The Century 16 (operated by Cinemark) opened on July 3, 2007. It is located in The Commons of Federal Way (formally the SeaTac Mall). The site was originally a Lamonts/Gottschalks department store that was demolished to make way for the theater. The seating capacity is approx 3400 seats. The 16 auditoriums range from 108 to 434 seats. All theaters have several flat rows in front and stadium risers in the back and have an orange and black color scheme. The box office is located outside the theater in the mall itself. There is a large, high-ceiling lobby area with tables and chairs. The snack bar is the classic Century Theaters design with cafeteria style service where you gather all your goodies and pay a cashier at the end. The opening day movies were: Transformers, Knocked Up, Licence to Wed, Ratatouille, Live Free or Die Hard, Oceans 13, Evan Almighty, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End and Sicko.
I’ve got it from reliable sources, my father in law, that in the 1930’s, Don Santo was the main emcee at the theater. There also was a man that sold taffy out front. He used a little hammer to break off chucks and sold it to the people going in the theater.
The Century DI with its Cinerama screen can be seen in The Brady Bunch Episode #100 titled “Peter and the Wolf” when Peter and Greg take two girls to the drive in.
I grew up in the neighborhood of the Century Drive-In on Darby Ave. My friends and I would always go watch movies over the fence (especially the “mature” ones). It’s funny, you could watch most movies without sound and still know what was going on. My dad and I went there at least once a month. I remember seeing all the 60’s beach movies there but my most memorable time with my dad was a Muhammad Ali/Joe Frazier Closed Circuit fight. My friends watched it over the fence but my Dad and I were watching it in our Pontiac LeMans.
On 6/25/04, went to an LA Film Fest event with Michael Mann and Tom Cruise showing excerpts from Collateral. Collateral was the perfect movie to screen there since Michael Mann shot it digitally and LA never looked better. Maybe someday the theater could open to the public on a regular basis as a showcase for digital cinema (are you listening Pacific/Arclight Theaters?).
Before the show, a lot of people in attendance were excited to be inside this classic theater and reminised about the movies they had seen there from Cinerama in the 50’s to B-Movies from the 80’s. I think the last movie I saw there was sneak of Sylvester Stallone’s Paradise Alley (and Sly was there).
It really is a landmark and I guess we should feel lucky that the theater is still standing and used as a theater and not a swap meet.
The Fox is up for auction with a minimum bid of $200K. See link View link
The Century 16 (operated by Cinemark) opened on July 3, 2007. It is located in The Commons of Federal Way (formally the SeaTac Mall). The site was originally a Lamonts/Gottschalks department store that was demolished to make way for the theater. The seating capacity is approx 3400 seats. The 16 auditoriums range from 108 to 434 seats. All theaters have several flat rows in front and stadium risers in the back and have an orange and black color scheme. The box office is located outside the theater in the mall itself. There is a large, high-ceiling lobby area with tables and chairs. The snack bar is the classic Century Theaters design with cafeteria style service where you gather all your goodies and pay a cashier at the end. The opening day movies were: Transformers, Knocked Up, Licence to Wed, Ratatouille, Live Free or Die Hard, Oceans 13, Evan Almighty, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End and Sicko.
I’ve got it from reliable sources, my father in law, that in the 1930’s, Don Santo was the main emcee at the theater. There also was a man that sold taffy out front. He used a little hammer to break off chucks and sold it to the people going in the theater.
The Century DI with its Cinerama screen can be seen in The Brady Bunch Episode #100 titled “Peter and the Wolf” when Peter and Greg take two girls to the drive in.
I grew up in the neighborhood of the Century Drive-In on Darby Ave. My friends and I would always go watch movies over the fence (especially the “mature” ones). It’s funny, you could watch most movies without sound and still know what was going on. My dad and I went there at least once a month. I remember seeing all the 60’s beach movies there but my most memorable time with my dad was a Muhammad Ali/Joe Frazier Closed Circuit fight. My friends watched it over the fence but my Dad and I were watching it in our Pontiac LeMans.
On 6/25/04, went to an LA Film Fest event with Michael Mann and Tom Cruise showing excerpts from Collateral. Collateral was the perfect movie to screen there since Michael Mann shot it digitally and LA never looked better. Maybe someday the theater could open to the public on a regular basis as a showcase for digital cinema (are you listening Pacific/Arclight Theaters?).
Before the show, a lot of people in attendance were excited to be inside this classic theater and reminised about the movies they had seen there from Cinerama in the 50’s to B-Movies from the 80’s. I think the last movie I saw there was sneak of Sylvester Stallone’s Paradise Alley (and Sly was there).
It really is a landmark and I guess we should feel lucky that the theater is still standing and used as a theater and not a swap meet.