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July 28, 2005
Carolina Theatre R.I.P.
After tonight's 9:00pm showing of March of The Penguins, the Carolina Theatre (Chapel Hill's, not Durham's) will shut its doors for good. I'll leave the interesting 78-year-history and the end-of-an-era analysis to The Chapel Hill News and The Chapel Hill Herald, but I would like to briefly interrupt the decades-back nostalgia trip and take slight exception with the CHN editorial and its claim that the Carolina "hasn't really been the same since it moved in 1993 from its prominent location facing Franklin Street...around the corner into a nook behind that location". That may be true in terms of sheer downtown prominence and pedestrian visibility, but compared to its immediate pre-Gap predecessor, Bruce Stone's post-93 Carolina Theatre has consistently screened far better films and has been a much more enjoyable place to watch movies. At least in my script.
Given that it was the site of a couple of my formative movie-going experiences, I should probably have fonder memories of the Franklin-Street-facing version of the Carolina. I vaguely remember seeing Star Wars there as a really little kid, and I saw the mediocre Lord of The Flies remake there on my first so-called date. But I can't really remember going there at all between 1991 and 1993 - a period of time during which I was constantly going to see movies at The Varsity and the Carolina Union theater. So in my mind, I've been contrasting that mediocre early 90s Carolina Theatre with Bruce Stone's relocated and remodeled Carolina Theatre and all of the great films that it's been showing for the last 12 years. I first went to the new Carolina in fall '93 to see True Romance. My final visit was last night, to see the aforementioned March of The Penguins. An oddly appropriate last film to show there, given the whole stoic take on birth, death, and life-cycles in general.
At any rate, thanks for the last 12 years, Carolina Theatre.
Posted by Tim at July 28, 2005 07:56 PM
Comments
This Carolina is also notable for its availability as a music venue, at least one night, March 29, 2003, when Cantwell Gomez and Jordan had their CD release party there. Piling into the place at a post-midnight start time (b/c they had to do it after the last film showing ended) made it seem like a secret party. Seeing the opener, Randy Ward, set up his huge and beautiful rhythmic apparatus on the stage in front of the screen was amazing--part furniture assemblage, part robotic instrument (a real drum set that played itself), while Randy grooved on the whole thing. It was his first public performance of Protean Spook, I believe. CG &J were on, too, and everyone seemed kind of giddy in a way. Later, they planned to screen the Talking Heads' movie Stop Making Sense, but I didn't stay for that, and can't remember if it happened. Saw many movies there, but that show was the most memorable thing for me at that theater. People even hoped for it to become a regular occurrence. Unfortunately, it didn't. RIP
Posted by: Toenes at July 29, 2005 09:23 AM
shoot, tim, i didn't even k-n-o-w it was closing. "time for head out of ass, yonni" i know, i know. man, i would have gone back once more just so that i could always have one of those "the last time i went to the carolina theatre" stories. but alas. no such luck.
dammit.
Posted by: yonni at August 1, 2005 12:11 PM