Another Spokane cinematic milestone

And so, just like that, the Newport Cinemas closed its doors.

With the sellout crowds that filled the lobby Monday during its final night of operation, the Newport once again seemed like the theater that, along with the Lyons Ave. Cinemas, used to be the choicest moviegoing spot in Spokane. Compared to its main competitors of the day– the East Sprague, the North Division, the Lincoln Heights, the Garland and the East Side cinemas – the Newport in particular was a palace.

Sure the Newport had the same barn-like conditions and high ceilings. But, at least at first, it was clean. At the North Division in particular, your feet tended to stick to whatever substance had been poured, not spilled, on the floor.

The other major alternative for Spokane moviegoers was the Fox, the last of the downtown theaters, whose majesty had long faded.

We shouldn’t forget the Magic Lantern, though its big draw was an ongoing menu of foreign and art films. Actually watching movies at the Magic Lantern tended to be an adventure: Broken film, bad sound, unfocused lenses, and less legroom than the back seat of a Volkswagen Bug were just some of the problems that fans put up with to see films that were never going to play on the mainstream screens.

Mentioning all these theaters, especially the Newport, causes me to think about some of the other important dates in Spokane moviegoing history. Such as:

1909: The Spokane City Directory debuts its first listing for “Theaters – Moving Pictures.” Nine theaters are mentioned, including the exotically named Bijou Dream Theater.

1916: D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” plays at the Clemmer Theater, ushering in Spokane’s “golden era” of moviegoing. In 1921, reports claim that 4.2 million fans packed themselves into Spokane’s vaudeville, theatrical and motion picture theaters that year alone.

1931: And then the Fox Theater opens, causing 50,000 people to fill the streets of downtown Spokane and to create a traffic snarl that lasted for hours.

1935: The Post Street Theater shows the “first full-length feature filmed in the new Technicolor.” The film: “Becky Sharp,” starring Miriam Hopkins.

1945: The Garland, Spokane’s last single-screen theater, opens.

1946: Spokane’s first drive-in theater, the East Trent Drive-in, opens. Bragging rights include it being “one of the first in the nation with built-in speakers.”

1965: Battling Spokane’s winters, the East Sprague Drive-in becomes the state’s first outdoor theater to install “in car” heaters.

1973: The Magic Lantern opens.

1985: A big year. The eight-screen Newport Cinemas opens on the site formerly occupied by the Starlite Drive-in. A few months later, the four-screen Lyons Ave. Cinemas opens. And in what will be an ongoing saga, the Magic Lantern ends its first 12-year run.

1986: Magic Lantern reopens.

1987: Magic Lantern closes, reopens.

1989: Magic Lantern closes, reopens.

1993: Signaling a change in moviegoing habits, the East Sprague Drive-in closes. Spokane’s last drive-in, the North Cedar, never opens for the 1994 season. And an era is ended.

1997: Magic Lantern owners lose their lease. Others take over, trying a combination of marketing ploys including serving food and drink, uh, during the movies (yeah, that’ll work). Meanwhile, the Spokane Valley 12 opens, bringing Spokane its first look at a modified stadium seating.

1999: Magic Lantern closes as a movie house, this time for good.

1999: AMC’s River Park Square Cinemas opens with 12 screens, later expands to 20, all with genuine stadium seating.

2000: Regal Cinemas’ NorthTown 12 opens, giving Spokane’s increasingly sophisticated moviegoers the comfort they now demand.

And, of course, there are many other important dates. And other theaters have come and, in some places, gone in communities such as Cheney, Post Falls, Moscow, Pullman, Sandpoint and so on.

But in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, the future will be wrapped up in four main shopping complexes: AMC’s 20-plex in River Park Square, Regal’s NorthTown 12, Valley 12 and the 14-screen multiplex that is being built in Coeur d’Alene’s Riverstone development.

It’s a new world out there, one in which the old saying could be true: Less may well be more.

But on Monday night, standing under that chandelier in the Newport’s soon-to-be-bulldozed lobby, less seemed more like loss.