1449 Potomac Ave. Dormont's Hollywood Theater. Circa 1933.
It's not just a theater. It's a landmark.
Enter through the front doors and you'll be greeted by a smiling clerk, the gateway to a night of endless popcorn joy. Yell out your favorite movie lines and you'll be eagerly accepted rather than arrogantly shushed. Crowd the balcony rows with your best buddies and you'll have a night to remember.
But one thing you won't see: a line of people experiencing the same thing. At least not anymore.
My father, who worked at the theater from 1988 to 1990, saw the theater when it was in its finest state. He grew up in Dormont in a time when the Hollywood was the area's social center. It was always crowded. It was always playing first-run movies. It was the perfect place to go to hook up with friends and catch a movie.
"It had a neighborhood charm to it," says my dad. "There were three movie theaters within walking distance, and they were all single-screen movie theaters. That was the day of neighborhood movie theaters."
Oh, how things have changed.
Now, neighborhood charm doesn't matter one bit. Jared Lanier, a computer programmer recognized as the father of virtual reality technology, proposes that convenience is a consumer's main priority, and that this will bring movie theaters to the antiquity stage.
"As for theaters, I wish them a long, healthy continued life, but imagine a world in which a superb fifty-dollar projector can be set up anywhere, in the woods or at the beach, and generate as good an experience. This is the world we will live in within a decade," Lanier writes in his manifesto, You Are Not A Gadget.
"As for theaters, I wish them a long, healthy continued life, but imagine a world in which a superb fifty-dollar projector can be set up anywhere, in the woods or at the beach, and generate as good an experience. This is the world we will live in within a decade," Lanier writes in his manifesto, You Are Not A Gadget.
So how does a single-screen movie theater like the Hollywood survive in the digital age? Sadly, it can't. The only thing that is keeping the theater open is the Friends of the Hollywood Theater (FOHT), a group of volunteers who have put incredible amounts of time and money into maintenance.
Recently, the Hollywood Theater made an appearance in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a movie shot in Pittsburgh. The film's characters participate in a lively showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a cult flick frequently shown in the theater.
In the scene, the theater is packed, and rightfully so (the movie takes place in the '80s.) It makes me sad. My dad says the place used to have energy.
Not anymore.
In a few years, people will pass the vacant Hollywood Theater and say, "I remember." Ironically, those will probably be the same people who have Netflix subscriptions and BitTorrent accounts. You know, the evil creatures that are putting iconic theaters out of business.
For now, enjoy it while it's here. Pick up your girlfriend, park on Potomac, grab some popcorn, and cherish the mystique before it's gone.
In the scene, the theater is packed, and rightfully so (the movie takes place in the '80s.) It makes me sad. My dad says the place used to have energy.
Not anymore.
In a few years, people will pass the vacant Hollywood Theater and say, "I remember." Ironically, those will probably be the same people who have Netflix subscriptions and BitTorrent accounts. You know, the evil creatures that are putting iconic theaters out of business.
For now, enjoy it while it's here. Pick up your girlfriend, park on Potomac, grab some popcorn, and cherish the mystique before it's gone.
