I love the Beach Theatre! It was built in 1939 and is one of the only theatres of its time to still be standing. It has one screen and they mostly play independent and foreign movies, but they will also play brand new movies from time to time. They sell wine and beer and the tickets are $5-$7, which is much less than other local theatres charge, which can be as much as $10.
If independent theatres die out, we'll have big corporate movie theatre chains like AMC spoon-feed us movies they think we should see. You can email the Beach Theatre to suggest a movie, while an AMC would probably laugh at you. Thankfully, places like the Beach Theatre will show movies that the chain theatres won't.
The Beach Theatre also gives local artists a venue. They've had local musicians perform on their stage as well as amateur groups who put live shows to movies like ""The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).""
The Beach Theatre has even hosted fundraisers for local charities like WMNF radio, The Seabird Sanctuary, Autism Speaks and more.
Since the current owner, Mike France, bought the theatre a few years ago, he upgraded the sound to Dolby Digital surround sound, the projector to High-Definition (HD), remodeled the lobby and the women's bathroom, added computers for ticketing and concessions, and fixed all sorts of other problems with the theatre that had gone untouched with the previous owners.
To answer another reviewer's complaint about broken chairs, yes, there are about 4 broken chairs (out of 246). The theatre is in a tough spot right now. They're trying to transition to non-profit status, like most other independent theatres, which could take a long time. Then, there will be new opportunities to raise money forrepairs, but for now, the theatre is struggling to stay open. The overall environment is still a nice one.
As for dirty, I've only ever noticed the floors to br dirty, only because people are always spilling their drinks, beers and popcorn and leave their cups, bottles and popcorn bags on the seats and floor. People forget their manners when they visit a movie theatre. Before the employees leave for the night, they sweep and mop, clean the lobby and bathrooms and clean and sanitize the popcorn machine.
This is a great place to catch a movie for a low price. If your movie starts before 5pm, you pay $5. If it starts at 5pm or later, you pay $7 unless you're a senior, student, child or military because then you pay $5 all day. Other theatres charge over $10! See a movie at the Beach Theatre and buy something from the concession stand, which is where movie theatres make their money (most of the ticket cost goes back to repay the cost of the movie). The Beach Theatre sells wine, beer, soda, water, candy and popcorn. For special movies, they even will mix special drinks (Martinis for Bond movies, White Russians for ""The Big Lebowski,"" etc). This is an all-around great place!
more