Some good news from upper Manhattan comes from a Curbed reader who writes to us about the first meeting of the Washington Heights Film Club at the newly renovated Coliseum Theater on 181st Street. She writes, "This is the only movie theatre in the neighborhood, the only one north of 125th Street, to my knowledge. It's interesting to see the changing dynamics of the neighborhood reflected in the movie offerings."
Full report after the jump.
Last week I went to the inaugural screening of the just-forming Washington Heights Film Club, at the newly renovated Coliseum Theatre on 181st Street. Built in the 1920s as a vaudeville theatre, it had been converted to a quad theatre at some point and, as of a few years ago, was completely ghetto and scary. (Think rats running in the hallways.) It closed in 2002 and just opened again a few months ago, showing a rotation of the latest horror, dumbass comedy and kiddie movies. An enterprising local resident has taken it upon himself to lobby for art and independent movies at this theatre, and the owners are open to the idea. They had a free showing of Ray last night, to assess neighborhood interest. About 300 people showed up, filling two theatres.The theatre owners and the film club guy spoke before the screening, and talked about their plans