Grand Illusion cinema finds new Seattle home

But we're going to talk about the arts here in Seattle. It is a huge focus. Every week different neighborhoods have their own art walks, bringing the community together, whether it's theater or it's movies. It is something that is such a big part of the Seattle region. And one of the biggest parts of that was the oldest theater in the city, the Grand Illusion, located in the University District for decades and decades, providing people the opportunity not just to see some of the movies that were coming out at the time, but films that maybe you would never see without the help of the volunteers who work there and the programs that they put on, whether it's for spooky season like it is now or summer months or films that were shot in Seattle or take place in Seattle. A few years back, they were forced out of their location that they held for years. I spoke to organizers at the time about that process and talked to one of the volunteers who also kind of immortalized the former location in a movie. So here is that story, and then when we come back, we have some new news for The Grand Illusion. And you might miss it. The Grand Illusion Cinema has sat on the corner of 50th and University Way in Seattle's University District for more than 50 years. On the marquee this week is a movie you most likely have never heard of. It's a dream come true. That's really it. It's a total dream come true. About 10 years ago, Meekish Nichols started work on a film script that's mostly fictional. I've been writing that awesome werewolf movie ever since before Hannah and I broke up. It was true to my life at the time. From 2017 to 2020, Meekish and his crew spent nights and weekends away from their day jobs, creating his comedy drama, Mountainside. You're in your 30s now, Felix. Oh, I'm not in my 30s, okay? I am 30. The movie, in part, is a love letter to Seattle. At the time we started making the movie, we had locations in mind, some of them, that before we got to film them, they were gone. One of those places now is the historic Grand Illusion Cinema. For me, it was kind of a no-brainer. Like, I had to film here. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm really, really happy that I was able to get it on camera, you know, before it does go away. The Grand Illusion is unlike other cinemas here in the city. giving people like Meekish and other local and indie creators a chance to be seen by a large audience. Grand Illusion has been here for so long that it is such a bastion of film and such a big part of the Seattle film community. Whatever the future holds, this space is immortalized in Meekish's film. And Trevor Brandt with the cinema tells me, building or not, the show will go on. We're guaranteed going to keep going and keep the Grand Illusion alive somewhere else when that time comes. reporting so you hear there uh that was a story from three years ago if you can imagine time flies um since that story aired the grand illusion did leave that location on the university district and they've kind of been looking for a home ever since in a very unique way they've stayed alive though doing pop-ups at some of the other theaters throughout the area so it's still been ongoing joining me now uh brian alter with the grand illusion brian you have some relatively new news in regards to uh the search can you tell me um first off thanks for taking some time to join and yeah what what is on the horizon for you guys uh yeah thanks aj um so yeah it's been like a year and a half since we moved out of our old location and um we we have been looking around uh but nothing was really lining up for a new location and earlier this year uh you may you may know that the varsity on the uh on the Ave in the U District closed um and we we had kind of thought it was maybe too big for us but we took a tour of the place you know just due diligence you know to make sure it was whether it was a good fit or not um and uh and we all saw some great potential in there so um over the past like six months really it's been a whole process uh we worked on a lease with the the landlords got that all lined up uh we just signed a lease about really about a month ago and uh we've started uh you know getting in there and we're gonna make some improvements so we're you know uh doing some demolition and getting it ready for some contractors to come in um but yeah it's big news uh it's a 10-year lease at the varsity and uh the varsity is much bigger Um, we, you know, in the process of looking for a new space, we did anticipate we would want to grow a little bit. Um, and this is going to help us grow a lot, but, um, but yeah, we're, we're all super excited to, uh, open it eventually whenever, when, when we get the work done that we want to do in there. Yeah. So Brian, tell me a little bit about the history. Cause from my understanding of the Grand Illusion, oldest, uh, theater in the city operating. and so there was that location on uh University Way which always confuses me because if you know the University District it's called the Ave um even though it's not an avenue so uh located on the uh the the cool colloquially known um the Ave and it operated there for decades and decades and decades tell me about the history of um this theater and it's also it's volunteer ran correct that's right yeah Grand Illusion um in its current um form for the past 20 plus years has been all volunteers so no nobody gets paid to go in there and work uh it was started in 1970 it was called the movie house back then um the building it was kind of unique it was uh on the corner there was a more of a like rectangular building that you know housed the the cinema and like a bookshop and stuff but behind it was a house i don't know the history of the Ave but uh in that section there are a few buildings where there's a house set up away from the street so i think uh the the founder of the cinema Randy Finley maybe called it the movie house because it was attached to a house um i don't really know but that's what i'm that's my guess and then uh it operated as the movie house for you know uh probably seven or eight years uh and then in the late 70s a guy named Paul Doyle took it over and he renamed it the Grand Illusion at that point uh that he named it the Grand Illusion after the the famous film the Grand Illusion um and then also you know kind of a homage to cinema you know maybe you could think of cinema as a grand illusion as well um so he ran until maybe the mid 90s and at that point i think he was looking to sell it and um uh the the organization that became the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle uh purchased it and and started holding uh screenings there and they they grew eventually outgrew it and uh opened their their space on 12th Ave on Capitol Hill and at that point a group of volunteers who'd been working at the cinema for years uh you know pooled money together and invested to buy it from Northwest Film Forum and found a new non-profit to take it over and that is how it existed in that location anyway for uh you know those 20 20 some years you know until we moved out um so uh yeah yeah we moved out and uh you know remained all volunteers uh doing these pop-ups uh we did screenings at at Northwest Film Forum, and at SIFF, and Central Cinema, and there are a few other places. But yeah, so we finally signed this lease at the Varsity, and we're looking to move back to the U District. Brian, I have this picture up. It's kind of goofy because it was from my story, but I just, I have it pulled up because you can see the scale of what it looked like. So this was the former Grand Illusion, the one located on the Ave, and i guess the new one's still located on the ave but the the former location and you can see it would it's it's seated maybe 50 people total oh uh 68 i mean i used to think it was 70 but then every once in a while somebody would be like oh there's only 68 or you know varying degrees of the old seats being broken probably affected the total seat count but yeah it was tiny i mean you can see it had this really cool pressed tin ceiling um and then the walls were just covered in velvet uh curtains and uh yeah the seats you could kind of see it in Meekish's piece about the film mountainside but the seats have these this kind of really unique upholstery a kind of floral pattern really plush and uh velvety um we still have some of the seats and those aisle pieces too that are kind of decorative um yeah and so now you're looking at what the the location will look like in the the varsity um you know you mentioned Meekish's piece so here's a maybe a better look at the the seats here you can see him sitting there Meekish again uh a volunteer uh with the Grand Illusion but also created a movie a seattle-based movie and so that was both of those stories but just like how pretty it was um but it was smaller and so now with the varsity here this is where you guys will be heading um this is what what it'll look like moving forward this looks like it seats a little bit more than the old location did yeah yeah it's a little bigger um the varsity actually has three screens we we only had one screen at our old location um and i think maybe the total seating in there is uh the main auditorium uh is you know upwards of 270 seats and then there's two auditoriums upstairs that have like 130 and 80 or 90 seats so um for another uh piece that was done recently i had to calculate how many grand illusions would fit into the varsity and i think i concluded that it was probably around seven and a half old grand illusions would fit into the varsity so yeah it's a lot bigger um but yeah uh we're looking forward to to fixing it up and and getting it running and again um brian it's been a year and a half you said since you guys have not been in that location but you've still been operating You've been doing the pop-ups, different showings at some of the other theaters, the Northwest Film Forum and SIFF, and, you know, keeping the Grand Illusion going and alive since its start in the 70s. So it is still happening, even though you guys haven't had a home for the last few months. Do you have an idea when you guys are hopeful to kind of finally set your roots back up into this location at the Varsity? uh yeah you know we've started doing uh our own work in there we're on the hook to do some demolition um and we've been doing that and we'll be tearing up some carpet and uh you know various other things and a contractor will take over and help us build out some other stuff um and there there are some lead time issues with materials that are being used so we thought maybe uh we would be able to reopen it by the end of the year but uh i mean i it's it's hard to say right now um but definitely end of year into early 2027 for sure um but yeah a lot of that's just still kind of being figured out as the schedule uh with the contractors and materials gets worked out um and we yeah we don't know what what we would show either i guess once we get a date booked we'll we'll uh we'll decide what what movie we're gonna make a splash at our new location with yeah um and so still not an official date but people can kind of keep an eye on things right um whether it's through your social medias or how about this where can people make sure they are aware when that that date for opening uh is happening yeah um so yeah our website grandillusioncinema.org that would have an announcement on it we also have an email list you can sign up for through the website and then yeah we're on social media platforms Instagram Facebook, Blue Sky and we would make an announcement on those so you would definitely hear about it there and then we do have pop-ups planned at SIFF in November and there will be some in December as well so we would make an announcement at those as well you know that here's the date and here's the movie and we want you to come out and celebrate with us yeah i think um you guys had a kurosawa pop-up a couple months ago right um snake road and uh i'm talking of uh not akira kurosawa but uh oh yeah right the serpent's path yeah and uh i can't remember the name of the other one yeah kiyoshi kurosawa japanese director not no relation to akira kurosawa but yeah both fantastic filmmakers though um but yeah i had that one at the um the SIFF Center down at uh the Seattle Center and that was a really cool event so you guys are still playing these movies and it was packed house for that yeah yeah the pop-ups have been uh you know surprisingly well attended i mean i guess they're in you know different venues and some of them are small but and and we're limited to like one show it's not like uh the old place where we could run something for a week. So we have seen a lot of those just sell out, um, which has been really nice. And, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's great that the community's still supporting us and everybody, uh, seems excited about the varsity, you know, reopening with us in there and, uh, and doing, you know, our, our kind of unique programming, uh, the Kurosawa stuff that you came to. And, um, you know, obviously it's a wonderful life. We show that every year, uh, during december i don't know if it's going to happen there this year but uh we'll figure out how to show it one way or another but yeah stuff like that we're just really uh looking forward to having a long-term home to be able to do our thing yeah and um like brian mentioned you can follow along on their website and their socials and you said you have a pop-up coming in november do you want to maybe share what that one is oh uh yeah what's coming up um there is uh oh gosh i should have kept my notes up i know um put you on the spot no it's all right i think it's next uh it's in a couple of weeks at the film center um uh Sofia Coppola her film uh Marie Antoinette yeah that has a 4K restoration and then uh her mother actually filmed behind the scenes while she was making that film and now there's a documentary her mother passed away but they managed to finish this documentary about the making of Marie Antoinette. It was filmed at the Palace of Versailles or something. I can't remember the location, but it was like one of the only times anybody had ever been in there to film. So it was a really unique situation. So Marie Antoinette 4K Restoration plays, I think, Sunday, the 1st of November. And then after that, the same day will be the making of Marie Antoinette documentary. Too cool. And if you haven't seen it, it's a wild historical movie with some some interesting fictional elements that kind of make it a very unique look um brian thanks for taking some time good luck with the move moving is always a tough thing to do um we know that over here at fox 13 seattle um and for more information you can look up the grand illusion on the website as brian mentioned or on all the socials brian appreciate you all right thanks