Skip to main content

At the Movies


 

We have pools, parks, and pathways. We have restaurants of many varieties, offering eat in and take out. We have outdoor concerts from Spring through Fall. We have splashpads in community plazas, cocktails at the Mall food court and a fancy dog park with a bar is under construction. We have everything, right?

Then I read this on the Columbia, MD Reddit:

Which theaters do the cinefiles/film enthusiasts go to?

Moving from Texas where we enjoyed our Alamo Drafthouse's Season Pass. I know there is an Alamo in D.C., but do people in the Columbia area have local theaters they prefer?

I looked up Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Oh my word.

Howard County has two movie theatres: AMC at the Mall and Cinemark Columbia Snowden. That’s it. And we have nothing that approaches Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. You can read about their mission and what they do here. It’s not simply the usual first-run movie house with food and drinks added. They show a variety of films - - classic, obscure, indie, foreign language films - - and they even have themed movie night events with specialized menus.

Holy cow.

There's an Alamo in DC if this concept intrigues you and you don’t mind making the trip. 

I’m not saying that HoCo absolutely needs an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema to consider itself a truly up-and-coming, ‘happening’ place. (Sorry, just can’t type the word ‘vibrant’ one more time.)  But I can see what a big draw a place like Alamo would be, and for more than just one age group. 

For myself, I’m far more excited at the prospect of the Lakefront Library. Still, I’ll never be able to get a lively IPA delivered to a table at the library, but, somehow I think I’ll live. 

What do you think?


Village Green/Town² Comments





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
1 comment
Read more

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more