Another championship game happening tomorrow (Saturday, May 25th) – as shown on The Admiral Theater‘s marquee, and previewed here a week and a half ago, tomorrow is the day you can join the West Seattle Soccer Club for an open house and live screening of the 2013 UEFA Champions League final match between German powerhouses Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern Munich. Doors open at 10:30 am and close when they reach capacity – but everybody’s welcome, first-come, first-served. No admission charge, but please bring a “kid-friendly food item” to benefit the West Seattle Food Bank. One change from the original announcement, according to WSSC’s Tim McMonigle (who also shared the marquee photo) – the kids’ movie (for children not interested in the game) is now a free bonus showing of “Oz, the Great and Powerful,” one of the Admiral’s current films. It’ll start at about 11 am, and end around the same time as the match, which starts around 11:45, after 11 am preliminaries.

The West Seattle Soccer Club (WSSC) is excited to announce that we will be sponsoring the showing of the final match of the 2013 UEFA Champions League at the Admiral Twin Theater on Saturday, May 25th. Admission is FREE for all of our soccer families and their invited guests. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Please bring a kid-friendly food item to benefit the West Seattle Food Bank and help us end hunger in our community!

Pre-game will begin at 11:00 am, with the championship match between the German powerhouses Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern Munich starting at 11:45am.

To make it easier to bring your kids, we will be showing “Kicking and Screaming,” a soccer-themed comedy like “The Bad News Bears,” in the adjacent theater. The Admiral Twin Theater will offer concessions at a reduced rate and the WSSC will raffle off some great soccer prizes.

Admission is LIMITED, so please arrive early to assure your seat and join the fun. The doors will open at 10:30 am and close when capacity is reached or the match begins.

The WSSC is a 100% volunteer-run organization. Please consider partnering with us to serve the kids and families in our community through soccer. We will have information concerning upcoming events and needs available in the lobby with volunteers available to answer your questions and help you get connected.

Join your WSSC friends at the Admiral Twin Theater on Saturday, May 25th for a family-friendly ticket to see one of the biggest professional soccer matches of the year!

The UEFA Champions League is an annual continental club football (soccer) competition organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It is one of the most celebrated tournaments in the world and the most prestigious club competition in European football.

The West Seattle Soccer Club (WSSC) is the largest youth sports league in West Seattle and has been in existence since 1968. Every year the WSSC hosts a spring league with over 1,400 players, a fall league with over 1,800 players, and multiple coach and player clinics. The WSSC’s goal is to create the best possible sports experience for its West Seattle members.

Again, though the announcement is geared toward the WSSC’s sizable community of participating families, we’re assured that EVERYONE interested is welcome, and they are hoping for a “huge crowd,” we’re told. The Admiral is at 2343 California SW.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The owner of the Admiral Theater has a plan to ensure the historic landmark has a promising future as well as a storied past.

The first phase of that plan is already complete … creation of the plan itself.

“We have spent a lot of time and energy and money – what little that we have – to engage the services of an architect,” explained Jeff Brein, whose Far Away Entertainment owns the Admiral – the business, not the building itself, as well as seven other theaters in six towns around the region.

“We determined that in order to keep the theater going and to at least turn a profit, we need to make some changes in the basic business model. And that … takes the theater from its current two-auditorium, second-run format to a four-auditorium, first-run digital format.”

There’s really no choice, said Brein. The notion of a “second-run, dollar-house” theater is dying: “The studios are not providing us with the types of release schedules they used to. The window from theatrical first-run release to home video or cable TV or RedBox or whatever is becoming much more narrow.”

That’s not the only reason that a first-run moviehouse makes more sense for West Seattle: “It’s a great unserved market. If you want a first-run movie, you have to get in your car and travel well outside (West Seattle) – downtown, the airport, wherever people need to go.”

However, it’s not as easy as deciding to run new movies instead of not-so-new movies. First, Brein says, “you really need a minimum of three to four screens. And you need a facility that everybody is going to feel comfortable in.”

No matter how much you love the Admiral Theater, designated a city landmark 20 years ago – “comfortable” is not a word that comes to mind. “Overhaul” is.

Brein knows that. The Admiral’s devoted on-site general manager – his sister Dinah Brein – knows that.

So, they have a plan. They have an operating budget.

What they don’t have yet (and they stress they’re NOT asking for a handout or donations) is … the money.

“It’s going to cost us somewhere around $600,000 to do the improvements that are required,” explains Jeff Brein. That includes construction work to convert The Admiral into four auditoriums, with new seats, new carpeting, even some restoration of its historic murals, like this one over the concession area:

It’s been a two-auditorium moviehouse for 40 years.

And part of what needs to be done is not an option in any version of a scenario that involves operating The Admiral as a movie theater for the long run: “(The plan includes) new digital projectors – not an option for any theater. Film is going away by the middle of 2014 at the latest. If you don’t have digital projectors, you’re out of this business.”

Dinah Brein (above) can tell you what it’s been like to operate with film instead of digital – “building” each film from the bulky reels that arrive, dealing with problems if something goes wrong. As her brother says, the current projectors “are practically antiques.”

Same goes for much of The Admiral. She has dealt with furnace problems, clogged plumbing, even one problem that her husband had to go up on the moviehouse’s roof to try to troubleshoot. “I care about this place,” she told us, while keeping watch behind the refreshment counter one afternoon as the first moviegoers of the day started to trickle in. “It’s like a child.”

If only its physical components were child-like rather than old and creaky. Other improvements that are part of the plan – mandatory rather than an option, ultimately – include ADA-required work to better serve disabled moviegoers, particularly in The Admiral’s restrooms, which would add capacity.

Last but by no mean least, says Jeff Brein, who spoke with us in an extensive phone conversation fro Bainbridge: “We have an upstairs area that has a sizable heretofore-unused room we could convert into a party facilty or small screening room, or something folks could use for other activities.”

This isn’t a wish list – it’s gone as far as architectural specifications and schematics, as well as budgeting with contingencies. “Phase 1, preplanning, has been complete,” Brein declares. “Now we move to Phase 2 … which is, where are we going to get $500,000 or $600,000 to make this happen?”

If you don’t already know this, The Admiral’s ownership has no affiliation with a major chain or any other kind of deep-pocket company, though it’s gone through multiple types of ownership over its near-century in operation. Far Away Entertainment, founded in 1997, is a small Western Washington-based and owned company, with two theaters on Bainbridge – one of which is a renovated historic theater – and one each in East Bremerton, Oak Harbor, Anacortes, Stanwood, Ocean Shores, plus West Seattle. The company’s offices are on Bainbridge, but each theater has a management team based in its community (Admiral GM Dinah is a West Seattleite).

“We have been looking at a variety of approaches” to get funding, Jeff Brein explains. But “it is difficult and I would go as far as to say it is almost impossible to get any commercial bank to make a loan to a small business that has had a couple of years of less-than-desired profits, although (The Admiral) did turn a small profit last year. Banks are not loaning to small businesses in our business category. It’s disheartening and disappointing.”

At first glance, you might nod your head and think the theater’s “business category” does sound like a risky proposition – technology continues to make it ever more possible to watch a high-definition screening on a huge screen in your own home – but Brein says it’s not just about movies, though they will generate much more under the plan: “The projections for a four-screen first-run digital theater are night and day compared to what we are generating right now. The film income more than triples under this business model. We’re not looking at investing for a speculative venture – we’re confident this would be a profitable theater, would return its investment, and (be in) position for good growth.” Besides movies, they could show live events from sports to opera, which are staples in many theaters now.

But if banks aren’t going to help, who will? They have worked with the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, seeking a share of Small Business Administration money that the National Development Council funnels through cities, “to keep businesses going and keep people employed.” Brein says it even got to the point where an NDC loan officer toured the theater – but then the possibility vanished, apparently because of the aforementioned profile of its past three years of finances – even considering those were recession years – and concern about the fact it’s a movie theater.

Since then, Brein had a meeting recently with City Councilmember (and West Seattle resident) Tom Rasmussen, who he describes as “very supportive.” Again, he stresses, they’re not looking for a handout – but more ideas on potential funding resources, “whether it might be a bank or an individual or some other entity, maybe an existing business … I don’t expect (the city) to hand us this money on a silver platter but they certainly have some influence in the community; they work with movers and shakers and we have got to continue to do everything we can do to shake the trees to see what falls out and try to make this thing happen.”

Other ideas that have been explored include “a couple of out-of-the-box options … perhaps the benefits of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit,” which wouldn’t change the need for the half-million-plus sum to overhaul The Admiral, but might facilitate “some smaller grants and programs.”

And he’s talked to possible strategic partners, even Sundance.

What they have NOT contemplated so far is a community fundraising drive, for two reasons, Brein says – for one, they realize there is still some lingering ill will over the short-lived donation drive by former theater ownership/management five years ago, which left “an audience victimized in the past … that had nothing to do with us.” (Brein, in fact, wound up back in charge of The Admiral because of what fell apart in 2008, as explained in our coverage at the time.)

And he has another reason: “The other reality is that we’re a for-profit company – it would be kind of like walking into Macy’s and seeing somebody with a bucket, asking for money so they can get more clothes to sell.”

That said, “nothing’s off the table … it may come to (community fundraising).” The money will have to come from somewhere: “We are hopeful that something will break through at some point.”

And he adds that failure is not an option: “We are really bound and determined to make this work. I have not on any level threatened to close the theater, I have not said if we don’t get X amount of money, we’re going to shut this down, that’s the last thing I’d want to do.”

Again, they don’t own the building. Brein says, “I have to give Marc Gartin, the landlord, credit for working with us. He’s even agreed to use the building as collateral if we were to go out and get some financing – that’s a major contribution on his part.” And he’s been “flexible on (the theater’s) rent.”

Though The Admiral is only one of his properties, Brein says, “I am working on this project every single day. … We’re not sitting back just waiting; we’re out there aggressively looking.”

And if you are a theater patron and have wondered why it’s so rundown, Brein says the overhaul has to be done all at once – piecemeal doesn’t work – because of constraints with the theater itself.

So why stick with it and not just walk away? we asked.

Brein said he realized his reply might sound sappy, but: “Once we got into this theater … we became very engaged and recognized how important the theater is to the community. … We also recognized this was not a candidate for us to go out and sell it to someone … we didn’t ever want to abandon it because we knew if we walked out the door, it was simply going to close. … We were entrusted with this.”

This is a script without an ending yet; rather than comparing The Admiral’s saga to a movie, Jeff Brein says it’s part of the “rollercoaster ride” he’s experienced in his company’s 16 years of operation. But he says a happy ending is very much possible: “I think we’ve done our homework and the numbers look good. I don’t think anybody can question the support and the adoration this theater has in the community.”

Now, there’s just a mystery to be solved – how will the plan get from Phase 1 to Phase 2?

P.S. You can read up on The Admiral’s history in this story by Clay Eals, executive director of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.

Congratulations to Admiral Theater boss Dinah Brein and her cross-country songwriting partner – Dinah reports their Today Show jingle-contest entry won!

Seattle songwriter and theater manager Dinah Brein, along with her collaborator Jon Michaels, has won NBC’s “Quest for the Best Today Show Jingle”. Michaels performed the song this morning on the Today show and beat out the two other finalists. Renowned record producer David Foster, who judged the segment, commented after listening to the songs that if he were chosen to produce a killer 30-second spot – it would be the Brein/Michaels entry and awarded the song the top honor.

“Jon called me this morning and told me the good news”, said Brein. “He also said, don’t be mad, I didn’t mention you until the end of the segment, because my daughter would have killed me if I hadn’t led off with her.”

UPDATE: Added above, the “Today Show” clip during which Michaels performed the jingle he and Brein wrote.

Just in from The Admiral Theater: This year’s free holiday movie, to be screened at 4 pm Sunday, December 16th, benefiting the Seattle Humane Society:

The Admiral Theater is proud to announce this year’s free community Christmas movie……drum roll please….”The Nightmare Before Christmas“.

Painstakingly and meticulously crafted, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a beautiful and unforgettable film from start to finish. It is original, funny, and moving.

Again, admission is free but we are asking for a donation to my “pet” (pun intended) charity – The Seattle Humane Society.

Bring dog/cat food, toy’s, bedding, etc. and make the holidays bright for our 4-legged friends. …

This is a classic Christmas family movie and as usual, we urge the community to show up early. It fills up fast. The movie starts at 4 PM, Sunday, December 16th.

Adding this to our West Seattle Holiday Guide – where you can find dozens of other holiday events, offerings, and giving opportunities, now through New Year’s.

Thanks to Melissa for the reminder that one of the movies playing this week at Admiral Theater was partly filmed here in West Seattle. We mentioned the Shipwreck Tavern shoot for “Safety Not Guaranteed” in May of last year. According to the Admiral schedule, the movie is showing there once a night through Thursday, at 9 pm.

Oscar nominations are out – and West Seattle’s own historic Admiral Theater points out that two of the “Best Picture” nominees are being screened there right now! “Moneyball” and “Midnight in Paris.” Showtimes are here. Admiral manager Dinah Brein adds, “Also – we wanted to let the community know there will be NO 4 pm screening of Tower Heist this Thursday, 1/26/12 due to a private event.”

Long before night fell, we photographed the marquee for posterity (and reminders via Twitter and via Facebook) … Tonight’s the night the doors to the Admiral Theater swung wide open for a free holiday treat, a hot ticket indeed:

Those are some of the moviegoers now watching “A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie,” courtesy of The Admiral and its fellow Admiral District businesses. And look who was there to help Admiral boss Dinah Brein share the holiday cheer (and collect donations for the Humane Society):

We have it on good authority that Santa, in this case, likely arrived via two wheels, rather than eight tiny reindeer. P.S. If you feel like a movie Christmas Day, the Admiral will open at 4 pm Sunday (after closing following the matinees on Christmas Eve).

That’s a scene from “It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie,” which you can see on the big screen at West Seattle’s only moviehouse tomorrow (Tuesday) night – historic Admiral Theater‘s free Christmas movie. Dinah from The Admiral shares this reminder, with new details about the event:

The movie starts promptly at 7 PM and doors open at 6:15 PM. Guests are advised to come early as we will probably pack out. During the movie, adults can enjoy a liquid libation up in the Crow’s Nest Lounge.

Prior to the movie, Santa will be on hand for a photo op and will be serving up Xmas Cookies and Hot Chocolate.

This year the movie is co-presented by the newly formed Admiral Business District. The movie is graciously donated by the Admiral District Blockbuster.

Don’t forget to bring some much-needed animal provisions; high end pet food, crates, collars, toys, beds, etc., which will be donated to the Humane Society.

The Admiral is at 2343 California SW. If you are planning ahead for this weekend – Dinah adds that both matinees will be shown on Christmas Eve, then the theater will close for the night, reopening for the 4 pm show on Christmas Day, with both evening shows on the screen that night.

The word’s in from Dinah Brein at the historic Admiral Theater – this year’s free Christmas movie is … the one in the trailer clip atop this story … “A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie’! 7 pm Tuesday, December 20th. Here’s the official announcement:

The Admiral Theater, the Admiral Business Association and The Admiral Blockbuster present ‘It’s A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie’ -Tuesday, December 20.

What would life amongst the Muppets have been without their unofficial leader Kermit the Frog? This holiday confection, not only spoofs the Yuletide classic , It’s a Wonderful Life, but also takes satirical aim at such pop cultural phenomena as Moulin Rouge and Fear Factor.

The plot is set in motion when evil banker Rachel Bitterman (Joan Cusack) forecloses on the Muppets’ famous variety theater, with the intention of building a gaudy nightclub. But Bitterman’s machinations take a back seat when apprentice guardian angel, Daniel (David Arquette), shows Kermit what conditions would have been had he never existed. Oh yeah, Whoppie Goldberg is cast as God!

Join Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy and a star studded cast in this heartwarming holiday classic that will bring joy to the world this Christmas at the Admiral Theater!

For the fourth consecutive year admission is free, but we ask that everyone bring donations for the Humane Society and the Seattle Animal Shelter including crates, high-end dog food, collar’s leashes, blankets, etc. This time of year, the shelters run low on these much needed supplies.

The movie starts promptly at 7 PM. Beer & wine will be available for the adults, upstairs in the Crow’s Nest Lounge.

Many storefronts are already festively lit and decorated in the Admiral District, and more will be by tonight – including wreaths going up on some of the business-district light fixtures, like this spot outside Alki Bike and Board (whose proprietor Stu Hennessey is in our photo, with Dave Weitzel from Weitzel Construction). The “work party” was already planned before today’s forecast took a turn for the sunny! Also helping decorate – Max and Quinn, as in the Atomic Boys‘ original namesakes (sons of store owners Parris and Kent Sadow):

Among the holiday fun coming up in the Admiral District, Dinah Brein at the historic Admiral Theater says she’s finalized the date for the free Christmas movie, 7 pm December 20th. She’s still finalizing the movie; once again this year, she asked us to ask you for ideas – see the suggestions here.

The historic Admiral Theater is only about a block away from Lafayette Elementary – convenient for the crowd that packed Thursday night’s movie-watching party celebrating last month’s Walk-A-Thon. As noted here, the annual tradition was a success again this fall, and the money it raises is more important every year, since Lafayette is West Seattle’s most-populous elementary school – more than 540 students last time we checked the enrollment numbers.

The Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (SLGFF) returns October 14-23, 2011 for its “Sweet” 16th run. Produced by Three Dollar Bill Cinema and presented by Xfinity, the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival is the largest event of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, featuring cutting-edge Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) film and video, from major motion picture premieres to emerging talent. Packed with parties, events and special guests, SLGFF is the most delectable and satisfying cultural event of the season. The festival’s final weekend is anchored by a return to the Admiral Theater October 20-22.

Jason Plourde is Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s Programming Director. “The slate of films lined up for the Admiral includes second chances to see selections from the 2011 SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival) and the Pacific Northwest debuts of fantastic films like SPORK, THE SISTERHOOD and STILL AROUND.”

“We’re excited to continue our presence in West Seattle and hope to see lots of our friends in the LGBT community come out in support of these great programs,” says Keith Bacon, SLGFF’s Lead Programmer. “There are 11 films in all this year at the Admiral.”

The line-up at the Admiral Theater includes:

MARRIED IN SPANDEX (October 20 at 6 p.m.)
This delightful documentary follows Amanda and Rachel, a hip, charming young couple from Philadelphia who decide to take a road trip to Iowa to be married. Mix equal parts romance, politics and family dynamics to get a new spin on marriage — after all, the brides wear spandex! — and a fantasy wedding in gold lamé.

SPORK (Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m.)
Frizzy-haired and bespectacled Spork is a girl-identified but intersexed — the ultimate outcast. Junior high is her everyday nightmare, until she decides to shake things up and reach for the top by entering the school talent show.

GUN HILL ROAD (October 20 at 9:30 p.m.)
When Enrique (Esai Morales) returns home after a three-year prison sentence, he finds his family transformed. His wife is having an affair and his teenage son, Michael, has become Vanessa (poignantly played by Harmony Santana, who was undergoing her own gender transition during filming).

THE SISTERHOOD (October 21 at 6 p.m.)
THE SISTERHOOD is a fascinating documentary about Pietie, Hope and Rollie, three young friends working as farmhands in the vineyards of South Africa by day; drag divas at night. This slice of life offers a moving portrait of struggle and triumph.

THE GREEN (October 21 at 7:45 p.m.)
Having escaped New York for small-town Connecticut, prep-school teacher Michael takes a special interest in Jason, a troubled student, but avoids his own failing relationship with hunky Daniel (Cheyenne Jackson from Glee).

ROMEOS (October 21 at 9:45 p.m.)
Lukas is a young transgender man who moves to Cologne to study and work in the big city. At a wild party he meets Fabio. Lukas grapples with the desire to share himself fully with Fabio and the fear that his biology could cost him his relationship and the acceptance of his friends in this story of unconventional romance, friendship and courage.

STILL AROUND (October 22 at 12:30 p.m.)
To mark the 30th anniversary of the first documented case of HIV, the HIV Story Project brought together individuals with HIV/AIDS, nonprofit social service organizations and top filmmakers. The result is a compilation of 15 powerful, diverse short films about the struggles and triumphs of those surviving and thriving with HIV today and the communities where they live and love. Part of the HIV30 Film Series.

THIS IS WHAT LOVE IN ACTION LOOKS LIKE (October 22 at 2:30 p.m.)
The worst fear of many closeted teens came true for 16-year-old Zach Stark in 2005, when his parents sent him, against his will, to a camp run by the ex-gay Christian reform group “Love in Action.” This inspirational documentary recounts that events that resulted from a young man’s cry for help.

KAWA (October22 at 4:30 p.m.)
Kawa’s father wants him to return home from Auckland to assume a leadership role in their Maori community. But how can he be a leader when his own family is in crisis? KAWA is based on the semi-autobiographical novel Nights in the Gardens of Spain, by Witi Ihimaera, author of The Whale Rider.

THREE (October 22 at 7 p.m.)
Director Tom Tykwer (RUN LOLA RUN) creates a stylish, witty story of a married man and woman who fall in love with the same man.

HITS SO HARD (October 22 at 9:30 p.m.)
Patty Schemel, drummer for the influential rock band Hole, is an out lesbian who was at the center of the Seattle music scene in the 1990s. Filled with revealing looks behind the scenes of the cultural touchstone that was grunge, HITS SO HARD is an unflinching rock-doc in the finest tradition.

“West Seattle knows that downtown and Capitol Hill aren’t far away,” Bacon relates. “There’s no reason for anyone to miss any of the festival, with or without a Viaduct.”

Notes: Tickets for DIRTY GIRL: $35 for Opening Night film and Gala; $15 for film only. Three Dollar Bill Members get a discounted price. Festival passes range from $90 – $200; individual tickets range from $7 – $35. Please visit www.threedollarbillcinema.org/11 for additional information.

We got a quick promotional sneak peek earlier this week at the trio of local entertainers who are performing as “The Vaud Squad” – as in a vaudeville-style variety show – at Admiral Theater this Saturday night. Mentalist Lance Campbell – who notes that he reads thoughts, not minds – will perform, as will magician Joe Black and juggler/comedian Matt Baker. The latter two are West Seattleites; Campbell is from Kirkland – and all three tour (separately) nationally, but are joining forces for one big fun show here. 7 pm Saturday, family-friendly fun, get your tickets online now. (P.S. Baker will be juggling in more ways than one – he’s making a cameo as the pre-show entertainment for West Seattle Outdoor Movies the same night!)