Salvage Heart

The Roseway Theater (7229 NE Sandy Blvd., Portland, OR) is that rare first-run, single screen moviehouse, everything about which screams relic: the art-deco decor, the glamor shots of old movie stars in a display case out front, the funky downstairs restrooms, the closed upstairs balcony, the giant screen, the 550 seats, each in its own half-life of disrepair.

Peering in the ticket booth on a Friday night, a Rolodex sits open, a single card laid out with the current film. There Will Be Blood, 160 min., R. The showtimes are listed below, in pencil.

The theater sits dead-center in northeast Portland's Roseway neighborhood, at the intersection of Fremont and Sandy. Nearby: a pharmacy with a soda fountain (or at least milkshakes), an appliance repair shop, an old barber shop, next to a beauty salon, a doughnut shop. Above the Roseway's marquee is a neon rose, a tip to boosters' plans to line Sandy Boulevard with rose bushes, that, if it came to fruition, has since been paved over.

The theater closed last week. Friday evening the marquee said, simply, Closed. No explanation posted on the doors. No notice. Hearsay would have that the theater was sold last year, and perhaps it is just shuttered for renovations. But a quick scan back at articles over the last 15 years or so shows a constant struggle to fill 50, let alone 550 seats.

Tickets were $6 I think. Reasonable enough. Maybe a renovation will implement a beer-and-pizza model that seems to work for other theaters, and might help it compete...there's not much nearby that you can walk to for dinner before or after, and there's not much foot traffic to attract on a lazy, rainy Saturday.

Surprisingly little notice has been given this...haven't seen any postings online. Could be that those who care already know it's temporary, but if it's temporary, why have the phone and web site been disconnected?

Labels: northeast, Portland, Roseway