By Scott D. Johnston
For Twin Harbors Newspaper Group
Grays Harbor’s historic 7th Street Theatre kicks off a yearlong celebration of its 90th anniversary with showings of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” Jan. 19-20, the first of 16 movie weekends in 2018.
Located at 313 Seventh St. in downtown Hoquiam, the 1,000-seat venue was built in 1928. It’s one of the few remaining vaudeville and movie palaces from that era, featuring a curved “atmospheric” ceiling enhanced with painted sky, clouds and embedded twinkling stars. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The theater has undergone several restoration projects since 1976. Supporters are raising funds now to repair a leaky back wall.
The volunteer-driven, nonprofit 7th Street Theatre Association formed in 2002 and started showing classic movies the following year. In addition, the theater welcomes about 12,000 people a year to a variety of events and concerts, including Miss Grays Harbor and stage productions by Hoquiam High School and the 7th Street Kids. A 90th birthday party and other special events are planned for the year. Schedules, technical specs, history, rental information can be found at www.7thstreettheatre.com.
Currently, the theater hosts two film series. Movies produced at least 50 years ago are part of the Silver Screen Classics (SS) series, shown at 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. The Classic Film Series (CF) screens not-quite-so-vintage films at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Here is the 2018 schedule:
Jan. 19-20: “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981, CF). One of the theater’s most popular movies, “Raiders” is a sprawling adventure that looks great on the Harbor’s biggest screen. Harrison Ford’s iconic Indiana Jones character leads this Steven Spielberg-George Lucas collaboration.
Feb. 16-17: “The Notebook” (2004, CF). This romantic drama offers the “wrong side of the tracks” love story of young Allie and Noah (Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling). The annual Valentine movie features the “Take Your Honey to Hoquiam” promotion, with area restaurants, florists and others offering free movie tickets with qualifying purchases.
March 10-11: “Gone With the Wind” (1939, SS). This epic tale of the rocky romance of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler, as told through the Civil War and Reconstruction era in the American South, received eight Academy Awards.
March 23-24: “Wayne’s World” (1992, CF). Based on the recurring “Saturday Night Live” sketches featuring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, this comedy grossed almost 10 times its $20 million budget.
April 7-8: “The Maltese Falcon” (1941, SS). Humphrey Bogart’s portrayal of the cynical, hard-nosed Sam Spade set the standard for film noir private detectives in this mystery.
April 20-21: “9 to 5” (1980, CF). Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton had fun at work delivering laughs as the long-suffering assistants who outsmart their “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” of a boss, Dabney Coleman.
May 5-6: “Bringing Up Baby” (1938, SS). One of the ultimate screwball comedies, this film has Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in high gear as an excited, energetic heiress and a mild-mannered paleontology professor.
May 18-19: “Moulin Rouge” (2001, CF). The story takes place in 1899 in the infamous Moulin Rouge, a garish Paris nightclub where rich and poor men alike come to be entertained; but the film’s style is pure 2001. Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor star.
Sept. 1-2: “Forbidden Planet” (1956, SS). One of the best-known Atomic Age science fiction films.
Sept. 21-22: “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977, CF). As researchers discover and decipher phenomena that suggest an alien visitation to Earth may be imminent, ordinary family guy Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) and a few fellow Hoosiers have their own UFO experiences.
Oct. 6-7: “Gaslight” (1944, SS). Ingrid Bergman won the first of her three Academy Awards as a young newlywed who is being manipulated by psychological means into questioning her own sanity.
Oct. 26-27: “Men in Black” (1997, CF). We’ve long suspected that aliens may be living among us, and the unlikely comedic teaming of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones shows just how wild and crazy the truth could be.
Nov. 3-4: “The Magnificent Seven” (1960, SS). This Hollywood Western version of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 Japanese cinema classic, “Seven Samurai,” boasts an all-star cast that includes Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Eli Wallach and Robert Vaughn.
Nov. 23-24: “White Christmas” (1954, SS). Bing Crosby starred in the 1942 musical comedy “Holiday Inn,” which featured Irving Berlin Oscar-winning song “White Christmas.” Twelve years later, elements of the plot and several of the songs were reconfigured into this cinema classic.
Dec. 1: Ho Ho Hoquiam movie: “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (1989). The biggest single-night movie crowd at the 7th Street Theatre for each of the past few years has been for this highlight of the Ho Ho Hoquiam holiday shopping promotion.
Dec. 15-16: “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946, SS). James Stewart and Donna Reed star in the 1946 Frank Capra classic.
Doors open at 7 for the 7:30 p.m. showings on Fridays and Saturdays. For Sunday 2 p.m. showings, doors open at 1:30.
Tickets are $6, available in advance at Harbor Drug and Crown Drug in Hoquiam, at City Drug in Aberdeen, and online at www.7thstreettheatre.com. For more information, visit the website or call 360-537-7400.
