Today on CityCast D.C., the Avalon Theatre in Chevy Chase is turning 100 this weekend.
The place was founded back when neighborhood movie houses were everywhere.
And even though most of the places its age have closed, or been redeveloped as drugstores,
the Avalon has stayed put.
When it had a near-death experience 20 years ago, locals were so upset that they kicked
in money to turn the place into a non-profit.
So what's the secret?
Today is Thursday May 4th.
I'm Michael Schafer and here's what D.C. is talking about.
Alright, so the Avalon is turning 100 years old.
I'm here with Bill Oberdofer who runs the joint and Dan Spielman who has forgotten more
about D.C. area movie theaters than most people have ever known.
So 100-year-old movie theater for people who don't know this place matters.
Can you give us a history lesson?
Why does it matter?
Why do people care so much about it?
Well, the Avalon is one of the last remaining neighborhood theaters in D.C. and there used
to be dozens and dozens of them around the city.
It's obviously been in this Chevy Chase D.C. neighborhood for 100 years and as a result,
I think people in the area have developed an emotional attachment to it.
We hear lots of stories about first dates going there as a kid, those sorts of things.
So people in the neighborhood really love the place.
It's sort of an anchor of the small town feel we have up here in Chevy Chase, D.C.
Was the Avalon around in the silent era?
Oh yeah, yeah.
It started in 1923.
So it wasn't, it didn't show silent films for all that long before the talk.
He's just kind of swept the nation.
And in those days, what was the neighborhood?
Were there other stores around it?
What did it look like?
I mean, the Avalon was actually a single-screen theater with two retail spots on either side
of the theater as part of the building and one of the retail sides became our second
theater and the other one is our cafe.
There are a lot of churches.
I know that on the circle.
And I presume in those days, this was sort of a second-run theater.
The stuff would start downtown and kind of move its way towards the neighborhood theaters.
We weren't the biggest theater at the time.
If you go back and look at the paper, the Washington Post from the 1920s, we were sort
of listed in a separate section of community theaters and the movies changed on a daily
basis, which make it really hard when we went back and did the research to find out
what was playing at the Avalon when because it changed so much.
Who are the other theaters around here?
There weren't a ton of theaters right in Chevy Chase, but there were just way more theaters
in the district.
There were just a ton of them.
Chevy Chase was special because it was unique to that community.
And surprisingly so, it's the last standing theater, right?
We've lost so many of those grand movie palaces in the district.
It's a shame.
And not just in the district, but all across America, these wonderful places that had
fantastic decorations and were just a special place to go to see a film.
And really, the Avalon is one of the few left.
And we've just had so many other theaters lost to indifference or the pandemic or economic
realities.
I'm just so glad that 20 years ago, the community got together to save the Avalon and rediscovered
that treasure that is part of DC history, part of the community history.
So we're lucky that it's still there.
So for those of you who haven't been there, it's got on the ceiling.
It's like the Sistine Chapel, except they're holding a piece of film.
What's the backstory of that mural?
And is it like the only one of its kinder?
Are there murals like that in old theaters across the country?
Well the backstory is that the mural was put up there, I believe in the 80s.
And it was one of the many iterations.
It was over one of the many iterations the theater went through design-wise.
Whoever took over the theater at the time decided they wanted to do something different
with the mural.
And they commissioned an artist and the artist came up with this whimsical idea for this mural.
And it is an image of mercury tossing film reels to cherubs up in the sky amidst the clouds.
I would say pretty confidently that there's nothing like that in DC or anywhere else.
It's kind of cool in its own way and its uniqueness.
So one thing that Avalon is not a CBS, which many are.
Too many are.
DC theaters now are.
It closed and then was saved from being repurposed.
Can you tell that story?
What happened?
In 2001 the theater was run by Cineplex ODM, which was a chain that has now been absorbed
or gone bankrupt.
I'm not sure what.
But they suddenly closed the theater and what they basically did is they jettisoned the
leases of these small theaters like the Avalon and then they magically reappeared in malls
in multiplexes elsewhere.
In this case, the theater was closed in March of 2001 and it was in terrible, terrible
shape.
And in August a gentleman and his wife named Bob Zeke and Joann Zeke who live in the neighborhood
took it upon themselves to try to reopen the Avalon as I'm sure many other groups have
tried to do in situations like this across country.
We joke around sometimes and say it didn't become a CVS because there was already a CVS
right down the street.
Bob took this on and he had a meeting at his house.
Anybody, they put a message on the chair who chased lists or anybody interested in coming
to talk about saving the Avalon or reopen the Avalon, please attend.
And I happened to attend that meeting and found myself on the founding board along with
about 10 or so other people didn't know anything about the movie business, which turns out
that was probably an asset because have we known what we know now we probably never would
have attempted this crazy endeavor.
But it worked and we got a meeting with Doug Jamal who effectively owned the theater at
the time and Doug offered to lease the theater to this fledgling nonprofit as long as we
could raise $100,000, which was like a pittance compared to what we needed.
But we did and the neighbor, you know, we put our literally put our hat in hand out
in front of the theater and collected money from people passing by and that was sort of
the first indication of the neighborhood support.
And so Douglas agreed to renovate the architectural detail in the theater and in the theater group
was responsible for bringing in screens and projectors and speakers and all that kind
of thing seats.
And that was kind of the deal and it was really a community saved.
So what does it do different now than the average theater does?
We have an film education program targeted towards middle and high school students,
DC public and charter schools called the cinema classroom at the Avalon.
It's not something that's widely known about because, you know, we don't sell tickets for
it.
And so that we bring in students from every ward in the city to see films that have some
kind of social justice or significant meaning to it.
We bring in a speaker that can ask questions and we've been doing this now for about 10
years and we've had over I think 16,000 or so students come through to see films like
soundtrack for a revolution.
That's a very much a program that differentiates ourselves from your regular commercial theater
out there.
The programming that we carry out I think is particularly tailored to the interests of
the community.
We try to show really smart intelligent films that you're not going to see anywhere else.
Now one of the things that I love that we're doing is we're celebrating our centennial
by showing a different film every month that showed at the Avalon during a particular decade.
Things like In The Heat of the Night, The Great Dictator and honestly those are still
resonant today.
And you know I think valuable things for people to come see.
So we've really enjoyed that series and we do a lot of programming with embassies, getting
foreign films in there, just movies that you're not going to be able to see anywhere else.
Just to be clear, it's not like a purely art house eat your broccoli theater.
You'll still show, you know, the new James Bond movie or something.
Or we'll show kids movies.
We're not trying to be exclusive in any way, but we are trying to make sure that the movies
there are both smart and entertaining, you know, able to really engage an audience and
challenge them, engage them.
Yeah.
And is it now financially sound to the paper itself?
We still require like a large infusion of philanthropic money.
We are in very solid financial shape even though we just came out of the pandemic and
I attribute some of that to the government, DC and federal government support.
We do rely on contributions.
I can't sit here and say that a two screen theater in Northwest DC is a business model
that would work as a for profit enterprise because it wouldn't, you know, we have good
years, we have down years.
So we need to fundraise to sort of smooth out the ups and downs because it is a very volatile
industry, especially post pandemic.
It wasn't that we just saved Bill and his folks to save the Avalon 20 years ago.
It was that we need to continue to save the Avalon.
The community is constantly saving the Avalon every time they go and buy a movie ticket.
And so we really appreciate that support of the community.
It's an ongoing project of love of the folks that are working at the Avalon and the community
around it.
So I got to ask you the other big old grand theater on Connecticut Avenue, the uptown
closed right at the beginning of the pandemic.
There has been an effort, I think not successful to create a nonprofit to keep that.
As a theater.
What do you think are the odds of success if we define success as keeping it as a movie
theater?
That's kind of a loaded question.
But I can't really speak to the odds of that.
You know, I would say the uptown is that, you know, it's a great, great old theater from
in DC that many of us saw some real great blockbuster films in.
It's also really big.
And it's a one screen theater, which is a challenge from a movie business perspective.
We have a lot of two screens.
We would love to have a third screen, for example.
I think it would be a challenging place, but, you know, somebody with that would need a
lot of funding in order to make a go of it.
I mean, I have so many good memories of seeing movies at the uptown.
I would love for that to come roaring back.
As Bill said, I think that there are those out there that are interested.
And if there's any sort of support role that we can play, we'd love to try to do that because
it is a spectacular theater and a great loss to DC that we lost it during the pandemic.
So the collapse of the Avalon before it was rescued, that was kind of the movie theater
collapse 1.0 in our country.
And there are some people who are saying theaters, period, are kind of pointless as we move to
immediate streaming and so on.
You know, what is the best wisdom right now about what a theater will mean going forward?
I really believe, and I hope that people are coming out of the pandemic, looking for connecting
back with their community, right, to have that experience.
The first movie that I watched after the lockdown was in the Heights, which is this grand spectacular,
fun film.
And I was going to watch it on streaming because I wasn't sure I was ready to go back to the
theater and the friends said, no, you have to see it on the big screen.
You have to see it at the Avalon.
And he was right.
I sat there with a smile on my face the whole time.
There's nothing like that feeling when the lights go out and the anticipation comes up
and the crowd is all laughing together and experiencing it all at once, right?
And it just doesn't compare to sitting at home watching something on your little tiny
phone or on your couch alone.
And I really hope that people want that tonic that will help revive their connection with
others by going to see the movies.
Who knows what the future holds.
It is a difficult market, as Bill said, but that's what we believe in.
That's why we're here.
You know, one of the things about the Avalon is we always use the word community and it
can be maybe a little cliche, but I really believe that's part of what the Avalon's about.
The staff knows people that come in regularly.
We have oftentimes are known by names.
So we try to make it a personal experience is sort of a differentiation from your average
multiplex.
And I think what Dan said is absolutely right.
The key to the movie business that we truly believe on is it's a shared experience where
you can hear the gas, the laugh, the groans, whatever from your fellow moviegoers and you're
watching on a big screen.
So it's an immersive experience that is unique in this environment with all the interruptions
we have from so many different sources.
That's really the way we see it.
And you know, that's the basis for it, really.
Can you project forward?
It's been a hundred years of the Avalon.
Movies, role in our society has changed.
The experience is going to the theater has changed.
What's it going to look like in another hundred years or even another twenty years?
Well, I think if our programmer was on this and he meant to, he would say that anybody
who says that they can project where the industry is going is making it up.
My only projection is that we fully intend to have the Avalon still here, you know, decades
down the road.
And one of our advantages to being small is that we're adaptable.
And as long as we have strong community support, we'll roll with things as we have rolled with
things for the last twenty years.
And I think people will always want that connection.
I think people will continue to appreciate the film history that the Avalon celebrates.
We're celebrating our Gala, May 6th, and we're pulling all the stops for that.
We're going back to our roots with a Buster Keaton film, which if you've never seen Buster
Keaton on the screen, you really have to go see it.
He's hilarious and inventive and astounding.
He does all of his own stunts.
So in the movie we're showing Sherlock Jr., he plays a projectionist.
So in a way, it's a movie about the magic of movies.
And we just thought that was perfect for us.
One of the things that's going to make it extra special is we brought in a local composer
who's going to debut a new score that he wrote just for the occasion.
Now we're going to have a live band.
So it's going to feel like it did back in the day when you watched a silent film.
And I think that special magic will continue to last even for the next hundred years.
I'm curious if either of you have favorite personal moments at the Avalon either under
your reign or before that.
My favorite moments tend to be when we have a full house or close to a full house.
Sometimes that's with a speaker or somebody of note who's there to speak or something
unique going on.
And there's a certain energy in the room that is palpable.
We did a film many years ago called Live and Become.
And we had the actor, the lead actor from that film there.
And you wouldn't think it would draw a crowd maybe, but it was sold out three hundred and
fifty four hundred seat house.
And I just will never forget the energy and the excitement from being a part of that crowd.
For me, I already mentioned one of my favorites, that experience going back after lockdown
and seeing the spectacular in the heights on the big screen.
I guess another one for me is the first time I took my kids to see a film at the Avalon
and it was Hidden Figures, which I think is the type of film that the Avalon tries to
play.
Interesting and smart, but also it was a crowd pleaser.
It did well with the crowds.
But maybe not necessarily a kids film, but my kids really got into it and they really
got into the experience of going to see it on the big screen at the Avalon.
And so it felt like they were getting what I was into as well.
And I just love that experience of kind of passing it on to the next generation.
We do a thing in our podcast where we ask folks for life hacks.
Other suggestions about how to live your best life in DC?
Do you have any secret strategies?
So behind the screen, an Avalon One is a kind of an unknown place, which is the original
stage that was there when the theater opened in 1923.
And it's a little bit like going back in time when you go back there.
If you stick your head down through a door opening, you can see where they loaded in
the blocks of ice when they first had air conditioning.
It's a pretty interesting place.
It's back where the organ was when the theater opened, but it's another world.
So if you come down to the Avalon, you would like to see what it used to look like.
Happy to take it back there.
Bill Overder for Dance Film, and thank you so much for being here.
Absolutely.
Thanks for having us.
And before you go, some quick news.
You might have received an email from Uber about contacting the DC Council.
If you are wondering why, it's because the Council is looking at a bill that might charge
a $2 congestion fee for each ride share heading in and out of downtown during rush hour.
The fee is part of DC's ongoing budget talks.
It aims to help pay towards making Metro buses free.
Meanwhile, the city's Department of Human Services announced this week that local hotels
no longer have room for migrants arriving on buses from Texas and Arizona.
The governors of those states have been sending families to DC for over a year now.
Their idea is that this is somehow protesting the Biden administration's open border policy.
DC has been putting them up in hotels as temporary lodging.
The announcement comes as officials expect a surge of incoming migrants this month.
And lastly, Howard University has chosen its new president.
Ben Benson III is a historian of the African diaspora he's currently provost at Case Western
Reserve University.
He'll start on September 1, taking over from Wayne Frederick, who is stepping down after
10 years.
Benson described Howard as a fast-moving locomotive train, and he wants it to keep moving.
And that's all for today here on CityCasty.
If you enjoyed the show, why not tell your favorite movie buff and subscribe to our morning
newsletter?
We'll be back tomorrow morning with more news from Around the City.
Bye!
It's amazing the number of Washingtonians who had their first date at a CD.
Thanks for sure.