Sewers of Paris: Who Killed the Cinema Palace? (Ep 521 - Hitchcock/Christopher)
Added 2025-05-29 16:00:11 +0000 UTC
My guest on The Sewers of Paris podcast this week is writer Christopher Tradowsky, who loves nothing more than to slip into the sanctuary of an old-fashioned movie palace, to commune with strangers all indulging together in whatever escape is unspooling up on the screen. These days, those great vintage movie houses are getting harder to find. But Christopher’s extending an invitation to discover that magic through his new book, Midnight at the Cinema Palace, a novel about three friends — or maybe more? — whose love of film draws them into a 1990s-era film noir.
Also -- if you're in Seattle, come grab a signed copy of my book, Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, hang out and chat about great queer comedy, and pick up some freebies next Sunday June 8 -- I'll be at Northgate Barnes & Noble, signing books & showing my favorite sitcom clips. It's right off the Northgate light rail stop -- see you there!
Comments
Here’s a little story I wrote a while ago….. Destroy All Monsters My memory is foggy, but I think it was a Saturday night in 1971, and I was waiting at my old La Selva neighborhood home to be picked by my friend up the street, Robert M. Robert was a brilliant guy who had gone all the way through Valmonte Elementary, Malaga Cove Jr. High, and, at the time, PV High with me. He was one of the smartest kids at school, and he had access to a car! And not just any car, but a noisy relic of a station wagon he would shift by pushing the buttons on the dash board. Occasionally we would hang out together and he would drive me to a movie or some musical performance. Our favorite movie house was, of course, the old Fox Redondo Theater at the north end of the Redondo Pier area. The Fox Redondo was an old Spanish Revival movie house built in the twenties, and admittedly, it had seen better days. The building was dilapidated and smelled dank. And, an occasional wharf rat might run across your shoes! But, you could tell it was at one time a beauty, and if it hadn't been in Re-Condo Beach, it might have survived and been restored. I had seen many Disney movies there as a child, but this was no longer a place for children. However, rowdy teenagers loved it! Robert and I had recently seen a revival showing of Rosemary's Baby there. On the way home, Robert confessed that he thought Mia Farrow was sexy. And I, being the closet case I was, said that she was too flat chested to be appealing to me. To which Robert replied "You don't f' the t's". Well, I was at a loss for words, but as smart as he was, I learned years later that he wasn't always right. But, I digress. Recently, at the Theater, they showed a string of Japanese Monster movies, and hordes of teenagers from across the South Bay would come hoot and holler at the screen during the absurd movies. This night was the showing of probably the most fabulous of all these movies, Destroy All Monsters! It showcased most all of the Japanese movie monsters of the 50's and 60's. We met another school friend at the theater, Charles K. . Charles was also a brilliant guy with an enviable wit, and an unexpected worldliness. Once in Malaga Cove Jr. High, I told Charles that I enjoyed watching a Mae West Film festival on local T.V. hosted by either Tom Hattan or Johnny Grant. And, without skipping a beat, Charles, as a matter of fact, stated that Mae West had a huge homosexual following, and was even rumored to be a man in drag. He said this with no derision, it was just one of the millions of bits of information he stored in his formidable mind. I think I backtracked and said I really didn't like her that much. Anyway, we got seated among the crowd. The lights went down and, above the dankness, you could smell weed wafting through the air. The kids grew rowdier and more ribald. Groups of kids were trying to outdo others with their clever on the spot critiques of the film. I remember the Monster, Mothra, being zapped by some kind of ray and Charles yelling out in a feigned Yiddish accent, "Be good to your Mothra!" We howled at his timing and talent. Kids started running around the theater. Some ran out the back exit door. A few minutes later, there were two concussive explosive sounds slamming against the back exit door! The until now missing usher raced back and opened the door to find, not the desecrated ghosts of Lady and The Tramp, or Haley Mills, but two bricks laying on the ground. That did it! Soon the lights went on, the projector sputtered to a stop, and we were all told to leave. Just a couple of years later, the Fox Redondo was demolished. What a shame!
Jim
2025-05-30 19:22:43 +0000 UTCThanks. Yeah, so many old theatres were demolished, or repurposed. I used to go to one, The Fox Redondo, in Redondo Beach, Ca. when I was a kid. A beautiful old Spanish building. It was levelled for condos and restaurants in the mid 70's. Another, The Strand, was divided into three theaters and then became condos in the 80's. My husband and I were all about going to the movies before Covid, but our favorite art house theater changed hands afterwards and seems to be just showing popular fodder now. And, as far as crater where a bomb went off, Yes! I'm 71 and my husband is 85 and we've been together for 47 years and it seems like the whole generation between us evaporated! Well, not entirely, but enough to be very noticeable.
Jim
2025-05-30 14:25:30 +0000 UTC
