My favorite theater in the world closed on Weds. June 27:

The Original Alamo Drafthouse in beautiful downtown Austin. When I moved to Texas in that eternal spring of '98 on the edge of the 20th century, I was thrilled to hear about this odd theater that had thin counters between rows so you could order BEER or PIZZA or NACHOS during RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY or THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD...It sounds distracting but it's not as the Alamo has mad social rulez in place. Plus the audience respects the films and each other so it's never a bother

My first time at the Alamo was during SXSW for a cute little film called SCRAPPLE about hippies in Colorado circa 1978. I ordered a delicious pizza, the best in Austin imho, drank a brew and felt culturally sated and hooked.

When Quentin Tarantino brought his film festival back to Austin, he chose the Alamo after two previous times at the inferior Dobie theater. That was Febuary of the legendary year 1999. Geek words can't fully express the joy of watching PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW with its killer Osmonds theme song or enduring the US premiere of THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN at 5 in the morning at the end of the all night horror-thon, my mind encased in a delirium of weed, coffee, pizza as a blonde woman in jaguar skins tried to stop her giant monkey from destroying Hong Kong. The greatest film week of my life.

And now it's gone. With rent doubled, the owners decided to renovate a larger theater two blocks away, The Ritz. Quint from Ain't It Cool News was there for the last night and here's his poignant memoir.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33195

As for me, I always had an impossible dream to screen SKIDOO at the Alamo. Happily, dreams sometimes come true and once The Ritz is finished, I will be doing my presentation at a screening of SKIDOO replete with special guests.

So let's not say goodbye, let's just say...remember.