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The incessant drumbeat of bookstores, single-screen theaters, dive bars, and performance spaces closing can be one of the most depressing things about covering the culture beat. (I mean,
Viracocha? Jesus Christ.)
So it’s with great pleasure that we take note of the Aquarius Theatre’s reopening. Granted, it’s a ways away in Palo Alto and was never, but it’s a historic structure that’s thriving in suburbia with any number of multiplexes nearby. Built in 1969 at the dawning of the Age of Aquarius and owned by Landmark since 1985, it’s right near Stanford University and its two screens hosted the premieres for a Francis Ford Coppola film or two.
At a time when dual-screen cinemas are disappearing (the 4-Star in the Richmond was
put up for sale only last month), it’s good to know that a company is actually plowing money into a kapow-blue art house. The grand reopening is next
Thursday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m., when moviegoers can see the Marx Brothers’ classic
Duck Soup and get some free soda and popcorn. The first two films of opening weekend are
The Stanford Prison Experiment (timely!) and
The Third Man.
Who is Harry Lime? Watch the greatest sewer chase scene in cinematic history and find out next weekend in Palo Alto!
Landmark Aquarius Theatre, 430 Emerson, Palo Alto, 650-327-3241.
