The Oriental, Milwaukee, WI
“Where’s the Oriental in Milwaukee and the Orpheum in Madison, WI???????” – William Dais
“The Oriental in Milwaukee is an old school movie palace–lions and Buddhas and pipe organs. (oh my).” – Marni Chan
The Oriental dates clear back to 1927, and in sharp contrast to many of our other favorites, has shown films continuously for (as their website proudly proclaims) “84 years solid.” Operated by the art-house Landmark chain since 1976, the Oriental sports all of the original design elements, a Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ, a full-service bar, and weekend midnight screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show — in fact, the Oriental is the record holder for longest continuous run of the film in America (it’s been playing there since January 1978).
Comments (11)
You missed the fabulous Keith Albee Theater in Huntington WV.
Coolidge Corner Theatre is more than just movies. It has the museum of bad art in the basement, 80s love song sing-a-longs (music videos on screen people singing and dancing in their seats/isles/stage). Hell I once saw an erotic film festival hosted by a panel of drag queens at the Coolidge.
The Music Box is shitty.
You missed Milwaukee’s Oriental. It’s better than most of these.
To be accurate, the Oriental’s ongoing run of ROCKY HORROR is the longest in the U.S. – evidently there’s a venue in Germany that’s been running the flick since ’75. Huge thanks for acknowledging our little palace (which, incidentally, was named one of America’s top ten movie theatres by Entertainment Weekly and Moving Pictures Magazine). We thrive on the attention!
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/5550964-417/patio-theater-in-portage-park-gets-a-second-run-at-success.html
I’m so happy to at least see The Normal theatre in the honorable mentions. After it’s refurbishing in the early 90s, it became the place where a nerdy teenager like me could bathe in the glow of amazing classics, like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Apocalypse Now, Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, and even quirky choices like Mystic Pizza and Seconds. And architecturally, it’s a real art deco gem!!
The Lafayette Theatre in Suffern, NY gets my vote. Built in 1924, NEVER multiplexed, first run films, classic films, 1000 seats, balcony, opera boxes, Wurlitzer pipe organ, 35mm (they get the best archive prints for their classic movies), digital & 3-D for new movies, genuine silver screen. No place better for movies in the NY/NJ area. http://www.bigscreenclassics.com
[...] Come to find out, people are very passionate about their favorite movie theaters. After carefully surveying friends and colleagues from all over the country, we managed to get a list of the country’s best down to a manageable dozen houses, based either on the quality of presentation, the eclecticism of the programming, or both. These days, when too many movie theaters are, to paraphrase Ebert, value-added popcorn stands, these venues deserve kudos for still striving to make movie-going an experience. Check them out after the jump, and if we left off your favorite, we’re certain you’ll let us know in the comments (UPDATE: And that you did, and we listened–read part two of this list here.) [...]
moba museum of bad art is at the somerville,ma davis square theater which also hosts the science fiction film festival.Coolidge Corner Theatre still awesome
Awesome. Oriental is one of the most beautiful and classy joints around, especially on Rocky night!
Aha!! Glad to see that the Coolidge Corner Theatre, all decked out in its lights, is mentioned on this list. Too bad that the Somerville Theatre and the Brattle Theatre still didn’t get on the list.
Post a new comment