Daughters First Movie

Yes, she has watched movies before. But this past Saturday, I took my daughter to her first movie at a movie theater. Here in Traverse City, we have a theater downtown called "The State Theatre." It's a beautiful place that first opened in 1916. It closed for a while, but then Michael Moore started the Traverse City Film Festival and worked to get The State reopened after a number of years of it being closed.

Every Saturday morning, they have a kids matinee. They play some kids/family movie, and the best part is that they only charge 25 cents. That's what they charged for tickets in 1916. So the two of us saw a movie for 50 cents total! Sweet! We saw "Finding Nemo" and Kaitlin had a great time. She spent the rest of the day asking when we could go again. She seemed a bit overwhelmed when we first got there. Huge theater, lots of people, loud. She came around after a few minutes, and she was laughing right along with everyone in no time.

This place is plush. Nice huge foam seats that actually recline a bit. Lots of leg room. The building is beautifully restored in a very classic style. Before the movie, the screen is covered in a huge velvet curtain that goes up at showtime.

I think this place is one of the best things to happen to downtown TC in a long time. The first time I went there was on a team outing at work. We saw a mock documentary called "Kenny" about a guy who was in the porta-pottie rental business. Absolutely hilarious. Then Jen and I went to see "The Dark Knight" a few months later. Holy crap that was awesome. Comfy seats, huge screen and uber loud! Glorious.

Tickets for regular movies are about the same as a regular theater (pretty good considering how nice everything), and the pop and popcorn are considerably cheaper than a regular theater. I see many future trips there for me and the family.