We’re Back Baby!
Yea, you read the title right, we are BACK! As long as nothing catastrophic happens in the next 3 weeks, you will get to scratch that itch. What itch? The “watching old movies in an old theater and playing classic arcade cabinets” itch. Any other itch you may want to have looked at by a doctor…
So you may have wondered upon the following questions: “Old Michigan people, what the crap is taking you you guys so long? And why haven’t the good people on the internets heard from you since October?” I am going to answer your curious mind here today, right now, so strap in. I am going to do my best to present these as reasons and not excuses. If however, at any point, you feel that I am being a whiny baby man, then I invite you to skip down to the last paragraph, where the only real pertinent information is.
What is taking us so long? That has a few answers, and I will give you the top 3. If I give you more than that you may get bored and never read anything we write ever again, and nobody wants that. So, reason #1: We are trying to do this the right way, the legal way, the safe way. At the end of last year we got a visit from the new code compliance officer (he is a pretty nice guy, very helpful) for Escanaba, and he informed us that we did not meet fire code. Whoops. Turns out that in 1930 we had far more relaxed rules about fire safety. Don’t worry, you were in no immediate danger if you were in the building last year. Over the winter we got our fire extinguisher inspections up to date, installed more exit signs (in 1930 three was enough. Three is not enough in 2024.), added our address to the front of the building, blah, blah, blah. There is like ten other things we did, but I got bored even typing it, so I will spare you. The important thing is that our building will be up to Modern Escanaba Fire Code by the time we open!
Reason #2 for taking so long: We have been trying our darndest to get the plumbing all fixed up before we opened. Did we accomplish that? No…no we did not. BUT, we got very far down that road and are hoping to have it done yet this summer. So, unfortunately, we will have a port-a-potty out back for everybody again. We promise we will continue working on getting the plumbing fixed up!
Reason #3: Muh Muh Muh Muhnee. We need more skrilla. It is becoming more and more apparent to us the further we go on this project, that restoring a slightly neglected building that is almost 100 years old is not a cost effective venture. And, despite that, we are not ready to give up quite yet. This is part of the reason we are opening soon, to make more cheddar. What better way is there to make some dosh for restoring a movie theater, than to show movies? Huh? Honestly, if you know a better way, please tell us…
Now to answer the question, “Why haven’t the good people on the internets heard from you since October?” Well…I suppose the answer is, “We have been busy.” You get it right? Life has a way of being busy no matter what you do, and I suppose posting on the webs fell down to the bottom of the priority list. But, we are back now, and we look forward to clogging up all your feeds with mildly useful information and updates.
Here is the last paragraph, the one I hope you skipped to if the rest of this was not to your liking. We have set our tentative open date for May 31st. Hot Diggity Daffodil! We are more excited than an electron absorbing energy, it’s gonna be Fun on a Bun! Now you may be wondering what movies we are going to show on May 31st. That is the type of thing a great mind might ponder. I will have to hold your deliberating grey matter in suspense I am afraid. I do not want to put that info out there until our booking request is confirmed, just in case we have to change plans. Rest assured that regardless, we have chosen some fantastic titles to start out the summer with! As soon as we get confirmation on the bookings, we will let you know. Just make sure you are prepared to blow a gasket on your excitement gland.