Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: There should be more theatres like Honolulu's Varsity

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Topic: There should be more theatres like Honolulu's Varsity

Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 01-17-2003 11:47 PM

Although I have been to the Varsity Theatre in Honolulu many times, I dont know why but I only now realize what a wonderful theatre (s) it is. It is a two screen complex and the reason I might have not appreciated this theatre complex until now was most likely due to the memories I had when the house was a very large single screen 70mm venue. The Varsity is operated by Pacific Theatre's Hawaii division, Consolidated Amusement The lobby and the interior of both auditoriums are rather plain and the seats althougn not plush, are very comfortable. Not only are the seats comfortable but so is the spacing between the rows of seats. I am six foot tall and can easily stretch out my legs because of the distance between my seat and the one in front of me. The sound at the Varsity is nothing special but it is not bad. Both of the auditoriums are analogue Dolby SR only but will be upgraded to digital when my friend Alan Sakaida can find the time to do it. The only problem I have with the Varsity is the width of the screens. There is no problem with flat features but a lot of the sides are cropped whenever they show a movie in scope because the entire dimension of the screen is only a tad wider than the normal 1.85.1 ratio. The theatre is very clean and the lobbly has a feel of an antique museum with their old furniture and ancient 35mm projectors at the theatre entrance. Part of the walls in the lobbly are decorated with 8 X 10 photographs of many wonderful large screen theatres operated by Consolidated from the late twenties up to the early sixties. The popcorn and the hot dogs at the Varsity are delicious and the variety of candy they sell are always fresh. Beside the charm of the theatre, the thing that make the Varsity extra special is the theatre staff. When was the last time you went to the movies and you were thanked when leaving? By the way, the Varsity is a art house venue and is located very close to the main University of Hawaii campus in Honolulu. This theatre has a lot of charm and I plan to go there often.

-Claude

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