The battle's done, and we kind of won

Today’s the last day of operation for the downtown Alamo Cinema in its Colorado St. location, and through the courtesy of my friend Jette all kinds of people are coming out of the woodwork to give mini-memoirs about the place.  I’m amazed at the passion some of these accounts display.  Living here it’s easy to forget that in the Alamo we have what is virtually a one-of-a-kind business.  (So far Owen's is the best explanation of what makes that so.) 

Or it’s easy for me to forget, because I’m not a devoted (more likely obsessive) obscure-film geek like some of these people.  For me the Alamo has always been mainly about a good, comfortable place to watch a movie – comfortable meaning seats that accommodate my wide shoulders, and rows with plenty of space in between them so I’m not having to get up every time someone further down the row has a tinkle call mid-film – and get some decent (if a bit pricy) food served during it.  And about having pre-show ads that are oh so much more entertaining, and thoughtfully done, than anything you can possibly get in a regular theatre these days.

(The meal-and-a-movie concept didn’t at first strike me as all that special because I’d just moved here from Oakland, where the Parkway Theatre had just started doing the same thing.  I thought it was going to be a nationwide trend and am still wondering why it isn’t.)

For the record: I deeply love the Alamo.  For the reasons mentioned above, it’s essentially spoiled me for seeing a movie anywhere else.  But my type of Alamo experience can be had at any of the satellites just as easily – and I’ll always choose the Village over the newer, relatively soulless South Lamar location - and most of the movies I want to see are current fare of the sort played at them.  What gets saved for downtown is mostly stuff you gotta deeply love film for.  

A quick inventory of all the times I can remember going to the original Alamo:

• 4 Mister Sinuses (Red Dawn, Terminator, a Christmas show, Die Hard)
• 1 Spike & Mike
• Near Dark
• O Brother Where Art Thou
• Bike Like U Mean It
• Clara Bow revival (and I was dragged to that)

9 times in six and a half years?  I’ve been to the Village more than that. (I would've liked to include last Saturday's Serenity/Buffy singalong on the list but that sold out quicker than you can say "Nathan Fillion as a gynecologist?")  Truth is I found downtown way too claustrophobic, especially those stairs which would get thronged just a little too quickly before and after shows.

Yet I know of some people who virtually lived there, and I’m glad it’s been there for their sake, as well as for the sake of Austin period.  It’s a pretty special thing we’ve got going on here, and I’d be a lot more broken up if the dt Alamo was going dark completely instead of just moving.  Maybe I’ll go to the new location more.

Right now I kinda doubt it, though.  I find 6th St. crowds even more loathsome than Warehouse District ones.