Independent Cinema Closures - Part I

I've been getting around to writing something on this issue for a couple of years. And yes, this is going to be one of those fist-banging, impassioned plea type posts. It's also a cautionary tale along the lines of Don't Let Your Local (or not so local) Indie Cinema Close Down.

To begin. Ahem. 

When I was a girl, there were heaps of indie cinemas in Sydney. Let's see if I can remember them all ... the Valhalla in Glebe, the Mandolin in town, the Roma on George Street, the Walker Street Cinema in North Sydney, the Stanmore (Twin?) Cinema, the Greater Union on Pitt Street and the one that used to play a constant rotation of John Waters and Russ Meyers films - the Encore. Needless to say, all these fine indies are now long gone and with them the rich indie cinema culture that I used to so enjoy as a teen and 20 something.

I remember seeing Leon The Pig Farmer and Chasing Amy at the Walker Street in my lower north shore days (don't tell anyone, please). Oh, and who could forget seeing Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer at the Mandolin Cinema .... and of course there was the heart wrenching travesty of the Dendy Martin Place closing to make way for a *cough, splutter* Harvey Norman electronics store. Now that really hurts. I remember taking myself off to see Burnt By The Sun at Dendy Martin Place one work day afternoon. Memories and all that. 

Thank Christ we've still got the Chauvel and the Orpheum!

It wasn't all beer and skittles though. The Stanmore Cinema was pretty overpriced for what you got and had next to no ambience. And I remember numerous times gagging on the smell of rising damp in the main theatre of the Valhalla. To make matters worse, the uber-cool Valhalla staff didn't seem to grasp the technology of properly carbonating the post mix soft drinks, so you always ended up with a flat coke or fanta. AND sometimes they would leave the outer door to Hereford Street and the cinema doors open, so you could hear passing cars during the movie. And the last film I saw at the Val was an extremely disappointing French film called Red Lights. BUT that's no reason to turn the Valhalla into commercial offices. Come on! That place was a mecca in the 90's. I saw almost all the good films there - Naked Lunch, Barton Fink and Delicatessen for a start.

I'd like to provide some proper history on the closure of indie cinemas in Sydney over the years, but that will require some research and I haven't really gotten around to doing any of that yet. Plus there were some significant closures that happened when I was a bit too young to remember, like the Regent on the corner of Bathurst & George Sts. Now replaced by a revolting tower block and crap arse shops at the base. Hence, the promise of an 'Independent Cinema Closures - Part II'. 

Stay tuned.