Saturday afternoon matinee, recently seen with my younger son Leland, at one of my two nearby vintage movie theaters--the Laurelhurst over at NE 28th and NE Burnside

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First time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark was when it came out in 1981, with my husband LeRoy. I cannot remember if we took the boys to see it with us, but I'm guessing that we did because by the time the movie-related toys came out in late 1982, we had some at our house. That's all that I can remember about it.

I found online that it might have been a playset called "Well of the Souls" (I seem to remember the ark and its carrying poles) or one called "The Map Room." Wish I could remember. Shoot, for all I know, we might have bought one of each, one for each son. Now that I've looked at some accompanying photos, I believe I can rule out "The Map Room." I don't remember any of those pieces. We must have bought some of the 4" action figures, too.

Anyway, I've always loved the movie, my sons have always loved it, so when I found out that it was at the Laurelhurst, I mentioned it to them. Leland could go, so we ate lunch first at nearby Franks-A-Lot on East Burnside and then walked over to the 1:15 p.m. matinee--for some reason that time is not showing on the marquee where you only see what looks like that start of a numeral nine. That movie's a classic, real treat, even after all these years and having watched it no telling how many times on TV!

Laurelhurst Theater lobby accoutrement, the expected and the unexpected

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Accoutrement is defined by Merriam Webster Online as equipment that is used in a particular place or for a particular activity. On the right near the door, complete with colorfully lit front panels, the Laurelhurst concession counter represents to-be-expected equipment in a movie theater lobby. The booths on the left, while not originally something folks expected to find at their neighborhood theater, have become expected in many vintage movie houses which have adapted themselves into the realm of survivor, offering patrons the whole evening-out experience with more substantial food and drink prior to the first-run or vintage movie of their choice. Pizza, wraps, salads, micro beers, PBR, wine, popcorn, candy, cookies, soda, iced and/or hot tea, coffee, OJ, lemonade, bottled water, non-alcoholic beer.
 

At the self-service area at the opposite end of the concession counter, you complete your coffee, tea, water and/or pizza prep before taking a seat in a lobby booth or at a narrow table inside the theater before your movie begins. Self-service might not seem like it goes with the fancy-sounding word accoutrement, but, with the proper equipment in place, I think it is certainly expected here and there when out and about in Portland. What about where you live?
 

Once you've finished devouring and/or drinking and before you leave the theater, the Laurelhurst offers you the choice of how to dispose of your detritus--here in the lobby and at the back of each theater. Portlanders expect this accoutrement throughout the city, in venues where table bussing is done by the patron. I have never seen anyone get bent out of shape about sorting their own--I've come to appreciate the opportunity. I especially appreciate the signs above each bin which make the whole process très facile.

A night of firsts

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Last night, I went to the Laurelhurst Theater for the first time. I saw Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 classic film, "Rear Window," on the big screen for the first time. I walked home from the movie theater, a total of 10 blocks, for the first time since I was a little girl in Norco, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans.

Back then, the movie theater was a couple of blocks away, and I remember going several Saturdays to watch episodes of a serial. Don't remember which one, but I vividly remember walking down the shell road in the trailer park where we lived, walking toward the street perpendicular to the road between two rows of trailers, walking toward the levee that enclosed the Mississippi River. That levee soared above me, it seemed. I remember once seeing the smokestack of some sort of ship moving slowly by. I was in elementary school, maybe eight years old. I was short which added to my impression of the height of the levee. I remember that the smokestack was blue and white and yellow; there might have been a star on it. And here's why I only saw several episodes--my Daddy's job, building water cooling towers for industrial purposes, took us from place to place all across the country. The longest we lived anywhere was three months, the shortest overnight in Enid, Oklahoma--the supplies to build the cooling tower were not on site, so we were sent back to Borger, Texas, to work on another one there.

I don't have any trouble remembering scenes and the setting and the plot of "Rear Window." It is my favorite film, probably seen it on TV a dozen times. I feel blessed to have been able to see it tonight on the big screen. I never get tired of watching Jimmy Stewart act, seemingly without effort. I never get tired of watching Grace Kelly glow on screen. The characters played by Thelma Ritter, Wendall Corey and Raymond Burr-all so well done. And let's not forget the folks who lived in the other apartments overlooking the courtyard. Intriguing to be sure. No wonder Jimmy Stewart's character couldn't stop watching. He could go no where else, so he found the perfect way to spend time.


The lobby, looking toward the box office.


The theater where I watched "Rear Window." There are narrow, rectangular tables in part of the seating area, on every other row, I think. Until everyone ate their slices of pizza they'd bought in the lobby, I have to admit to sensory confusion--smelling pizza in a movie theater struck me as weird.

And the icing on the cake, this delicious neon all over the marquee.