The last picture show at the Empire Capitol 6 Thursday night was The Spectacular Now.
It was “the spectacular then,” however, that was on the minds of a small but passionate crowd of filmgoers who bid the multiplex farewell before it faded to black.
Empire Co. confirmed Wednesday that it is closing the Yates and Blanshard multiplex, a striking, domed brick-and-glass movie house that created a sensation when it opened in 1981 where the venerable Capitol Theatre had stood for 60 years.
“People are coming in with a big emotional reaction,” said a staffer who declined to be identified. “People want to remember how it was 15 years ago. It obviously doesn’t have the same grandeur as it did in the Famous Players days.”
Kyle Charlie, 30, came to see Don Jon with his brother and a friend.
He said he has seen many movies at the theatre since he first came at age six, including The Matrix and the last Harry Potter movie.
“It’s like an old Mustang this place,” said Charlie, undeterred by signs of wear-and-tear like duct tape on the carpets. “You don’t have this kind of engine at the new places, where you spiral up a ramp and see trees. It’s that old-school awesome feeling.”
Some of the 159 moviegoers on Thursday night took snapshots of the theatre’s carpeted double-ramp and the lobby’s giant fiddleleaf fig tree.
“My son’s buddy said ‘When I went up that ramp I felt like I was going to the future,’ ” laughed Cindy Ramsey, who came to see the dark abduction thriller Prisoners with friend Marcie Gilbert. “When you’re little these things feel really big. Actually it was my son who started this nostalgia, recalling movies I brought him to here.”
Other final films included Parkland, Insidious: Chapter 2 and the Bollywood feature Besharam.
“I’m not happy at all,” said Inder Mohini Gill, there to see Besharam with daughter Sunny. “Now we’ll have go to Vancouver to watch my Indian movies. This is the only theatre in town that plays them.”
Tom Cooke, 29, said he deliberately chose Prisoners to maximize his final experience.
“It’s almost three-hours so I want to be in the theatre as long as I can,” said Cooke, recalling his father first brought himthere to see A Nightmare Before Christmas. “This theatre’s been a big part of life.”
Selina Bell said she had to come back one last time with Riel Suisener, her nephew, who she has been bringing since he was a boy. “Even though there’s SilverCity we just prefer this theatre. It’s comfortable.”
It also gave Suisener one more chance to relive his childhood. “I used to go running down this thing when I was a kid,” he said.
Not all patrons in attendance were nostalgic. Jan Schulz, who recently moved here, said he was intrigued after reading about its shutdown in Thursday’s paper. “I keep hearing people talk about the ramp.”
