The building that was long home to The Cinema at 5100 Wisconsin Avenue NW in Friendship Heights has been cleared out. Like some other shuttered movie theaters, it was eventually converted into a gym - Crunch Fitness, in this case. A one giant-for-the-time screen theater, it could seat 800 moviegoers. It was known for its 70mm projector from the 1980s onward, and for being a theater where you might turn your head during a Tom Clancy thriller to see a United States Senator or national security potentate pumping his fist during a particularly patriotic moment. You might have also spotted, or even been interviewed by, a TV personality from WTTG Fox 5, which used to be right across the street.
Beyond the high-profile clientele, the theater's architecture combined space-age utilitarianism with attention-grabbing Googie neon signage. Passing through the ownership of several chains since its opening in 1965, the Cinema's anodyne name functioned much like Bar in Ocean City: mention you were going to The Cinema, and everybody in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Northwest Washington knew exactly which theater you were referring to.
Among the highlights of the theater's four-decade operation was being one of only a couple dozen movie houses in the U.S. and Canada to show The Exorcist upon its opening date of December 26, 1973. You can imagine the hysteria of this exclusive engagement at The Cinema, with the Washington setting only topped by the outlandish spectacle delivered by the movie itself. Local newspaper reporters were all-too-eager to file colorful reports of Cinema patrons collapsing, vomiting, or simply fleeing the auditorium with what was left of their sanity intact.
Later, beginning with the release of The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, The Cinema would draw cinephiles from far and wide to experience the adventures of Indiana Jones and Jack Ryan in 70mm grandeur. With the building now empty, isn't it time for one of our few remaining local billionaires to step in and restore the movie magic to 5100 Wisconsin Avenue NW? The Cinema was a true remnant of a golden age when there were neighborhood movie houses, ones we still remember from Damascus to Twinbrook to Spring Valley to Georgetown Square to - yes - Friendship Heights.
9 comments:
From moribund to movie-bound!
There is likely no way it can be returned to a movie theatre at this point. I saw one movie there and it is a fairly terrible viewing experience. There also used to be a theatre across the street where there is now a TD Bank. That was another awful viewing experience.
Rumor is another gym operator is in talks to take over the space and run it is a gym. Crunch is owned by OneLife, so they closed this Crunch to move everyone over to the new OneLife at City Ridge.
Which would mean it's going from moribund to muscle-bound.
"With the building now empty, isn't it time for one of our few remaining local billionaires to step in and restore the movie magic to 5100 Wisconsin Avenue NW?" Come on man, we all know this won't happen. Never trust a billionaire to do anything but screw the working class over.
Movie theaters are a dying relic of the past anyway. It's nice to see a movie on the big screen every once in a while, but it's not nice spending $50 (per person) to do so.
I saw Ted there in the front row of a packed theater which is great for a comedy as everyone was laughing there asses off in unison.
I'd much rather work for a rich guy than a poor guy.
I want the Avalon to survive and thrive. No reason to create more competition for movie theatres in Upper NW DC at this point.
I saw the premiere of Woodstock there. The audience was, shall we say, in the expected condition.
1:29 lamenting about the working class when they have no idea what work is.
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