Crest Cinema Center

2001 Photo from the Dave Felthous collection.

Landmark Theatres 16505 Fifth Ave NE Shoreline WA 98155 (206) 363-6338

Information for this tour was contributed by Dave Felthous.

The funky but cozy Crest came on the scene in the late 1940s or early 1950s as a single-screen, second-run theater operated by Sterling Theaters in the small North King County neighborhood of Ridgecrest. Ridgecrest was thought to be the next burgeoning commercial area north of Northgate, but that never happened, and the Crest was not a huge moneymaker.

Acquired by the Seven Gables circuit in the late 1970s, the Crest gained a second screen in space formerly occupied a beauty salon and coin laundry, and switched to major first-run fare.

Movie buffs, angered that the only other local showing of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was in 35mm, flocked to the Crest, which had 70mm equipment and was finally able to book a print.

In the 1980s the original auditorum was shortened by half, but preserving the big, curved screen, and two small stadium-style theaters were built side by side in the resulting space. The Crest attempted mixed first-run programming but finally found its niche when it converted to a discount policy. Initially $2, all tickets rose to $3 in 2000. The Crest has analog Dolby in all auditoriums and plays older mainstream films plus arthouse pictures that had their first-run engagements at other theaters in the chain.

January 2004 photos from the Matt Lutthans collection.

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• Cinema Treasures

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Last featured 2002-12-27. Last edited 2/25/2024.