Exit133

January 14, 2009 · Derek

AMC Narrows Theater to Close - Sorta

A loyal Exit133 reader made a discovery recently and has passed it along. (Thanks!) Tacoma, our fine town, is about to have a movie theater go dark. Here are the details as confirmed by the theaters over the phone:

The AMC Narrows (2208 Mildred St. W) is closing by the 25th of January.

The Galaxy Theater (3102 S 23rd St) will then move from its current location by Target into the Narrows location. This move is scheduled for February 19th.

It’s not like we have a lot of options now. These two theaters. The always classy Grand Cinema. The Blue Mouse. And Uhhhh… Lakewood?

Hmm ….

19 comments

  • morgan January 14, 2009

    Wow- did the church end up buying the Galaxy site?

  • jane January 14, 2009

    Movies are just to expensive. $8 or $9 then there’s the popcorn and pop to pay for. The Blue Mouse is affordable. Every Monday movies are $3… and you can actually afford the popcorn! http://www.bluemousetheatre.com/popcorn.html

  • Andrew Becherer January 14, 2009

    Regarding “And Uhhhh… Lakewood?” I can get to the Regal Lakewood 15 faster than I can get to the Narrows from my adjacent to the Grand Cinema apartment.

    I like to go to the movies. I probably see one movie a month. I prefer the Regal Lakewood 15 because it is a newer theatre with better projectors and sound. I have experienced several technical problems at both the current Galaxy site and the Narrows. I also find that the Narrows has the set the volume in some of their theatres to “11.” I shouldn’t require ear protection to watch an action film.

    I enjoy living across from the Grand Cinema. I wish they would fix their sound in the theatre closest to Corina Bakery. They have been having an issue where a radio station is interfering with the sound system. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas would have been much better without Ben Bridge jewellery commercials and ZZ Top in the background.

  • Ed Murrieta January 14, 2009

    Uptown Galaxy in Gig Harbor is a good option. They serve beer and wine. Century in Federal Way is OK as well.

  • Jake January 14, 2009

    This might be good news for a future Galaxy Theater in Downtown Tacoma. A while back the owner of Galaxy said he would be interested in opening a theater in downtown. Moving the Galaxy further away from its current location would mean any future dt location shouldn’t be competing with it.

    So now Tacoma has NO large movie theater. Is that normal for a city our size?

  • Adam the Alien January 14, 2009

    No, Jake, I wouldn’t call it normal. I’m accustomed to somewhat smaller cities having better theaters, and easier to get to by bus, at that. Here in Tacoma, the whole bus system is oriented in such a way that’s it’s pretty damn easy to get downtown from most places, but not especially easy or – as is more often the problem – time-friendly to get anywhere else.

    The Grand, in that respect, is easy to get to, but people don’t want to watch indie movies all the time. Sometimes we just want to watch The Dark Knight or some other big-budget blockbuster.

    Given Tacoma’s size, growth and the general orientation of transportation and culture toward downtown, I’m honestly surprised that there’s no larger theater down that way, yet. The day there is, I have a far better chance of getting together with friends to see a movie than I do now…and I’ll damn well take advantage of that chance whenever I can.

  • Thorax O'Tool January 14, 2009

    I know a good location for a theater… on that freaking huge parking lot next to (insert downtown building here).

  • crenshaw sepulveda January 14, 2009

    A few years ago we had the Tacoma Mall theater. Now it is a Krispy Kreme. Downtown, at one time, had darn near close to a movie theater on every block. Urban renewal took some of the movie theater’s out, the Blue Mouse comes to mind, it was torn down for the escalade. I’m not sure if the current business model for movie theaters will support a single screen facility without acres of parking. If we don’t have a functional movie theater downtown now we probably will never get one in the future. All over Tacoma are the remnants of former movie theaters. We may be lucky to have what little we still have.

  • You're Welcome January 14, 2009

    I can’t do it anymore. Forget about the $10 ticket, $3 coke, and $6 popcorn! It’s the people: the talkers, the seat kickers, the foot that sneaks up next to your face, the cell phones, the babies… Geez, I hate that overwhelming urge to want to strangle a baby, and it’s not the babies fault! It’s the skanky moma that’s whispering an entire conversation with her girlfriend while the baby is squirming in her lap during the movie.

    I just can’t handle the public. I took all of that movie money and invested in a killer sound system and nice TV. Sorry cinema world, it’s evolution baby.

  • Christine January 14, 2009

    I agree with “You’re Welcome” at #9. I quit going to the mass-market theaters a long time ago because the other patron were usually jerks. If I’m going to pay the price for a theater ticket, not to mention overpriced concessions, I don’t want cell phones, screaming toddlers and full-volume side conversations going on around me. The Grand is fine, I wish I could go more. Everything else I Netflix or don’t bother.

  • amandy January 15, 2009

    If you hate other patrons, just go to the movies on a weeknight. On Tuesday at 8 pm, there were 2 other people watching the horrible chick flick with me. Many times I’ve gone to see a movie on a weeknight and not had anyone else in the theater. The best part about being alone is that I can finally talk to the person with me and no one cares.

    I’m sad the AMC is going away. I guess I’ll go to Lakewood now. I’ll just have to remember to put a candy bar in my pocket, since they have HORRIBLE candy there (no regular chocolate! all weird kid candy!).

  • Karin January 15, 2009

    I’m hearing alot of complaints about cost, which I totally agree with and I wanted to make sure that everyone knows that the old Galaxy 8 in Federal Way (behind Marie Calendars and the Black Angus) shows all their movies for 2 bucks. They are second run and there are still idoits with babies to contend with, but somehow they are less annoying when I only spent 2 dollars.

  • Rob Weideman January 15, 2009

    Hey, just wanted to let you know that the church Morgan mentioned is Discovery Community Church (http://discochurch.com).

    Discovery didn’t buy the Galaxy site but are moving with Galaxy to it’s new home at the Narrows Movie Complex.

    We look forward to making new friends in the University Place/Fircrest area.

    As for Galaxy, we are big fans of them. I’d recommend trying it out before criticizing. That’s the way it should be right?

  • Thorax O'Tool January 15, 2009

    It’s not the co$t of theaters, although that is certainly a large factor.
    The real problem is the utter lack of anything worth spending 2.5 hrs of my life on.

    Maybe if Hollywood made something worth seeing…

  • Mose January 15, 2009

    I could be wrong, but isn’t Narrows Plaza technically in University Place? I’d say when the Galaxy closes, we’re probably one of the biggest cities without a multiplex theater (sorry Grand, I love you but you’re an art house).
    Also, I don’t know if it’s still on the books, but sometime in the mid-90s Tacoma OUTLAWED building a movie theater within city limits unless it was in a certain section of downtown (as part of the push to revitalize downtown). This is why there haven’t been any big theaters built in Tacoma in 10 or 15 years.

  • Thorax O'Tool January 15, 2009

    “Tacoma OUTLAWED building a movie theater within city limits unless it was in a certain section of downtown“

    I understand the certain need for some level of zoning and such (no one wants a door factory next to their house), but that is absurd. Maybe if the City stayed out more and was less restrictive on private property, we’d see more useful stuff built in this town.

  • Derek staff January 15, 2009

    “Tacoma OUTLAWED building a movie theater within city limits unless it was in a certain section of downtown“

    That was June 1996. I don’t know if I’d say that’s the reason we haven’t seen any big theaters built. I’m not sure the economic models would be enticing to any developer. If you were looking at this market as a place for a multi-plex, would the comp sales figures even make the project pencil? We don’t exactly support the theaters we have. Independent of that ordinance, we’ve lost several theaters since 1996.

    Tacoma Mall became the Krispy Kreme.

    Lincoln Plaza on 38th.

    Before Galaxy came along that site was unused for a while.

    I haven’t looked in a while. Are any of the old second run theaters still going? There used to be one on Sixth Ave and another on Mildred.

    Oh … and the Mecca.

  • Heather January 16, 2009

    @6 Adam, The Narrows location is actually pretty good for bus riders, too. To get downtown from our house, we have to transfer at TCC which is just a block from the Narrows Theatre. There are 7 local routes that run through the TCC transfer station.

    @14 Thorax, I would typically agree with you but there are some pretty good movies out right now.

  • You're Welcome January 16, 2009

    If I were to renovate the Galaxy, I would put in big comfy chairs with that little tray table add on ability. Wed-Sat would be pub night, serving alcohol and swanky snacks. Sun-Tues would be family night, welcoming squealing spawn and serving chicken nuggets, plus extra changing tables. Always first run movies with the best sound system money could buy.

    I would also enact a “patrons are welcome to snap you stupid cell phone in half” rule.