City
Central Cinema: Heavenly
I mentioned it in this week’s Last Days and now I want to gush some more: Central Cinema, the movie-house-with-beer-and-wine-and-food in Seattle’s Central District, is just wonderful.
I’m a big fan of Austin’s Alamo Drafthouses (cited by the Central as a key inspiration) but I’d never actually gotten myself to a Central Cinema screening until A Fistful of Dollars the weekend before last. The movie was great (duh) and the venue was aggressively charming.
Like the Grand Illusion, the house is entered by a middle aisle. Down the slope to the right, viewer/diners are seated at banquettes and slender tables. Up the rake to the left, viewer/diners get individual seats tricked out with swing-arm dining surfaces, like school desks you wouldn’t be afraid to eat from.
As for the food: Central Cinema specializes stone-oven baked pizza, but on my first visit I stuck to an odd starter and a standard classic. The veggie Pig in a Blanket came with a fierce aoli sauce and was exactly as strange and humble and yummy as they menu had led me to hope. The popcorn came in a thin wooden bowl and was better than normal.
As for the entertainment: Tickets cost $5. The night I attended, previews consisted of ancient Popeye cartoons and a truly bizarre and fascinating cinematic marital aid, a 1950s instructional film about a young husband and wife learning to communicate, budget, and yes, love. Also, there is beer. It’s good and cold and brought directly to your seat by attentive waitstaff. There is also wine, and coffee, and dessert. Just past the movie’s halfway point, there’s a five-minute intermission for smoking and peeing. It’s all so civilized. And the screen is large—big enough to make it feel like The Movies.
Here is the Central Cinema’s schedule of upcoming screenings. If there’s anything that’s even remotely interesting to you, go. (If you’re a fan of John Waters, Arrested Development, or brilliantly offensive comedy, I recommend this weekend’s screenings of Richard Day’s Girls Will Be Girls.)
Comments (13)
Sounds like fun, Dave. Hope it's a success. But the upcoming films? Maybe if I'm high?
Posted by Bauhaus | April 23, 2007 11:56 AMYeah, the film selection is buh-zarre. It's hard to imagine there's a whole bunch of people who've been craving to see Earth Girls Are Easy on the big screen. And even Fistful of Dollars was only there for a ridiculous reason (tax week, har). Still, when the movie's something you want to see, it's a dream palace.
(Dear Central Cinema: Having recently seen The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly at NWFF and Fistful of Dollars at your place, I really need to see For a Few Dollars More on the big screen. I beg of you.)
Posted by David Schmader | April 23, 2007 12:01 PMI was very excited to go to CC when they opened, but it took me over a year to actually get there. Everything is as David has described. The beer was fantastic, the hummus dip good, the creme brulee... cold and unburnt by CC hands (or so it seemed). I was really looking forward to the pizza offerings. I was hugely disappointed. It came out limp in texture and taste. Bland bland bland.
I'm looking forward to going back for beer and popcorn (and that veggie pig-n-blanket sounds really good), and would maybe, possibly try the pizza again in case the Italian guy was off that Saturday night.
As an experience, it was all pretty great, but that damned pizza almost soured the whole thing.
At lease I was drunk by the end.
Posted by Central disappointment? | April 23, 2007 12:05 PM'at lease I was drunk...'
but not as drunk as I am now...
Posted by central disappointment | April 23, 2007 12:08 PMI do really want to make it out there, and plan on it. If the veggie pigs in blankets are vegan that might be the final straw that gets me in. I'm disappointed in myself that I didn't make it for Fistful of Dollars. How about Once Upon a Time in the West? Now that's a damn movie. Turns out I can make it there with one (very long) bus ride, which is good to know.
Earth Girls Are Easy? Possibly the worst movie I've ever seen, but really fun for heckling.
Posted by Levislade | April 23, 2007 12:11 PMLove love love this place. People, go to it, so it stays solvent. But a warning: it will make you hate the fucking corporate cineplexes even more than you already do.
Posted by Lola | April 23, 2007 12:24 PMI've been enjoying Central Cinema for quite some time. They play a wonderful variety of movies, the space is excellent, and they serve Elysian IPA. My only complaints are the pizza and the popcorn (both remarkably bad). Overall, though, a great place to see movies and highly recommended.
Posted by Erik | April 23, 2007 12:26 PMI've been keeping an eye on their calendar for months and months and they've only played maybe 2 movies I'd be at all interested in seeing. ET earlier this month was probably the closest I'll ever get.
PLEASE, central cinema, help us help you. I don't mind if you play "Earth Girls Are Easy" or "Mad Max," but does that have to be ALL you play for an entire week?
Posted by jamier | April 23, 2007 12:39 PMand the owners are WONDERFUL...support them!!
Posted by michael strangeways | April 23, 2007 12:52 PMI went to see The City of Lost Children a while back, and I was disappointed. CC is not a “Theater;” They do not play films. They play DVDs on a projector.
If I wanted to drink beer and eat pizza while watching a DVD, I’d stay home and call Palermo. I go to see the type of movie they play at CC because I’ve seen the DVD already, and I want to see the film.
Great idea, execution needs work.
Posted by stan | April 23, 2007 1:10 PMWitches of Eastwick in May! I'm so there!
"Oh Clyde, I have nothing against a good fuck. But there is danger here and somebody has to do something about it."
LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
Posted by monkey | April 23, 2007 1:30 PM@9: I share your frustration. But if you've got a hankering for film grain, Central Cinema does occasionally play 16mm films--check out their Old School AV Night.
Posted by annie | April 23, 2007 2:30 PMLove Central Cinema. It's a romantic place to see Repo Man.
Posted by yay | April 23, 2007 3:00 PMComments Closed
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