SIFF Cinema Downtown

2013 Photo from the Scott Neff collection.

SIFF Cinema 2100 Fourth Ave Seattle WA 98121 (206) 448-6680

Information for this tour was contributed by Dave Felthous & Craig Hyland.

Built by the Southern-based Martin circuit, the Cinerama is the first and only Seattle theater built expressly to show the huge, three-projector image. Unfortunately, when it opened in the early 1960s the format was in its waning days. But local audiences had been able to view the series of mostly travelogue features at the Paramount Theater, which was outfitted with Cinerama equipment.

In the late 1950s Cinerama concluded its run at the Paramount, which Fox theaters resumed operating as a first-run movie house. Until Martin came along there was no true Cinerama shown in Seattle.

The Cinerama Theater has been through a series of owners. When Martin pulled out, the United circuit took over, then Sterling Theaters, which was bought out by Cineplex Odeon in 1986. Through it all, the theater gradually deteriorated over the years, and Cineplex showed no interest in reviving the place. Enter Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder, who had fond memories of going to the Cinerama as a kid -- and who had the bucks to restore the place.

So the Cinerama closed for a number of months for remodeling. What emerged is a stunning auditorium complete with lavender-velvet draperies and hundreds of tiny fiber-optic stars sprinkled across the ceiling. The lobby and restrooms are done with 1950s-style colors and furnishings. Allen installed a Cinerama screen behind the "regular" 68-foot screen and announced plans to build a three-projector setup so that the early Cinerama films could be shown as they were originally. This has not happened so far.

Allen leased the Cinerama to General Cinema on April 7, 1999. Bookings under General cinema were mostly blockbuster films such as "Gladiator" and "Pearl Harbor."

Also, the Cinerama Theatre in Seattle has shown 3-strip since it was refurbished. How the West Was Won and This is Cinerama were shown on Friday, June 2, 2000 as part of the Seattle International Film Festival. And I might add that there was not a dry eye in the sold-out house. Absolutely amazing on the 90' curved strip screen.

The theatre was equipped with a digital projector for the opening of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones on May 16, 2002. This was the only theatre in Seattle to present the movie this way.

AMC stopped managing this theatre on August 29, 2010 when the theatre closed briefly for installation of new digital projection and a remodeling before management was assumed by Greg Wood, the owner and operator of the Roseway Theatre in Portland, OR.

After Paul Allen's death in 2018, the theater closed. Seattle International Film Festival took over operation and it reopened in December 2023.

August 2013 photos from the Scott Neff collection.

80 KB · 469x625	80 KB · 625x469	63 KB · 625x469	62 KB · 625x469	73 KB · 625x469
49 KB · 625x469	77 KB · 625x469

June 2008 photos from the Mark Campbell collection.

54 KB · 625x469	86 KB · 625x469	60 KB · 625x469	89 KB · 469x625	91 KB · 469x625
72 KB · 625x469	65 KB · 625x469	59 KB · 625x469	71 KB · 625x469	55 KB · 625x469
50 KB · 625x469	55 KB · 625x469	46 KB · 625x469	54 KB · 625x469	52 KB · 625x469
62 KB · 625x469	64 KB · 625x469	85 KB · 625x469	50 KB · 625x469	67 KB · 625x469
83 KB · 625x469	63 KB · 625x469	53 KB · 625x469

Photos from the Scott Neff collection.

60 KB · 469x625

61 KB · 469x625

56 KB · 625x469

Postcards from the Daniel Wright collection.

54 KB 625x412

• Cinema Treasures

Return to the top of this page   or   Return to the main page

Last featured 1/23/2005. Last edited 12/30/2023.