Does Lakewood Need A Movie Theater?

Jeff Endress · Post by **Jeff Endress** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:40 am

I'm pretty sure that you could not get a full license...I think we're licensed out.

Jeff

Jim O'Bryan · Post by **Jim O'Bryan** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:26 am

Jeff Endress wrote:I'm pretty sure that you could not get a full license...I think we're licensed out.

Jeff

Cleats, closed there is one liscense, another from a bar that is for sale a little farther west.

There is two.

Beer/Wine always an option.

I prefer watching to see who can't go 90 minutes without a drink.

FWIW

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Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:31 am

Cleats closed already?

Jim O'Bryan · Post by **Jim O'Bryan** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:37 am

Brad Hutchison wrote:Cleats closed already?

Yep

I have already spoken with one restaurant about coming back to Lakewood and moving in there.

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Jeff Endress · Post by **Jeff Endress** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:41 am

I think that location is jinxed....From Marlo II on down.

Could use a really good barbeque...

Jeff

Bret Callentine · Post by **Bret Callentine** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:00 am

did Max's Deli ever find a new home?

Jeff Endress · Post by **Jeff Endress** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:05 am

No...not that I know of. They were looking at the old Rossatti's space, but it didn't work out. If she doesn't do something pretty soon, no one will even remember what Max's was....

Jeff

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:35 pm

I don't know if they would ever make a second restaurant - but Don and my all time favorite restaurant is Tommy's on Coventry. We make a pilgrimage over there at least once a month and more if the kids are home as they love it too.

It would fit in so well here in Lakewood. We have the same type of patrons. (And they are used to working in a limited parking arrangement.

FWIW

James Mullen · Post by **James Mullen** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:36 pm

I have had conversations with a friend that is a chef in one of the Tremont locations and is eventually hoping to open a place in lakewood, he wants to do the dinner theater idea. He would like to show classics on the big screen and also live entertainment from time to time. He has looked at the Hillard theater before, but again the parking is the issue.

Jim who is the other location in Lakewood that is selling their bar? I would be curious to know.

Jim O'Bryan · Post by **Jim O'Bryan** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:05 pm

James Mullen wrote:Jim who is the other location in Lakewood that is selling their bar? I would be curious to know.

15623 DETROIT AVE LAKEWOOD OH 44107

Which I believe is Nikos.

Capsule is also for sale and would have a license.

Hot properties are still Vedda at $337,000, and the building next to Barry Buick. Old bank building, still has large safe.

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Stephanie Toole · Post by **Stephanie Toole** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:37 pm

We need signs on Bunts (gas) Warren (Taco Bell, Burger King, BP) and McKinley (bar names? ).

Please don't encourage any more traffic, especially bar traffic down McKinley! Some of us are trying to raise a family on that insane street and more drunks speeding up and down are NOT what we need!!!!

Ryan Salo · Post by **Ryan Salo** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:19 am

Unfortunately McKinley is an exit off I-90, traffic will always be an issue. If speeding is the issue we don't fix that by discouraging people to exit, we just need to enforce our current laws.

We need to attract people into the city. I agree that pointing them to bars may not be the answer but we need to give more people a reason to exit and spend money.

We have 3 entrances to the city, which is more than most cities. We need to get people to come see us. Maybe an antique district sign or something?

If we ever want the taxes to go down or at least level out for a few years, we either need to continue to cut services or increase commercial business.

dl meckes · Post by **dl meckes** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:28 pm

Id like to give visitors a clue about where they might find gas or food.

c. dawson · Post by **c. dawson** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:35 pm

To get back to the theater discussion, look again at the site Mike Deneen suggested, the Music Box Theater in Chicago (www.musicboxtheatre.com) ... yes, Chicago has 6 million people, but the Music Box Theater is really a neighborhood theater for the Southport/Wrigleyville neighborhood. There's probably not a whole lot of folks from the South Side driving to it.

While it does do a lot of movies like the Cedar Lee and hopefully soon the under-restoration theater at West 65th in Gordon Square, it also does a lot of fun things; among the movies this summer are foreign films ... which the Cedar Lee does, so the Detroit or restored Hilliard should avoid those for competition ... but the Music Box is also showing a variety of classic films, like "An American in Paris," "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "Lawrence of Arabia," "Hud," and "Citizen Kane." And while it is showing Rocky Horror Picture Show for midnight movies, it's also showing some fun classics like the Adam West "Batman" movie, "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure," and the 80's classic, "Pretty in Pink." For families, they are playing "The Little Mermaid" daily, but also having sing-a-longs, with the song lyrics showing on the screen during the movie. During the day, they not only show kids movies in the morning, but in the matinees they show classic movie musicals.

All this in a two-screen (formerly one screen) theater. Amazing! And programming like that would make the Detroit or Hilliard utterly unique in Cleveland, and that would draw people from around the area, not just folks from Lakewood.

It could be done.

Another great idea to steal from would be the Westwood Theater in Johnstown, PA. Just a standard, run-of-the-mill strip shopping center theater, until a guy named Andy Lasky bought it and decided to compete with the home video experience ... he ripped out rows of seats, and installed long tabletops behind seats, so that you could buy food (sandwiches, pizza, etc) and eat them while you sat in your seat. And he also programmed like the Music Box, though not only did he show independent films and classics, but also "modern classics" from the 80s, that people just couldn't see anymore, except on the small screen of television.

And that worked, too. And Johnstown's a small city. People came from all over the region, because no one else was programming that way.

All sorts of fun programming could be done ... How about a John Belushi film festival? I'd love to see Animal House or Blues Brothers on the big screen ... or a Mel Brooks retrospective. Or show classic westerns, and see John Wayne back on the big screen. Or a Monty Python film fest. How about the Marx Brothers? Or every saturday before the main matinee, run Three Stooges shorts and Bugs Bunny cartoons! Or anime films for teens ... you name it, you can try it!

Maybe stuff like this might possibly be shown at the Cleveland Cinematheque, but rarely ... and yet, people travel from all over the area, to a small, not terribly comfortable theater, with limited parking, in an area you don't always want to be walking around at night ... and they fill the theater.

It could work in Lakewood. Sure, you may have to program the occasional blockbuster or second-run popular film, but go for the pop culture stuff, the classics, the fun movies that NO ONE else shows, and you'll have an audience. Show kids and family movies every morning, let there be singing ... show all sorts of midnight movies for the college kids and urban hipsters ... I saw at the LA film festival just a few weeks ago they were playing Al Pacino's "Scarface," and having a "curse-a-long" with the movie. What a great idea! Make films fun, make them communal events again ... NO dvr/DVD/netflicks/iTunes movie can top that experience.

It could work. And Lakewood could be the right place to do it. Think of how many people live in Lakewood, Rocky River, Westlake, Bay, Avon, Fairview Park, and the western edges of Cleveland. That's a LOT of people ... all potential audience. Would they come? You clean up the theater and do some aggressive marketing and fun programming, and I bet they would come, no question about it. If you give them something they can't get ANYWHERE else, and that's the shared communal experience of seeing something amazing on the big screen ... they will come. Add in some good food and drink, and tables to eat it on while they watch their movie, and it'll be a great entertainment experience, all local, and it'll attract people.

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:41 pm

DL,

You are absolutely right. We have great places to eat, see plays, hear live music, get gas, and you don't know that from our signage.

We don't advertise ourselves. In every little podunk city it seems, when I get to an exit, I know if at that exit there is gas, places to eat or hotels.

We don't do that. Seems to me this is a relatively low cost great idea and I bet we could get the participating business to pay for the signage or better yet have a rotating type of sign where multiple businesses could participate.