The story about film/supplies having to be flown in is true. This theater was operated by the “Playtime Theaters” chain, owned by Rodger Forbes. As a Union projectionist at one of Playtime’s theaters in Seattle, we would often send film to the Point Roberts location. Forbes operated adult theaters throughout Washington State. I last worked for this company in 1983.
The ceiling collapsed during a screening of “Captian America, Brave New World” Tuesday evening. Only two patrons were in the auditiorium at the time, neither was injured. The theater will remain closed until futther notice. The news article below has a picture of the damage.
By the time I worked at the Skagit in 1978, the in car heating system had not been used in a few years. I was told that it never worked very well. It consisted of a very large oil fired furnace that fed underground ducts that led to each speaker post. Each post served as an air passage from the underground ducts to the head of the speaker post. The original speakers were custom made and had about a 2 inch diameter flexible rubber tube that was to feed heated air into cars as well as functioning as a speaker. I was told that when the 1973 oil shortage crisis happened and the cost of heating oil doubled in price the heating system was abandoned. The furnace was still in place in a room off the snack bar that also contained the motor/generator set that provided DC power to the arc lamps. To stop a speaker theft problem that this theater was plagued with, ¼ inch phono jacks were on all speaker post heads and all speakers had ¼ inch phono plugs. Patrons were issued a speaker along with their ticket and were expected to return it to an employee stationed at every exit. Employees woule try and note the license number of cars that sped through the exit without returning the speaker and the information given to the County Sheriff. This is the only drive in I have ever seen this policy at.
My father’s U.S. Government job took the family to North Dakota in 1969 and Zap was in the headlines nationwide for a few days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4b5BgNVbag
I joined the Projectionists Union in Seattle (IATSE Local 154) in early 1981. The Green parrot was closed by the time I came to town but I recall that the older projectionists always reffered to it by a nickname; “The Dirty Bird”.
When remodeled into a tri-plex, the original projection booth in the balcony was left intact, two walls were built at the front of the balcony to separate it from the main floor leaving an opening in the middle. Two dividing walls were built to split the balcony, this left a “tunnel” between the two balcony theaters that the beams from the original projectors shot through for the main floor theater. Both of the upstairs theaters were not the best, the seats were not reset so that they did not face the screen and the sound bleed through from the downstairs theater was horrible. Tom Moyer’s “Luxury Theaters” chain was not known for spending a lot of money on their remodel jobs.
The lead projectionist at opening was Thomas (Tommy) Watters, Jr. Tommy was the long time business agent for the projectionists union, IATSE Local 154. He held the business agent job for 30 years, 1968 - 1998. In 1998, the projectionists local(154) merged with IATSE stagehands local 15 and Tommy retired.
In the local news this morning comes the sad news that a major water pipe has burst late Tuesday on the 4th floor of the building. Damage is reported to be severe and the theater is closed until further notice. The Egyptian is operated by SIFF but the building is owned by the State of Washington as it is on the campus of Seattle Central College. There are classrooms elsewhere in the building.
The Embassy had two entrances, two lobbies, and two box offices, one on 3rd Avenue and another one just around the corner on Union Street. A friend told me years ago that his father once had a considerable amount of time to kill in Seattle, sometime in the late 1940’s. He decided to see a movie and bought a ticket at the 3rd Avenue entrance to the Embassy. After the film, he walked around downtown a bit but still had time to kill. He decided to see another movie. This time, he bought his ticket at the Union Street entrance to the Embassy, not realizing that it was the same theater.
Shortly after the theater was re-opened by the 7 Gables circuit in 1980, a newly promoted assistant manager was closing one night. There had been issues of break ins through the rear exit doors that opened to the alley behind the theater and the solution was to chain and padlock them from the inside. The green assistant manager, in a hurry to go home, did not check carefully to make sure that all patrons had left for the night. At about 4:00 AM, the man who had been asleep in one of the back rows woke up to find himself locked inside an empty theater. He used the theater phone to call the fire department who came to break in so he could leave. No, I was not the assistant manager mentioned above.
I was a Union projectionist in Seattle at the time that this non-union theater opened. It’s owner, “Luxury Theaters” of Portland, OR was well known to cheaply build and operate theaters. I went to one of the opening weekend shows as a “spy” for the Union local. The opening was a rush job, the lobby was not yet completed. There was no concession stand, just a couple of 6 foot folding tables with candy displayed on them. Just a small table top popcorn popper with bags of pre-popped popcorn on the floor behind. Auditoriums were very plain, all mono sound and poor sound isolation between auditoriums. I could clearly hear audio from the theater on either side of the one I was in. The Union Local (IATSE Local 154) maintained an informational picket line outside for the first few years of it’s operation.
In the 1980’s, I was a Union projectionist and had a full time job with another theater that belonged to General Cinema Corporation, a competing company. My good friend, Anthony (Tony) Holmes was the full time union projectionist at the Lynn. In his later years, Tony became very religious and no longer wanted to work his 12+ hour Sunday shift. I was the only projectionist in IATSE Local 154 at the time that had Sundays free and was willing to work on them. Nice bit of extra money for a couple of years. All 4 booths were identical, Century projectors with lens turrets, Xetron lamps, Cinemeccanica Towers for film transport rather than platters, all mono sound. We were a second run double feature house at the time. While I was there but not on a night I was working, the manager David Clements was shot and killed in a failed hold up attempt late one night.
Both the Alpine and the Auto Vue drive in are for sale as of today. $800,000 for both: search.colvillerealestate.com/idx/details/listing/a527/42933/112-N-MAIN-ST-COLVILLE-Washington
I worked for SRO Theaters starting in 1981. SRO purchased the Viking and the Moonlite D.I.in the mid 1970’s from the original independent owner who did not believe in showing “R” rated films, either at the Viking or at the Moonlite. SRO did not have an issue with booking “R” films.
Before it became the Georgetown Ballroom, it was an auto body shop for expensive classic cars. I was in the area one day and saw that the doors were open so I went in and met the owner. The floor had been leveled and a garage door cut into the back wall. The projection booth was the owners office. Very few traces of orginal decor, building had been gutted for the shop.
Thomas Watters, Jr was The Business Agent for IATSE Local 154 Seattle Projectionists from 1968 - 1998 and his retirement. This was his first projectionist job in 1946, fresh out of the Navy. Tommy told me that the Mission was the first theater to close due to competition from television in the early 1950’s. First TV station in Seattle went on the air in November 1948.
While I belonged to IATSE Local 154, the Seattle projectionists union local, I was “loaned” to the much smaller Local 180 in Everett and worked a handful of shifts here. The Union contract at that time, had management working the matinee shifts at 1-2-3 with a Union projectionist evenings and weekends. 4-10 had a Union Projectionist for all shifts. I was brought in to run 4-10 for a few weekday shifts, subject to being called to the 1-2-3 complex on the opposite side of the mall parking lot in case of trouble at that theater. There was no trouble at 1-3 while on the few days I was at 4-10 so I never had to make the drive across the parking lot. This would have been in the late 1980’s. All mono sound at 4-10 but I believe that Cinema 1 only at the original triplex had Dolby Stereo by this time. Cinema 2 & 3 were mono. Century SAW projectors, Christie lamps and Christie AW3 platters, Rank Cinemation automation in all 10 booths, #’s 1-6 had the pegboard Mark 3 which was my favorite automation system. Cinemas 7-10 had Rank Mark 10. Theater was always clean and well manitained under GCC but they were a typical GCC build for the day. Very plain decor. It had those uncomfortable Griggs “Push Back” seats painted white.
I belonged to the Seattle IATSE Union Local 154 but worked this drive in for a weekend in 1992 as an emergency fill in Projectionist even it was in the Tacoma IA local’s jurisdiction. The regular projectionist was in the hospital and the Tacoma local didn’t have anyone to cover the job. That weekend would have been the last time I ever worked at a drive in.
The story about film/supplies having to be flown in is true. This theater was operated by the “Playtime Theaters” chain, owned by Rodger Forbes. As a Union projectionist at one of Playtime’s theaters in Seattle, we would often send film to the Point Roberts location. Forbes operated adult theaters throughout Washington State. I last worked for this company in 1983.
The ceiling collapsed during a screening of “Captian America, Brave New World” Tuesday evening. Only two patrons were in the auditiorium at the time, neither was injured. The theater will remain closed until futther notice. The news article below has a picture of the damage.
https://www.ncwlife.com/news/ceiling-collapses-at-liberty-cinema-main-theater/article_13e2d07c-f45e-11ef-9f61-57be90beb9c6.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawIsMLZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdi1fqddCy8xaO
By the time I worked at the Skagit in 1978, the in car heating system had not been used in a few years. I was told that it never worked very well. It consisted of a very large oil fired furnace that fed underground ducts that led to each speaker post. Each post served as an air passage from the underground ducts to the head of the speaker post. The original speakers were custom made and had about a 2 inch diameter flexible rubber tube that was to feed heated air into cars as well as functioning as a speaker. I was told that when the 1973 oil shortage crisis happened and the cost of heating oil doubled in price the heating system was abandoned. The furnace was still in place in a room off the snack bar that also contained the motor/generator set that provided DC power to the arc lamps. To stop a speaker theft problem that this theater was plagued with, ¼ inch phono jacks were on all speaker post heads and all speakers had ¼ inch phono plugs. Patrons were issued a speaker along with their ticket and were expected to return it to an employee stationed at every exit. Employees woule try and note the license number of cars that sped through the exit without returning the speaker and the information given to the County Sheriff. This is the only drive in I have ever seen this policy at.
My father’s U.S. Government job took the family to North Dakota in 1969 and Zap was in the headlines nationwide for a few days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4b5BgNVbag
I joined the Projectionists Union in Seattle (IATSE Local 154) in early 1981. The Green parrot was closed by the time I came to town but I recall that the older projectionists always reffered to it by a nickname; “The Dirty Bird”.
When remodeled into a tri-plex, the original projection booth in the balcony was left intact, two walls were built at the front of the balcony to separate it from the main floor leaving an opening in the middle. Two dividing walls were built to split the balcony, this left a “tunnel” between the two balcony theaters that the beams from the original projectors shot through for the main floor theater. Both of the upstairs theaters were not the best, the seats were not reset so that they did not face the screen and the sound bleed through from the downstairs theater was horrible. Tom Moyer’s “Luxury Theaters” chain was not known for spending a lot of money on their remodel jobs.
The lead projectionist at opening was Thomas (Tommy) Watters, Jr. Tommy was the long time business agent for the projectionists union, IATSE Local 154. He held the business agent job for 30 years, 1968 - 1998. In 1998, the projectionists local(154) merged with IATSE stagehands local 15 and Tommy retired.
Statement from SIFF as to the Egyptian Theater closure. https://www.siff.net/blog/egyptian-update-november-2024
In the local news this morning comes the sad news that a major water pipe has burst late Tuesday on the 4th floor of the building. Damage is reported to be severe and the theater is closed until further notice. The Egyptian is operated by SIFF but the building is owned by the State of Washington as it is on the campus of Seattle Central College. There are classrooms elsewhere in the building.
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/siff-cinema-egyptian-closes-foreseeable-future-pipe-leak/281-dd6e293d-f372-427d-8b1b-f72adb88d71c
While visiting my aunt and uncle who lived nearby, my family went to see “Paper Moon” in 1973. It was an amazing theater.
The Embassy had two entrances, two lobbies, and two box offices, one on 3rd Avenue and another one just around the corner on Union Street. A friend told me years ago that his father once had a considerable amount of time to kill in Seattle, sometime in the late 1940’s. He decided to see a movie and bought a ticket at the 3rd Avenue entrance to the Embassy. After the film, he walked around downtown a bit but still had time to kill. He decided to see another movie. This time, he bought his ticket at the Union Street entrance to the Embassy, not realizing that it was the same theater.
It was open at least until sometime in the 1980’s. I worked there during the 1981 - 1984 time frame.
This was a conversion of an existing supermarket in an older strip mall.
Your Dad is showing “Patton” starring George C. Scott.
Shortly after the theater was re-opened by the 7 Gables circuit in 1980, a newly promoted assistant manager was closing one night. There had been issues of break ins through the rear exit doors that opened to the alley behind the theater and the solution was to chain and padlock them from the inside. The green assistant manager, in a hurry to go home, did not check carefully to make sure that all patrons had left for the night. At about 4:00 AM, the man who had been asleep in one of the back rows woke up to find himself locked inside an empty theater. He used the theater phone to call the fire department who came to break in so he could leave. No, I was not the assistant manager mentioned above.
I was a Union projectionist in Seattle at the time that this non-union theater opened. It’s owner, “Luxury Theaters” of Portland, OR was well known to cheaply build and operate theaters. I went to one of the opening weekend shows as a “spy” for the Union local. The opening was a rush job, the lobby was not yet completed. There was no concession stand, just a couple of 6 foot folding tables with candy displayed on them. Just a small table top popcorn popper with bags of pre-popped popcorn on the floor behind. Auditoriums were very plain, all mono sound and poor sound isolation between auditoriums. I could clearly hear audio from the theater on either side of the one I was in. The Union Local (IATSE Local 154) maintained an informational picket line outside for the first few years of it’s operation.
In the 1980’s, I was a Union projectionist and had a full time job with another theater that belonged to General Cinema Corporation, a competing company. My good friend, Anthony (Tony) Holmes was the full time union projectionist at the Lynn. In his later years, Tony became very religious and no longer wanted to work his 12+ hour Sunday shift. I was the only projectionist in IATSE Local 154 at the time that had Sundays free and was willing to work on them. Nice bit of extra money for a couple of years. All 4 booths were identical, Century projectors with lens turrets, Xetron lamps, Cinemeccanica Towers for film transport rather than platters, all mono sound. We were a second run double feature house at the time. While I was there but not on a night I was working, the manager David Clements was shot and killed in a failed hold up attempt late one night.
Both the Auto Vue and also the Alpine Theater in downtown Colville are for sale as of today. $800.000 for both.
Both the Alpine and the Auto Vue drive in are for sale as of today. $800,000 for both: search.colvillerealestate.com/idx/details/listing/a527/42933/112-N-MAIN-ST-COLVILLE-Washington
Corning Glass Company was the major employer in the area. This drive in was just outside the City of Corning, NY.
I worked for SRO Theaters starting in 1981. SRO purchased the Viking and the Moonlite D.I.in the mid 1970’s from the original independent owner who did not believe in showing “R” rated films, either at the Viking or at the Moonlite. SRO did not have an issue with booking “R” films.
Before it became the Georgetown Ballroom, it was an auto body shop for expensive classic cars. I was in the area one day and saw that the doors were open so I went in and met the owner. The floor had been leveled and a garage door cut into the back wall. The projection booth was the owners office. Very few traces of orginal decor, building had been gutted for the shop.
Thomas Watters, Jr was The Business Agent for IATSE Local 154 Seattle Projectionists from 1968 - 1998 and his retirement. This was his first projectionist job in 1946, fresh out of the Navy. Tommy told me that the Mission was the first theater to close due to competition from television in the early 1950’s. First TV station in Seattle went on the air in November 1948.
While I belonged to IATSE Local 154, the Seattle projectionists union local, I was “loaned” to the much smaller Local 180 in Everett and worked a handful of shifts here. The Union contract at that time, had management working the matinee shifts at 1-2-3 with a Union projectionist evenings and weekends. 4-10 had a Union Projectionist for all shifts. I was brought in to run 4-10 for a few weekday shifts, subject to being called to the 1-2-3 complex on the opposite side of the mall parking lot in case of trouble at that theater. There was no trouble at 1-3 while on the few days I was at 4-10 so I never had to make the drive across the parking lot. This would have been in the late 1980’s. All mono sound at 4-10 but I believe that Cinema 1 only at the original triplex had Dolby Stereo by this time. Cinema 2 & 3 were mono. Century SAW projectors, Christie lamps and Christie AW3 platters, Rank Cinemation automation in all 10 booths, #’s 1-6 had the pegboard Mark 3 which was my favorite automation system. Cinemas 7-10 had Rank Mark 10. Theater was always clean and well manitained under GCC but they were a typical GCC build for the day. Very plain decor. It had those uncomfortable Griggs “Push Back” seats painted white.
Theater destroyed by fire 7/24/2023. Fire presumed to be arson.
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/explosion-reported-before-fire-vacant-building-seattles-busy-u-district/XKNHDOTFJVB65HT6YMOVXQD4YI/
I belonged to the Seattle IATSE Union Local 154 but worked this drive in for a weekend in 1992 as an emergency fill in Projectionist even it was in the Tacoma IA local’s jurisdiction. The regular projectionist was in the hospital and the Tacoma local didn’t have anyone to cover the job. That weekend would have been the last time I ever worked at a drive in.