: Yes
Disabled Access: All theaters and restrooms are wheelchair-accessible.

Here’s the link to theater operator website with photos of the theater’s interior!
http://www.phoenixtheatres.com/unionpictures.htm

Here is the address:
50 Massachusetts Ave NE
Washington, DC 20002

Howard, at least in the DC/Baltimore metro area, AMC has not named their auditoriums (in multiplexes) after former palaces.

As far as Phoenix Theatres improving on this multiplex, it would be nice if they installed sliding curtains, improved projection and sound. The Grand is probably the best, largest and the only THX-certified auditorium in this plex.

Hey Jeff email me please. We worked together.

The Penn, Tivoli, Loew’s Capitol, and Loew’s Palace are already listed on this site. It may be that some names were generic, because reviewing Robert Headley’s excellent book: Motion Picture Exhibition in Washington, D.C., there doesn’t seem to have been a Roxy, Paradise, or State in the District. There was more than one Orpheum, but I’m not sure one fits. There was an Avenue Grand- which is the biggest auditorium in Union Station, and I can add it later.

Does anybody know if AMC named auditoriums in other theaters?

Many of those nine old theatres don’t yet have a page here at CinemaTreasures. Anyone know enough about them to add them?