Columbia City Cinema
4816 Rainier Avenue South,
Seattle,
WA
98118
4816 Rainier Avenue South,
Seattle,
WA
98118
3 people
favorited this theater
Located in renovated Masonic Lodge dating from 1921, the Regency Revival style has Ionic columns on the facade of the building. Theater is located in the Columbia City neighborhood of Seattle, and is a neighborhood gathering place. Many of the showings are first run, with some opening in this theater on the same night as the big chains. Children and family oriented films are often shown during daytime and out-of-school time hours.
Columbia City Cinema was closed on May 5, 2011.
Contributed by
Rhonda Berry
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
The Columbia City Cinema is now a triplex with two small 100 seat theaters added on the street level. The original cinema is located on the second floor.
The City had shut them down for a while because of a lack of fire sprinklers.
It is open (apparently only the upstairs theater was temporarily closed) but struggling financially; the owner is planning to offer shares of stock. If this effort fails, the theater will probably close. Story here: http://www.seattlepi.com/ae/429271_theater29.html
The State of Washington has blocked the proposed stock sale, which most likely means that the theater will be closing soon: View link
The owner of the this theater is now hoping to raise desperately needed cash by selling the theater’s seats: View link
One would think the State Of Washington would offer alternative fund raising avenues, after shutting down the plan theater owners came up with. There must be some mixed use funding available, incorporating use by one of the nearby schools or something.
The theater owner has given up the struggle to keep the theater open and is closing it as of May 5, 2011: View link.
Well the government always wins out because they have the guns. It’s pretty clear that the owner didn’t have “money” to be good to the Mayor. You know the old saying “be good to the Mayor and Mayor will be good to you.”
The City of Seattle plays hardball with regulations. I remember when the Parkway Plaza 12 was being built. The electrical inspector required the contractor to wire ALL the surround speakers in conduit all the way to each individual speaker’s terminals! Same for the screen speakers too. I guess they were worried about the speaker wire catching fire?
An effort has been launched to reopen this theater:
http://today.seattletimes.com/2011/12/seedarts-raising-money-to-reopen-columbia-city-cinema/