The Crest │ The Evergreen Echo
The Crest Theatre opened with a single screen in 1949 in the Ridgecrest neighborhood of Seattle. It did a fine business as a second-run theater, but its real claim to fame was its conversion to 70mm projection. With this new technology in place, the Crest was able to book Close Encounters of the Third Kind and become one of the only theaters in the country to show the film in its preferred format.
This was when the owners decided to split their auditorium in two for a second screen in order to become a first-run movie house. Later, the owners bought the retail spaces next door and opened two more screens with stadium-style seating instead of the traditional sloping auditorium setup in the first two theaters. In 1989 the Landmark Theatre group bought the theater, and in1995 the area around the Crest incorporated to become the city of Shoreline. Landmark has operated the theater ever since, weathering the storms of theater closures that sacrificed all other Landmark properties in Washington state and the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping the Landmark Crest Cinema Center, as it is known, alive and running.
While many of the theaters covered here seem to be at the heart of things in their cities or neighborhoods, the Crest stands alone on a lonely business corner. It’s surrounded mostly by residences. It’s still as majestic as those downtown movie palaces with its neon sign and marquee beckoning to cars and pedestrians passing by. The lobby is in an L-shape with the concessions and ticket stand in the base. The panhandle houses Auditorium 1 and the restrooms, with a hallway off to the side that takes you to the other three screens. The long wall on the outside of Auditorium 1 has neat rows of framed celebrity headshots.
I was thankful to be in said auditorium for a recent screening of Naza. It holds the bigger screen, yes, but also because the stadium seats in the smaller theaters are extremely cramped in the legroom department. Auditorium 1 has ample room and soft seats that lean the perfect amount. There are aisles on either side of the room that let you into the center seats or the rows of seats down either side. No matter where you sit, you’ll get a good view thanks to the large screen.
I was not initially going to see Naza on my trip to the Crest, but I feel it’s an important film to see and to encourage others to see. The film is a documentary made by two of the four filmmakers behind the engrossing and Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land. Much like its predecessor, Naza is an in-depth look at the current state of the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine. The filmmakers sit down with soldiers and intelligence operatives who have been instrumental in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. While the film doesn't give much new information, the context as well as the details of the dehumanizing campaign against the civilians of Gaza is staggering. These horrific statistics are juxtaposed with scenes of the nightly routines of the citizens of Tel Aviv, just 60 kilometers from the Gaza border. These scenes of the citizens' completely normal lives are haunted by war coverage from the glow of their televisions playing the nightly news.
Screen in Auditorium 1 │ The Evergreen Echo
The Crest is more unique in its programming than many of its main competitors. Prior to an agreement with filmmaker Rian Johnson to give his third Knives Out sequel a bit more of a theatrical run, Netflix would be extremely sparing when it came to where, when, and how the films it acquired would be exhibited theatrically. More often than not, most of the films would arrive in a theater the same day, or, at most, a week before their premiere on the streamer. The majority of theaters and especially theater chains had no interest in this short window, but the Crest was willing to do it—and they had some success being the only game in town. This is especially exciting for those of us who stagger our service, a month here or there, or choose not to subscribe. We can still see their most prestigious fare for a modest ticket price and on a grand scale we can't get at home.
Yet, this year, Netflix changed its strategy almost entirely. We can probably thank Greta Gerwig for this turn as she dealt with them about her new adaptation of the Chronicles of Narnia. As the streamer embarks on another awards campaign, it has its slate of prestige international features getting strong theatrical rollouts with Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice winner La Bola Negra getting an unprecedented 47-day theatrical run. Needless to say the Crest will have them all even as other theaters try to grab their share of the prestige as well.
The Crest is a first run movie house with an art house soul. Their mix of wide releases and indies as well as a few repertory classics invites all kinds of movie watchers to their doors. It is a cozy place to spend the cold winter days or wait out the long rainy nights, and a welcome sight to the northern neighborhoods of Seattle and Shoreline alike.
