How about the Pioneer Theater in NYC? It was in the back of the Two Boots at Third and A. I didn't go there much myself, but I'm pretty sure that's where I saw Richard Dutcher's BRIGHAM CITY in 2001, a tiny indie from Utah about a serial killer in a tight-knit Mormon town (with a featured performance by Wilford Brimley's mustache). A movie I never would have expected to see screened in Manhattan.
Spectacle Theater still goes strong in Williamsburg with a very specialized film menu. Up in Harlem is Maysles Center. And in the great debate of the "dinner theater" Nitehawk's programming remains superior to Alamo's.
The only arthouse we had anywhere near where I lived in North Dakota was the Fargo Theatre about six hours away. It had an organ that they still used for musical interludes between showings and some of the old vintage film equipment on display. They kept the woodchipper from Fargo for the visitor's center but they also had a chainsaw wood cut of Marge on display as well.
There was an awesome multiplex in Bismarck though called The Grand that got most of the Oscar worthy releases that Minot wasn't big enough for. What made it awesome, though, was the decor. It was largely Egyptian themed, had a statue of Heston as Moses and everything, but then one of the screens had a little lobby area outside of it that had vintage film posters and equipment as well. I either never knew or don't remember why it was so kitschy but I loved it so much. Talking about it now makes me a little misty, honestly, one of the few things I wish I didn't have to leave behind with, well, the rest of living in North Dakota.
Here in Denver, we've got a few of note. I love the decor of the Mayan but the seats can be killer for a longer movie (I'm seeing Badlands there tonight, that's about the appropriate length of time my butt can handle). The people in charge of the Chez Artiste are awesome and do handmade collages of facts and trivia for movies that they're playing which I always love. The Sie is where Denver Film is headquartered and is pretty nice too.
What great memories. This makes me remember the Blue Mouse, a literal underground theater in Salt Lake City (it was in the basement), which is where I saw everything from Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources to Hard Boiled to Monty Python revivals. As a "good" Mormon kid I always felt like the Blue Mouse was a little dangerous to my soul, especially because it was inextricably linked to Cosmic Aeroplane, the alternative bookstore-slash-head shop next door. I loved the Blue Mouse.
Dig this program from the late '80s, produced on a typewriter like any other 'zine:
Two Boots Pioneer Theater in NYC was the best thing to experience for a normalized "weird cinema" experience from the infamous Donnie Darko screenings to a projectionist performing a live commentary as a drunk Paul Verhoeven on a whim.
This is a good opportunity to lament the impending demolition of the Main Art in Royal Oak, MI. This theater was renovated at the beginning of the 90s, just in time or the indie film boom, and I have many fond memories of seeing films like Immortal Beloved and Red Rock West there. Very sad to see it go.
But more important to me would be the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. A true old school movie house with a giant balcony, a full working organ, and lots of taste. I've seen everything there, from Spike and Mike, to Cinematic Titanic, to Laurence of Arabia with live orchestra accompaniment. And it's linked to the University's film program, so it's also where I watched all my Bergman films for my undergrad class. I haven't been back to visit in a long time, but it looks like it's still going strong, thank goodness.
There was a stretch of time in 1994, the year I graduated from college, when I was living with my sister a little south of Toledo and would make the 45 minute drive north to Ann Arbor on weekends to get arthouse fixes at the Michigan Theater and the State Theatre. (Films I remember seeing then: Hoop Dreams, Clerks, Spanking the Monkey, Oleanna.) I enjoyed going to both very much, though I do recall feeling burned by the Kevin Smith movie.
Anyway, I returned to Ann Arbor for the first time since '94 for a wedding last year and was startled by how much downtown had changed. Both theaters are still standing, but the amount of space claimed by chain restaurants and retailers really depressed me! Of particular note was a new Target next to the State that had festooned the building so heavily with the Target brand that you'd almost have to know the movie theater was there to keep from assuming it had been taken over by a Big Box store. Crossing my fingers that these venues will continue to hold their ground.
oh, that's so awful to hear. I went to check google for images just now and there's no Target to be seen in imagery from Nov 2020, so I guess it's all new since then?
I need to visit A2 in the near future, but I worry it just won't be like I remember.... but nothing is. At least I can still go to Zingerman's!
ahhhh they took over the old Urban Outfitters space. I wish the State had been able to reclaim that space for themselves. but I guess it's hard enough to simply stay open
Although it doesn't intuitively fit the criteria for a beloved arthouse theater (for starters, it was a dump), as I moved to Chicago in the mid-90s, the Three Penny on Lincoln felt like a kindred spirit to what the nearby Lounge Axe was doing for the indie music scene. I know I saw many indie films there, though the only one I can specifically recall seeing there, SWINGERS, also feels like a stretch.
R.I.P. The Three Penny *and* The Biograph (as a movie theater) *and* Lounge Ax. Such a pity what happened to that stretch of road. (Am I wrong to remember that noise complaints from a single tenant were what brought Lounge Ax down?) Anyway, I happened to be connected enough to get into some of those shows at the last week of the Lounge Ax, which mean seeing bands like Tortoise and Seam into one incredibly intimate venue. Good times.
The LeFont Garden Hills Cinema in Atlanta. It had a good sized screen and salty popcorn. I saw many a great movie there (including many directed by Pedro Almodovar). Alas, the theater was torn down a few years ago and it's a vacant lot.
Ah, I went to Garden Hills many times in the '90s. (Pretty sure I saw Crumb there.) One thing I remember about that theater is there was a pizza place next to it that had an exceptional white pizza I'd have when I was in town. Not sure if you remember that far back or not.
Fellini's Pizza is still around. That and La Fond were not demolished. But you'd never know that there was a movie theater, rug store, record, shop, etc. next door...
Fellini's and La Fonda moved from L5P to Ponce (near the Plaza Theatre, still very much in operation). Junkman's Daughter is still there, Criminal Records is still there, Variety Playhouse and 7 Stages are still going strong. L5P has changed quite a bit but it is still L5P. All the corporate stuff is at least a quarter mile away in either direction. (Videodrome on North is still active, too.)
I loved The Dundee Theater in Omaha when I lived there, though I haven’t visited in years now that I’ve lived in LA for over a decade. I’m curious about the renovations brought to it by Film Streams.
When I lived in Omaha for 4 months in 2001 while working on ABOUT SCHMIDT, I became friends with the projectionist at the Dundee, who was also working on the crew of the movie in his spare time, and I ended up seeing a lot of movies there. His time at the Dundee ended when it closed, and then Film Streams took it over, but he still lives in the neighborhood and sees a lot of movies there.
I haven't been since Film Streams took over either, but I've been really curious about the 25-seat microcinema it contains, where they can show some really eclectic and experimental stuff (right now it's the new Claire Denis movie, which isn't exactly off the radar, but at least it's getting a theatrical release there).
For me it’s the late, lamented Oak Street Cinema in Minneapolis. When the Uptown (also RIP) was repertory theater, I wasn’t clued in enough (although I had friends take me to see Bringing Up Baby in high school, possibly my first black and white movie 😬 and also did once attend Rocky Horror and Stop Making Sense midnight shows). It opened in 1995, at a time I was getting deeply into movies. It showed an amazing collection of classic Hollywood and foreign art house gems. After a year of going often, I became a volunteer (selling popcorn and soda every other Sunday in exchange for free admission to any shows - one of the best deals I’ve ever been a part of). A year after I started volunteering I met the woman who would become my wife (she was an actual employee) and a few years after that we got married there. Sadly it’s now a condo. One very slight silver lining of the 2008 financial crisis is that it had been slated to become condos at the time but the project stalled out. Because of that delay I was able to take my 5 year old son to see a double feature of the Red Balloon and White Mane. I’m not sure any of it made a deep impression on him but it meant a lot to take him to the theater where his parents met (and spent a lot of time before he was born).
Oh crap, the Uptown is gone! I haven't been back so much to Minneapolis (or Minnesota) much since I moved away for good in 2008. Fond memories of (finally) catching up to artistic fare, though at the moment I'm only certain of seeing Into the Wild there... and I think No Country For Old Men? Granted, these aren't such deep cuts that couldn't be seen elsewhere, but they were certainly limited release at the time.
Where is there to see artistic/independent theater now in the Twin Cities?
Yeah, it was a victim of the pandemic (rent dispute?). The Lagoon still exists but many/most sort of ‘indie’ movies show up at the suburban AMC, which is much easier to deal with. The U Film Society did recently acquire St Anthony Main theaters, which is allowing for some interesting programming as well. I wouldn’t exactly say cinema is alive and well here but it hangs on.
Sorry for the tangential interruption here, but when I read the opening paragraph I had never, ever heard of _Turtle Diary_ (imagine that italicized or bolded, because I can't do that here). So of course I did what any decent cinephile would do and looked it up. Lo and behold, while it was issued on VHS, it never made it to DVD (Blu-ray? Forget about it). So, what's next? JustWatch for streaming, which - I kid you not - does not even list this film at all, even as a movie that is not yet available to stream. Reelgood lists it as such, which just confirms what I had assumed by then.
So add Turtle Diary to the list of films that I wish someone were keeping somewhere of media that will rapidly disappear from existence unless it gets a reissue (or bare minimum, conversion to digital for streaming). I really want to see it but there's barely any chance I could at this point.
It looks like someone uploaded it to YouTube, which I think is totally ethically acceptable if companies aren’t going to make stuff available. It appears to be a VHS rip, so not ideal, but it’s something.
The seminal arthouse in Des Moines was The Varsity, but it tended to play a lot of middle-brow Oscar bait and a LOT of "artistic" softcore porn. (If a movie had Laura Antonelli nude, The Varsity would show it.)
The real revelation for me was The Movie 1 & 2, which opened in 1980, as I was transitioning from junior high to high school. Movies 1 was a standard old neighborhood theater with a surprisingly gigantic screen, perfect for showings of Once Upon A Time In The West, Dressed To Kill or West Side Story. The Movies 2 was dubbed The Screening Room, a fifty seat box with a screen smaller than most TVs today and a single Realistic speaker up front. But it had both 16 and 35 mm capability, and in that intimate setting, the images were up close and pristine. In 1981, it went from standard arthouse to repertory theater, and what didn't I see there? Dark Star, The Red Shoes, Nosferatu (Murnau and Herzog both), Forbidden Planet, Paths Of Glory, Persona, Amarcord, Key Largo, Fritz The Cat...everything. Seeing the first Des Moines screening of Eraserhead, in a pre-internet world where it was almost impossible to find out anything about it ahead of time, 50 people packed into one small, pot smoke-filled box, and the collective bafflement and delight as the movie unfolded--it remains the greatest movie-going experience of my life.
As a Madisonian, I'm also sad that The Orpheum and The Majestic no longer show first-run movies. The Majestic does have a recurring "Brew 'n View" even where they screen a classic movie to an enthusiastic crowd. I had a great time watching Wayne's World that way. Downtown Madison is really bereft of movie theaters now. I saw a ton of movies at University Square Four while I was a student at the UW--including my first date with my future wife watching Ghost in the Shell: Innocence--but it was torn down years ago to make way for luxury apartments. So it goes.
Growing up in San Luis Obispo we had the strange tri-plex called The Palm Theaters where they'd show offbeat indie and foreign movies the bigger 7-plex wouldn't show. It's where I got to see classics like Dr. Strangelove and Apocalypse Now for the first time as well as "cutting edge" new indie cinema like Memento.
During the pandemic a friend reached out to do some fund raising to keep the theater alive during the shut downs, but the owner declined. He owns the building and since installing solar paneling on its rooftop he basically future proofed this tiny little theater.
Baltimore had The Charles and it rescued a lot of us from becoming strict blockbuster heads. Went for the first time after leaving a Baptist school to return to public high school where I connected with old friends from elementary. Monty Python and the Holy Grail. About as perfect a choice for that moment as I could ask for. So many would follow. The Hunger, Metropolis, Sotto Sotto, Stop Making Sense, and on and on. Often preceded by a PSA from John Waters warning/encouraging us not to/but definitely smoke. It's still open but is now multiple screens. But it carries on and the world is a better place for it.
As a fellow Dayton native, agree that both the Neon and Little Art Theatre were the best things about growing up there.
Any favorites in NYC? They're slowly dying out, but there are some good spots, like Film Forum and Quad.
How about the Pioneer Theater in NYC? It was in the back of the Two Boots at Third and A. I didn't go there much myself, but I'm pretty sure that's where I saw Richard Dutcher's BRIGHAM CITY in 2001, a tiny indie from Utah about a serial killer in a tight-knit Mormon town (with a featured performance by Wilford Brimley's mustache). A movie I never would have expected to see screened in Manhattan.
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/10918
Spectacle Theater still goes strong in Williamsburg with a very specialized film menu. Up in Harlem is Maysles Center. And in the great debate of the "dinner theater" Nitehawk's programming remains superior to Alamo's.
The only arthouse we had anywhere near where I lived in North Dakota was the Fargo Theatre about six hours away. It had an organ that they still used for musical interludes between showings and some of the old vintage film equipment on display. They kept the woodchipper from Fargo for the visitor's center but they also had a chainsaw wood cut of Marge on display as well.
There was an awesome multiplex in Bismarck though called The Grand that got most of the Oscar worthy releases that Minot wasn't big enough for. What made it awesome, though, was the decor. It was largely Egyptian themed, had a statue of Heston as Moses and everything, but then one of the screens had a little lobby area outside of it that had vintage film posters and equipment as well. I either never knew or don't remember why it was so kitschy but I loved it so much. Talking about it now makes me a little misty, honestly, one of the few things I wish I didn't have to leave behind with, well, the rest of living in North Dakota.
Here in Denver, we've got a few of note. I love the decor of the Mayan but the seats can be killer for a longer movie (I'm seeing Badlands there tonight, that's about the appropriate length of time my butt can handle). The people in charge of the Chez Artiste are awesome and do handmade collages of facts and trivia for movies that they're playing which I always love. The Sie is where Denver Film is headquartered and is pretty nice too.
What great memories. This makes me remember the Blue Mouse, a literal underground theater in Salt Lake City (it was in the basement), which is where I saw everything from Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources to Hard Boiled to Monty Python revivals. As a "good" Mormon kid I always felt like the Blue Mouse was a little dangerous to my soul, especially because it was inextricably linked to Cosmic Aeroplane, the alternative bookstore-slash-head shop next door. I loved the Blue Mouse.
Dig this program from the late '80s, produced on a typewriter like any other 'zine:
https://archive.org/details/BlueMouseProgram1987/page/n1/mode/2up
Not a lot of good photos I can immediately find of the Blue Mouse, but you can see it to the left of Cosmic Aeroplane in the first of these photos:
https://cosmicaeroplane.wordpress.com/258-e-1st-south/
Two Boots Pioneer Theater in NYC was the best thing to experience for a normalized "weird cinema" experience from the infamous Donnie Darko screenings to a projectionist performing a live commentary as a drunk Paul Verhoeven on a whim.
This is a good opportunity to lament the impending demolition of the Main Art in Royal Oak, MI. This theater was renovated at the beginning of the 90s, just in time or the indie film boom, and I have many fond memories of seeing films like Immortal Beloved and Red Rock West there. Very sad to see it go.
But more important to me would be the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. A true old school movie house with a giant balcony, a full working organ, and lots of taste. I've seen everything there, from Spike and Mike, to Cinematic Titanic, to Laurence of Arabia with live orchestra accompaniment. And it's linked to the University's film program, so it's also where I watched all my Bergman films for my undergrad class. I haven't been back to visit in a long time, but it looks like it's still going strong, thank goodness.
There was a stretch of time in 1994, the year I graduated from college, when I was living with my sister a little south of Toledo and would make the 45 minute drive north to Ann Arbor on weekends to get arthouse fixes at the Michigan Theater and the State Theatre. (Films I remember seeing then: Hoop Dreams, Clerks, Spanking the Monkey, Oleanna.) I enjoyed going to both very much, though I do recall feeling burned by the Kevin Smith movie.
Anyway, I returned to Ann Arbor for the first time since '94 for a wedding last year and was startled by how much downtown had changed. Both theaters are still standing, but the amount of space claimed by chain restaurants and retailers really depressed me! Of particular note was a new Target next to the State that had festooned the building so heavily with the Target brand that you'd almost have to know the movie theater was there to keep from assuming it had been taken over by a Big Box store. Crossing my fingers that these venues will continue to hold their ground.
oh, that's so awful to hear. I went to check google for images just now and there's no Target to be seen in imagery from Nov 2020, so I guess it's all new since then?
I need to visit A2 in the near future, but I worry it just won't be like I remember.... but nothing is. At least I can still go to Zingerman's!
There's a story about it here, though the photo weirdly does not reinforce the headline well. https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2021/02/target-faces-backlash-over-bullseye-logo-near-ann-arbors-state-theatre-marquee.html
ahhhh they took over the old Urban Outfitters space. I wish the State had been able to reclaim that space for themselves. but I guess it's hard enough to simply stay open
Although it doesn't intuitively fit the criteria for a beloved arthouse theater (for starters, it was a dump), as I moved to Chicago in the mid-90s, the Three Penny on Lincoln felt like a kindred spirit to what the nearby Lounge Axe was doing for the indie music scene. I know I saw many indie films there, though the only one I can specifically recall seeing there, SWINGERS, also feels like a stretch.
R.I.P. The Three Penny *and* The Biograph (as a movie theater) *and* Lounge Ax. Such a pity what happened to that stretch of road. (Am I wrong to remember that noise complaints from a single tenant were what brought Lounge Ax down?) Anyway, I happened to be connected enough to get into some of those shows at the last week of the Lounge Ax, which mean seeing bands like Tortoise and Seam into one incredibly intimate venue. Good times.
The LeFont Garden Hills Cinema in Atlanta. It had a good sized screen and salty popcorn. I saw many a great movie there (including many directed by Pedro Almodovar). Alas, the theater was torn down a few years ago and it's a vacant lot.
Ah, I went to Garden Hills many times in the '90s. (Pretty sure I saw Crumb there.) One thing I remember about that theater is there was a pizza place next to it that had an exceptional white pizza I'd have when I was in town. Not sure if you remember that far back or not.
Fellini's Pizza is still around. That and La Fond were not demolished. But you'd never know that there was a movie theater, rug store, record, shop, etc. next door...
Hey, look at that! They still have the white pizza! Should I even look to see what's survived at Little Five Points?
Fellini's and La Fonda moved from L5P to Ponce (near the Plaza Theatre, still very much in operation). Junkman's Daughter is still there, Criminal Records is still there, Variety Playhouse and 7 Stages are still going strong. L5P has changed quite a bit but it is still L5P. All the corporate stuff is at least a quarter mile away in either direction. (Videodrome on North is still active, too.)
I loved The Dundee Theater in Omaha when I lived there, though I haven’t visited in years now that I’ve lived in LA for over a decade. I’m curious about the renovations brought to it by Film Streams.
I've always been curious about that theater. I think Alexander Payne has put some money into it, no?
Yes, that’s one of his Omaha theaters. I applaud his efforts to bring cinema to Omaha.
When I lived in Omaha for 4 months in 2001 while working on ABOUT SCHMIDT, I became friends with the projectionist at the Dundee, who was also working on the crew of the movie in his spare time, and I ended up seeing a lot of movies there. His time at the Dundee ended when it closed, and then Film Streams took it over, but he still lives in the neighborhood and sees a lot of movies there.
I haven't been since Film Streams took over either, but I've been really curious about the 25-seat microcinema it contains, where they can show some really eclectic and experimental stuff (right now it's the new Claire Denis movie, which isn't exactly off the radar, but at least it's getting a theatrical release there).
For me it’s the late, lamented Oak Street Cinema in Minneapolis. When the Uptown (also RIP) was repertory theater, I wasn’t clued in enough (although I had friends take me to see Bringing Up Baby in high school, possibly my first black and white movie 😬 and also did once attend Rocky Horror and Stop Making Sense midnight shows). It opened in 1995, at a time I was getting deeply into movies. It showed an amazing collection of classic Hollywood and foreign art house gems. After a year of going often, I became a volunteer (selling popcorn and soda every other Sunday in exchange for free admission to any shows - one of the best deals I’ve ever been a part of). A year after I started volunteering I met the woman who would become my wife (she was an actual employee) and a few years after that we got married there. Sadly it’s now a condo. One very slight silver lining of the 2008 financial crisis is that it had been slated to become condos at the time but the project stalled out. Because of that delay I was able to take my 5 year old son to see a double feature of the Red Balloon and White Mane. I’m not sure any of it made a deep impression on him but it meant a lot to take him to the theater where his parents met (and spent a lot of time before he was born).
Oh crap, the Uptown is gone! I haven't been back so much to Minneapolis (or Minnesota) much since I moved away for good in 2008. Fond memories of (finally) catching up to artistic fare, though at the moment I'm only certain of seeing Into the Wild there... and I think No Country For Old Men? Granted, these aren't such deep cuts that couldn't be seen elsewhere, but they were certainly limited release at the time.
Where is there to see artistic/independent theater now in the Twin Cities?
Yeah, it was a victim of the pandemic (rent dispute?). The Lagoon still exists but many/most sort of ‘indie’ movies show up at the suburban AMC, which is much easier to deal with. The U Film Society did recently acquire St Anthony Main theaters, which is allowing for some interesting programming as well. I wouldn’t exactly say cinema is alive and well here but it hangs on.
Sorry for the tangential interruption here, but when I read the opening paragraph I had never, ever heard of _Turtle Diary_ (imagine that italicized or bolded, because I can't do that here). So of course I did what any decent cinephile would do and looked it up. Lo and behold, while it was issued on VHS, it never made it to DVD (Blu-ray? Forget about it). So, what's next? JustWatch for streaming, which - I kid you not - does not even list this film at all, even as a movie that is not yet available to stream. Reelgood lists it as such, which just confirms what I had assumed by then.
So add Turtle Diary to the list of films that I wish someone were keeping somewhere of media that will rapidly disappear from existence unless it gets a reissue (or bare minimum, conversion to digital for streaming). I really want to see it but there's barely any chance I could at this point.
It looks like someone uploaded it to YouTube, which I think is totally ethically acceptable if companies aren’t going to make stuff available. It appears to be a VHS rip, so not ideal, but it’s something.
https://youtu.be/3iyHEmeGbc4
The seminal arthouse in Des Moines was The Varsity, but it tended to play a lot of middle-brow Oscar bait and a LOT of "artistic" softcore porn. (If a movie had Laura Antonelli nude, The Varsity would show it.)
The real revelation for me was The Movie 1 & 2, which opened in 1980, as I was transitioning from junior high to high school. Movies 1 was a standard old neighborhood theater with a surprisingly gigantic screen, perfect for showings of Once Upon A Time In The West, Dressed To Kill or West Side Story. The Movies 2 was dubbed The Screening Room, a fifty seat box with a screen smaller than most TVs today and a single Realistic speaker up front. But it had both 16 and 35 mm capability, and in that intimate setting, the images were up close and pristine. In 1981, it went from standard arthouse to repertory theater, and what didn't I see there? Dark Star, The Red Shoes, Nosferatu (Murnau and Herzog both), Forbidden Planet, Paths Of Glory, Persona, Amarcord, Key Largo, Fritz The Cat...everything. Seeing the first Des Moines screening of Eraserhead, in a pre-internet world where it was almost impossible to find out anything about it ahead of time, 50 people packed into one small, pot smoke-filled box, and the collective bafflement and delight as the movie unfolded--it remains the greatest movie-going experience of my life.
As a Madisonian, I'm also sad that The Orpheum and The Majestic no longer show first-run movies. The Majestic does have a recurring "Brew 'n View" even where they screen a classic movie to an enthusiastic crowd. I had a great time watching Wayne's World that way. Downtown Madison is really bereft of movie theaters now. I saw a ton of movies at University Square Four while I was a student at the UW--including my first date with my future wife watching Ghost in the Shell: Innocence--but it was torn down years ago to make way for luxury apartments. So it goes.
Growing up in San Luis Obispo we had the strange tri-plex called The Palm Theaters where they'd show offbeat indie and foreign movies the bigger 7-plex wouldn't show. It's where I got to see classics like Dr. Strangelove and Apocalypse Now for the first time as well as "cutting edge" new indie cinema like Memento.
During the pandemic a friend reached out to do some fund raising to keep the theater alive during the shut downs, but the owner declined. He owns the building and since installing solar paneling on its rooftop he basically future proofed this tiny little theater.
Baltimore had The Charles and it rescued a lot of us from becoming strict blockbuster heads. Went for the first time after leaving a Baptist school to return to public high school where I connected with old friends from elementary. Monty Python and the Holy Grail. About as perfect a choice for that moment as I could ask for. So many would follow. The Hunger, Metropolis, Sotto Sotto, Stop Making Sense, and on and on. Often preceded by a PSA from John Waters warning/encouraging us not to/but definitely smoke. It's still open but is now multiple screens. But it carries on and the world is a better place for it.