Columbia City Cinema
4816 Rainier Avenue South,
Seattle,
WA
98118
4816 Rainier Avenue South,
Seattle,
WA
98118
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An effort has been launched to reopen this theater:
http://today.seattletimes.com/2011/12/seedarts-raising-money-to-reopen-columbia-city-cinema/
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?
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 theater owner has given up the struggle to keep the theater open and is closing it as of May 5, 2011: 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 owner of the this theater is now hoping to raise desperately needed cash by selling the theater’s seats: View link
The State of Washington has blocked the proposed stock sale, which most likely means that the theater will be closing soon: View link
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 City had shut them down for a while because of a lack of fire sprinklers.
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.
This photo is a little larger.
Here is a small photo of the Columbia City Cinema.
Oops,forgot something: it has 204 seats and is independently owned by Paul Doyle, who ran the Grand Illusion in Seattle’s University District for 20 years.
This is a former Masonic Lodge, not an IOOF hall. The auditorium walls also have the Greco-Roman columns, but smaller than on the facade.