Seeing “Cinema Paradiso” on the last weekend of the Park was one of the most memorable movie experiences of my life, something to tell the grandkids about. Mama mia! More memorable than the multi-screen, live orchestra performance of “Napoleon”, topped only by “Koyannisqatsi Live” and Dennis Hopper’s Houston Premiere of “Out of The Blue” (I drank with Wim Wenders and Terry Southern that night; Hopper was too far gone! See http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=6411&SnID=921059501 for a description.) Dunno how to top this. Get a ticket to the Oscars?
Well, I’m not sure if any other use of the Park theater building would be any more profitable or desirable than a movie theater – there is a perceived lack of parking in the area, and any attempt to turn the building into a night club or concert venue is going to be met with opposition because there are lots of houses close by, where people have to park, and we won’t want drunken patrons in the neighborhood late at night. Ironically, there is an excellent-looking but tiny new restaurant, “Vino”, just opened up right next to the theater in the past few weeks (still too crowded, we have not been there yet.)
Orinda has a slightly better situation being closer to BART and with a real parking garage. Maybe Lafayette needs to bite the bullet and build a municipal parking structure somewhere. We need to keep our downtown alive but we don’t want it to become another Walnut Creek.
My wife and I had our first date at the Park (“The Governess”) and we ended up getting married and living less than a mile away in Lafayette. We’ve made most of the movies there.
We’ll make one of the “Cinema Paradiso” runs, and there won’t be a dry eye in the house, guarantee ya.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens. The citizens of Lafayette won’t allow it to become a Restoration Hardware or Borders or some other hideous chain store.
Seeing “Cinema Paradiso” on the last weekend of the Park was one of the most memorable movie experiences of my life, something to tell the grandkids about. Mama mia! More memorable than the multi-screen, live orchestra performance of “Napoleon”, topped only by “Koyannisqatsi Live” and Dennis Hopper’s Houston Premiere of “Out of The Blue” (I drank with Wim Wenders and Terry Southern that night; Hopper was too far gone! See http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=6411&SnID=921059501 for a description.) Dunno how to top this. Get a ticket to the Oscars?
Well, I’m not sure if any other use of the Park theater building would be any more profitable or desirable than a movie theater – there is a perceived lack of parking in the area, and any attempt to turn the building into a night club or concert venue is going to be met with opposition because there are lots of houses close by, where people have to park, and we won’t want drunken patrons in the neighborhood late at night. Ironically, there is an excellent-looking but tiny new restaurant, “Vino”, just opened up right next to the theater in the past few weeks (still too crowded, we have not been there yet.)
Orinda has a slightly better situation being closer to BART and with a real parking garage. Maybe Lafayette needs to bite the bullet and build a municipal parking structure somewhere. We need to keep our downtown alive but we don’t want it to become another Walnut Creek.
My wife and I had our first date at the Park (“The Governess”) and we ended up getting married and living less than a mile away in Lafayette. We’ve made most of the movies there.
We’ll make one of the “Cinema Paradiso” runs, and there won’t be a dry eye in the house, guarantee ya.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens. The citizens of Lafayette won’t allow it to become a Restoration Hardware or Borders or some other hideous chain store.