We used to live within walking distance of The Villa, I loved it, it definitely had an old time Hollywood movie going feel to it. So sad to see it full of rugs now, oh well…at least they didn’t tear the whole thing down.
I’ll watch your movie tonight when kids are in bed, thanks for posting it!

I’m glad someone stepped in and figured out a way to use the building, rather than tearing it down – but was definitely sad to see it close as a theatre. Saw lots of movies there – including a midnight “short film” festival that was great fun.

The best thing about the Villa Theatre these days is that it is almost next door to my favorite bakery – Glaus. Best french pastries on the planet. Well, at least in Utah. I’ve never been to France, so I imagine I could find a bakerly there whose pastries would compare favorably : )

In Coeur d’ Alene, the theater was called The Wilma. It was on Sherman Ave, which was the main road through town. We went there gobs of times. I remember going with a friend in 6th grade to see Pippi Longstocking. In Jr. High, I went with friends to see Smokey and the Bandit. And once when my dad and brothers were out of town, my mom and I were alone so we went there one night to see a scarey movie called ‘Grizzly.’ Bet you can’t guess what that was about. I tell you, I didn’t want to go camping for some time afterwards.

When I was stationed in Spain, someone wrote to tell me the Wilma had burned down. When I got back, the store next to it was still there, Hudson’s Hamburgers… But the space where the Wilma had been was now a lawn, and it looked Sooooooo small.

I remember that it was so dark inside, and the walls were dark red and green. There was a balconey too that only opened if the bottom part filled up. The night my mom and I watched a grizzly bear eat a dozen campers we sat up there and it was just magical to me for some reason.

Years later they built two multiplex theaters north towards Hayden Lake (closer to where we had moved), with many many more theaters. But they just never had the magic feel the Wilma had….

There is a theater in Manhattan however, that does have that feel. It’s in Chelsea in the sort of gay district, and while they do show mainline movies there, they also show all the better gay films. That is where I first saw Brokeback Mountain, and there was a loooonnnng line. But it had the big glass window out front with the ticket person inside like the old theathers had…. it just had an old feel and I liked that..

Oh I just remember I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang there back in the 60s and what a thrill that was… LOL..

I can’t believe you haven’t read the book thief yet! It is amazing. By far my favorite book of all time! It starts off a little slow, but I promise if you keep reading you will not be disappointed. I don’t want to give away too much, but in a nut shell…. it’s about a little girl growing up in Nazi Germany who moves in with a foster family and learns how to read. She loves to read so much, but her family cannot afford to buy her books, so she steals them from book burnings, and other various places. It goes through a bunch of small side stories about her friends and the holocaust. You learn a lot about the reign of Hitler, and at the same time you follow this little girl through an amazing journey. The best part of the whole thing is the narrator. I’m not going to give that part away though, its better if you discover who it is by reading the book. Please read it and let me know what you think….I’m curious to hear your thoughts on it. Make that your next book in line. =)

The Villa theatre was the first theatre that my late husband took me to. We double dated with his friends and they actually had a camera with them. I have a photograph of Tim and I in the lobby of the Villa, I have red hair in a sixties style and am wearing a vivid striped sixties mini dress! I now live very close to the theatre and I’m so glad it was not torn down or remodelled into an eye sore.

Sorry, I just read my post and saw that I had used the English spelling of theater. I should not post when I’m drinking red wine!

Actually, the Villa spelled it theatre themselves! It’s one of the things I appreciated about it 🙂

I think it’s pretty interesting that the machine spit out gold… I wonder if the researched that. If we could build a machine like that, could it actually produce gold? But, it was all together interesting… I liked that the next video was a response to the one you were watching – it made it easier to find the next one, because you didn’t have to look for it! Did you realize that that movie is 39 years old?

As I recall…….. the reason we didn’t go to the movies at the Villa with you, is that they were for KIDS. IT was a nice day for parents to have some free time :o) Wouldn’t be safe today.