Palm Theatre, San Luis Obispo facts for kids

The Palm Theatre is a special movie theater in the old Chinatown area of San Luis Obispo, California. It's known for showing independent films.

How The Palm Theatre Started

The Palm Theatre was started by Jim and Patty Dee in 1988. Before this, they opened another movie theater called The Rainbow in 1979. The Rainbow was San Luis Obispo's first "art house" cinema. This means it showed unique and independent films.

In 1988, Jim and Patty wanted to have a bigger theater. So, they opened The Palm Theatre. But it was too hard to run both theaters at the same time. Because of this, The Rainbow closed in 1989.

Early Days of the Theater

Jim Dee opened The Palm Theatre in August 1988. It is located in downtown San Luis Obispo. His wife, Patty, helped a lot. She was the contractor for renovating the building. The building used to be an employment office.

Building Design and Screens

The building was built in 1955. It was not made to be a movie theater. This made its design a bit unusual. The Palm Theatre has three movie screens. It can seat a total of 268 people. The biggest screen seats 124 people. The two smaller screens seat 89 and 39 people. This is a small number compared to many other theaters.

Because of the building's original design, The Palm Theatre needed three separate projection rooms. Each room projects movies onto one screen. Most modern theaters have just one projection room for all screens.

Facing Challenges

The first few years were tough for The Palm Theatre. Changing a public office building into a movie theater was hard. It was also very expensive. The theater mainly showed independent and art house films. These movies were not attracting many people. Jim Dee hoped that students from California Polytechnic State University and Cuesta College would be interested. But this was not the case.

There were also problems with the building's owner. Jim Dee wanted to buy the building. In 1991, he got a loan to buy it. But buying the building cost so much money. It almost made Jim and the theater go bankrupt.

Finding Success

Luckily, these money problems got better. In the early 1990s, smaller budget films became a bit more popular. Movies like "Working Girl" helped. In 1992 and 1993, business for The Palm Theatre grew a lot.

The Palm Theatre Today

The Palm Theatre is known for showing independent, foreign, and art house films. But it also shows some low-budget mainstream movies. For example, in 2007, they showed the movie Juno. This movie became the most successful film ever shown at The Palm Theatre. They even brought it back for a longer time.

Jim Dee chooses all the movies. He likes films that are "below radar." This means they are not widely known. He also asks moviegoers for their ideas. The Palm Theatre is also used by Cal Poly film classes. The university does not have its own facilities to show 35 mm films.

Competing with Larger Theaters

In recent years, independent theaters have faced difficulties. They say that bigger theater chains try to stop them. These chains might try to keep popular films from independent theaters. Many mainstream films shown at The Palm Theatre are "second run" movies. This means they are shown after bigger theaters have finished with them.

It has become harder to show second-run movies. Many Hollywood studios now release movies on DVD sooner. This is to make more money and stop piracy. But Jim Dee still believes that watching movies with a crowd is special. He thinks The Palm Theatre will continue to be popular.

Jim Dee was featured in an article in the Los Angeles Times. The article was called "Art of Survival at the Art House." It talked about how independent film distribution was changing. It said that The Palm Theatre was at the other end of the independent film world from big festivals like Sundance.

Who Visits The Palm Theatre?

The Palm Theatre is in a popular shopping area in downtown San Luis Obispo. There are also two colleges in the city. But college students do not make up most of the theater's income. The Palm often shows more unique films. This makes it hard to attract college students. This is probably because the Fremont Theater and Downtown Cinemas are nearby. They both show more mainstream movies and big Hollywood blockbusters.

Instead, it is the older people in San Luis Obispo who often fill the seats. They come from the city and nearby communities. They especially come on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

San Luis Obispo International Film Festival

The Palm Theatre has been part of the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival (SLOIFF) since it began in 1993. Jim Dee, the owner of The Palm Theatre, was one of the five people who started the festival. The others were Mary Harris, Cathy Peacock, Lee Cogan, and Jim's wife, Patty Dee. In 2007, The Palm Theatre played its biggest role. It held over 90 percent of the festival's movie showings.

Festival History and Awards

The festival started as a week-long event. It celebrated director George Sidney and other classic films. These films had been out of theaters for a long time. Now, SLOIFF is a week-long event for independent filmmakers. They can show their films to an audience and get feedback. The Palm Theatre is a main part of the festival. Other local theaters like The Fremont and San Luis Obispo Little Theatre also show some films.

SLOIFF gives out several awards each year. The King Vidor Award is named after a local filmmaker named King Vidor (1894–1982). This award is given to actors and filmmakers. It honors their artistic achievements in movies. Jim Dee received this award in 1999. He was honored for being the long-time owner of The Palm Theatre. He also supported SLOIFF every year since 1993. The actor Morgan Freeman won the award in 2006.