When I moved down here in 1996, art movie theatres in the DC area were closing all over the place. The Biograph in Georgetown closed just after my arrival, the Key (or whatever it was called) on Wisconsin closed some time later, and the City Paper was predicting doom.
Now things are looking up. A few years ago Barb and I discovered the Landmark Theatre in Bethesda, and she introduced me to the Greenbelt movie house, which has one screen on which they show classics -- we saw The Birds and The Man Who Knew Too Much there -- and certain current releases such as Gosford Park. Maryland is really far from my usual territory, but when Barb was up in Beltsville we were there every other weekend.
After moving to Vienna, we found out about the Pickett Arts theatre, which is just a few miles away from home and is small and unremarkable. This week I noticed a Post article about a new one opening downtown:
Tomorrow, the E Street Cinema opens -- the first mainstream movie house to operate downtown in decades. E Street Cinema will show foreign, independent and documentary films in eight small- to medium-sized theaters, adding another entertainment option to the growing list of restaurants, nightclubs and playhouses opened recently or proposed for Washington's once-moribund downtown.
It's a Landmark, owned by the same chain as the Bethesda theatre, so I'm sure it's going to be really attractive and comfortable. Hey, they're even showing :title-reference:"Bubba Ho-Tep" right now!