Amongst the big screens and pounding speakers, movie theaters serve as a place for connection. Buried under the larger theater corporations in Austin, neighborhood cinema centers provide a smaller gathering place for members of the communities they serve. The size allows for increased engagement with the theater due to factors such as lower cost, more personalized decisions over movies, and alternative spaces for events.
One of these smaller theaters is Eastside Cinema within the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex (Millenium). According to the Austin Chronicle, this theater is one of the only ones east of Interstate 35 (I-35) despite the surrounding area having a history of cinema. From 1935 to 1973, the Harlem Theater on 12th street and Salina street ran as a business catered towards Black families, until it burned down in a fire. The project of bringing a cinema back to East Austin began with the start of the Millennium in 1999. A theater was included, but eventually, it shut down due to costs and lack of renovations in 2011. With help from Josh Frank, owner of Blue Starlite Drive-Ins, the task of reopening the theater was completed, and today it operates as a community staple.
“I was always curious as I had heard there was a lost unused cinema on the East side but never saw it,” Frank said. “Years later I was offered a chance to see it, and when I did I told Millennium that I’d love to relaunch with them because I believed it was a place Austin needed to have back.”
In addition to adding mood lighting to the lobby in the lounge, the new theater stayed true to the vintage atmosphere from the origin of Eastside Cinema. The people living in East Austin remained the larger focus throughout the renovation process.
“Now there is a neighborhood cinema that anyone can use,” Frank said. “So many clubs and organizations now have a real cinema that they can call their own for more events, and it does draw on an important tradition of locally run cinemas on the East side of Austin. We show art-house flicks and cult classics like a typical art-house cinema, but our main thing is that 70% of the programming is curated by the community.”
Frank’s efforts combined with the efforts of those running the Millenium, such as the director Kim Wright, have expanded the complex’s contributions. The theater is an addition to the other activities the Millenium has like roller skating, bowling, and birthday party venues. James Butler, the operations supervisor, remains in control of the day-to-day responsibilities and upkeep of the 55,000-square-foot building.
“Our rink is actually a full-size regulation NBA basketball court which we are now starting to get usage out of,” Butler said. “We signed a couple of semi-pro teams that are going to come here and start practicing but the majority of it is skating throughout the day. There’s our event area over on the other side that can have anywhere from 80 to 100 people at one time for parties. Then we have our movie theater that we just reopened with about 7,580 seats and one screen because we’re doing a partnership with Blue Starlite. They’re showing a bunch of cult classics right now. Those tend to be real hot, throwback movies from the early 70s and early 80s. A lot of people buy tickets for that.”
One of the many people who enjoy the Millennium’s amenities is Christel Massaad, who visits the Millenium often. What continues to bring her back is the community of people and the options it provides.
“The time that I am here, the roller skating rink is pretty open,” Massaad said. “It’s a super smooth rink and so when I’m out there I can just skate for hours. They already brought back the movies in the theater. I just like the atmosphere. And then when there are a bunch of people here, it’s also pretty cool to see this place come to life. I was here once to skate and around the time they were about to show a movie, it was a horror film. I thought it was really cool that they brought the content back and it seemed like there was a good crowd.”
For people of all occupations and relations to the Millenium, the building offers a special place to connect and have fun. The recent renovations in the theater make that goal more possible for residents in East Austin.
