Older Valley kids need budget movie theater

When Valley students spilled out of schools for summer vacation back in mid-June, the smiles on their faces said it all.

They were looking ahead to almost 12 weeks of freedom from homework, textbooks and classes. They envisioned long hours of play, summertime sports, hot afternoons at the lake or the pool, trips to visit distant family and friends.

By now, however, summer vacation has turned into a prolonged period of boredom for many kids. They are looking forward to getting back to the social interaction and academic challenge of school.

Working as an educational assistant in an English class at a Valley school, I had opportunities last spring to help students write about their plans for the summer of 2001.

For some, that meant a blank piece of paper staring up at them, without too many grand ideas for a fun-filled summer.

So I have been spending part of my own summer vacation thinking of different ways to provide low-cost or even free entertainment for Valley youth.

Summer sports camps and church camps provide fun and popular opportunities for youth.

The Regal Cinemas at the Spokane Valley Mall has a great idea. They are providing free films for children every Tuesday and Wednesday morning.

Sponsored by Ellingsen and Paxton Orthodontics, this film festival, which shows free movies generally aimed at the Valley's younger kids, is in its second year of operation and seems to be a huge success.

But we need some kind of entertainment for older kids. And at the same time, perhaps we might be ale to turn this into a year-round, low-cost entertainment offering.

The Spokane Valley needs its own discount theater, like the Garland Theater on Spokane's North Side. This theater could provide low-cost movies to all families of the Spokane Valley.

And where could such a theater be located where it would be convenient to all Valley residents, and perhaps not find it self in direct competition with our regular theaters?

While dodging the bright orange cones and gravel that now decorate much of Sprague Avenue between Argonne and Park roads, I found the perfect location for a new discount theater in the Spokane Valley.

Actually, it wasn't until a recent fire leveled buildings just to the west of it that I learned the old Dishman Theater is a historic building and part of the old Dishman township center.

At one time, the theater west of Argonne on Sprague was actually a mainstream movie theater.

Right now, it is just another old and somewhat run-down building on East Sprague, housing the adult entertainment business Deja Vu.

This historical landmark theater would have a more positive impact on this locale and the Valley as a whole if it were converted into a discount theater catering to Valley families.

Perhaps this could be the beginning of an upturn in this somewhat blighted area - a part of our Valley that definitely needs some attention.

For those ardent Deja Vu patrons who might be reading this with a furrowed brow, remember you still have the Stateline Showgirls location for adult entertainment.

But think of what an effect a new discount theater would have on families in the Valley.

Discount theaters are popular because they provide the moviegoer with that wide-screen experience, at a greatly reduced price.

Dare I dream about cheap tickets to second-run films and even about bottomless buckets of popcorn?

The Dishman Theater building is centrally located within the Valley. Once the construction is completed on Sprague and Argonne, it will be even easier to get to there.

And then, like the North Side, the Valley will be able to boast its own discount theater housed in a historic building that was originally built and designed to house a movie theater.

I would like to see such old buildings as the Dishman Theater preserved for the future of the Spokane Valley, and not torn down when they fall into decay.

I think this old building would have a better chance of preservation and long-term survival if it were to become our new Valley discount theater than if it were to continue as a venue for adult entertainment.

Copyright 2001 Cowles Publishing Company
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