After dinner, my wife and I headed to Grand Lake Theatre to see Lust, Caution, the latest Ang Lee flick. Grand Lake Theatre is located near Lake Merritt in Oakland, CA. This is where I lived as a child. Driving there gave me an expected feeling - I kept pointing out and describing all the different things I did at certain landmarks to my wife. I was getting more and more excited about going back there as I got closer to the theatre.
When we finally got there I was overwhelmed by two things: I felt like a kid again and the beauty of this theatre - something I could never appreciate as a kid because I was too excited about my folks taking me to a movie.
The smell of the popcorn and the same red carpet just brought back the fond memories of my mom taking me to see E.T., the Indiana Jones movies, et cetera, et cetera. It was quite amazing that I still remember all the different nook and crannies of this place - the location of bathrooms and the stairways to the balcony section. Dude, did I ever wish I was a kid again.
We actually arrived about 30 minutes early , so I decided to give my wife a tour of the theatre since I apparently knew it like the back of my hand. The theatre is beautiful. The interior design and architecture just cannot be found in the newer megaplexes that crop up everywhere these days. The entrance has a chandelier. The wall at the top of stair has a beautiful painting. The details in the interior are covered with a design that seems to come from a different era. The main theatre room had an organist playing on the organ. I noticed that the seats were new, no longer the creaky wooden ones I used to sit on. That was disappointing, just because I was hoping to show my wife what a seat back then looks like. That was the only thing that changed - it least that was the way I remembered it. Each theatre room had a unique theme - one was Persian rugs. Another was Egyptian. My wife, having not grown up here has never seen a theatre like this, was also caught up in the beauty of the architecture and design.
The Grand Lake Theatre is a beautiful threatre that made our movie experience that night much more memorable. In my case, it became the main attraction and the movie took 2nd billing. Unfortunately this type of theatre is a dying breed and I'm just thankful that this one is still around so that I can revisit my child.
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