Movie theater

Before IMAX, there was Cinerama, a three-strip film process designed to be shown on a large curved screen, giving the viewer that "you-are-there" feeling. Only a handful of films were shot using this process — 1962's "How the West Was Won," among them — until the cost of shooting and screening Cinerama pictures proved too high, and the process was abandoned.

The Seattle Cinerama is a relic of that bygone era, though it enjoys a distinction many antiques do not: It still sees active use, every single day. Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen paid a vast sum to have the movie theater completely restored to its 1963 glory, and while Seattle Cinerama mostly screens 35mm and 70mm first-run movies, at least once a year the regular screen is dismantled to reveal the refurbished 1963 screen, and every three-panel Cinerama feature is shown — all eight of them. It is one of only three theaters left in the world that can screen these films.

However, Seattle Cinerama is a great place to see any kind of movie. It boasts one of the biggest non-IMAX screens on the West Coast, the sound is impeccable and its Jet Age lobby is worth the cost of a ticket all by itself.

By Geoff Carter
Special to NWsource