Guild 45th is going to be remodelled, so hopefully whomever purchased the Harvard Exit will want to continue to operate it as a theater. I'm going to go out on a limb here that enough of our wealthy citizenry have had great dates at this theater that they'll want to keep this gem going.
Capitol Hill without the Harvard Exit will be a lesser place.
I saw a Philip Seymour Thomas film at Harvard Exit. What a man, many difficult perceptions of a psyche, and great minor footnote in the blitzkrieg newsreel of Slog!
All your future is belong to 40-100 story buildings - well 6-8 there due to being on a hill - get used to it - tried to tell you, but you thought Fnarf was right.
How's that Deep Bertha Tunnel you wanted, that would solve traffic, working out for you, by the way?
I'm not a front row person, but that was the perfect place to sit in the front row. Image wasn't too big (the screen was set back because of the stage) and one could prop their feet up on the stage. It will be missed.
@3: The Metro (now Sundance) isn't better now if you want to watch actually film instead of digital images or you're under 21. The Neptune isn't better if you want to watch a movie on a large screen (as now it's just live performances).
The Bertha Tunnel is an inanimate object. News of it takes a backseat when we have societal concerns and the human rights issues we see in Ferguson.
But please, let us continue memorializing a movie theater.
My living room has better sound and picture than the Harvard Exit. Plus more comfortable seats and better food. If a theater wants to survive it needs to be better than my house.
@2 An anonymous source who would know once told me that the Seven Gables/Landmark owns the buildings that house the Seven Gables, Guild 45th, and Crest as such those venues are (slightly) more cost-effective to run since rent is not an issue. The source believed Landmark would continue to run those venues in Seattle for as long as they want to stay in this market.
@18
I had that same setting sun experience! Only I was coming out of the Apple Theater on Boren, after some hardcore sleaze porn. Any slogger ever go see a movie there?
I have worked at the Varsity twice in my life. It will be missed because I have so many memories there. However I saw a film in the main ground floor theater and the sound was crackling and the picture washed out. It needs serious upgrades. So does the Harvard Exit.
Wow, that is sad. The Harvard Exit is a lovely walk from my house.
And I'll never forget randomly wandering into the Varsity back in 1992 with my hot new girlfriend, totally in love, and having our minds completely blown away by Reservoir Dogs. Still with her today.
My Dad opened the place when I was a toddler and after my parents' divorce in 1972, my Dad started living on the top floor in what is now part of the Top of the Exit.
As a child, my brothers and I used to roll joints for all the artists and freaks my father would let hang out. Some of those artists and freaks became well known over time, people like Seattle historian Paul Dorpat and Jeff Dowd who "the dude" in The Big Lebowski was based on. It was an amazing place to be as a kid.
One time when my Dad was tripping on acid, a young Steven Jesse Bernstein mistakenly wandered up the hidden staircase into my Dad's apartment. My Dad asked him who he was and where he came from and he answered "Jesse Bernstein and I'm from Detroit." That blew my Dad's mind because my great grandfather was named Jesse Bernstein and he had ran out on his family in Brooklyn and moved to Detroit at the turn of the century. Weird shit like that happened a lot at the Exit.
I loved that place whether it was my Dad treating my entire elementary school to screenings of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, breaking into the candy counter before doing my paper route or my brothers and I sneaking down to the balcony to watch R rated Swedish films. We had seen more of Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman before we hit puberty than we had seen of JP Patches and Gertrude.
@22, completely agree. We saw the second installment of Nymphomaniac at the Varsity and were very disappointed in the sound after having seen the first part at the H.E. Perhaps even more than the Seven Gables when Mama Melina was downstairs, the Harvard Exit is located in the perfect vector of things to do before/after a movie. Is there a more pleasant way to while away a Seattle evening than a Lillet at Joe Bar, followed by a movie at the H.E., then dinner at Deluxe? And can anyone name a theater situated in a more lovely place--among trees, old buildings, at the crest of a hill facing downtown vistas? Thank you, @24, for sharing your great stories.
@20 for the win!!!! Apple theater was a landmark that I never went into as I was in high school at the time of the closing. What was the name of the other adult theater that was on 1st avenue across from the then Vogue?
@27 ftw. If you are complaining about the restoration of the Neptune, you are just whining. There is no possibility of running it profitably by just showing movies.
Thanks, Paul, for including the video on the Woman's Century Club, which commissioned the construction of this beautiful building as its clubhouse in 1925. And thanks to Per (@24) for sharing her memories.
This sucks.
After going to Mohai, it's much sadder the Coliseum Theater is a Banana Republic.
Capitol Hill without the Harvard Exit will be a lesser place.
How's that Deep Bertha Tunnel you wanted, that would solve traffic, working out for you, by the way?
The Bertha Tunnel is an inanimate object. News of it takes a backseat when we have societal concerns and the human rights issues we see in Ferguson.
But please, let us continue memorializing a movie theater.
I had that same setting sun experience! Only I was coming out of the Apple Theater on Boren, after some hardcore sleaze porn. Any slogger ever go see a movie there?
And I'll never forget randomly wandering into the Varsity back in 1992 with my hot new girlfriend, totally in love, and having our minds completely blown away by Reservoir Dogs. Still with her today.
My Dad opened the place when I was a toddler and after my parents' divorce in 1972, my Dad started living on the top floor in what is now part of the Top of the Exit.
As a child, my brothers and I used to roll joints for all the artists and freaks my father would let hang out. Some of those artists and freaks became well known over time, people like Seattle historian Paul Dorpat and Jeff Dowd who "the dude" in The Big Lebowski was based on. It was an amazing place to be as a kid.
One time when my Dad was tripping on acid, a young Steven Jesse Bernstein mistakenly wandered up the hidden staircase into my Dad's apartment. My Dad asked him who he was and where he came from and he answered "Jesse Bernstein and I'm from Detroit." That blew my Dad's mind because my great grandfather was named Jesse Bernstein and he had ran out on his family in Brooklyn and moved to Detroit at the turn of the century. Weird shit like that happened a lot at the Exit.
I loved that place whether it was my Dad treating my entire elementary school to screenings of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, breaking into the candy counter before doing my paper route or my brothers and I sneaking down to the balcony to watch R rated Swedish films. We had seen more of Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman before we hit puberty than we had seen of JP Patches and Gertrude.
So many memories. So sad.
I loved the HE, but it's fair to say it was decrepit. Hopefully it's landmarked.