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Open the pod bay doors, hell.

I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

There's nothing quite like seeing a good movie on the big screen. If you've ever watched something like 2001 a Space Odyssey in a theater,

you'll understand how visceral it can be to experience that level of visual

and auditory immersion and how different it is from watching at home.

Theaters have always been an important part of the film industry.

In the early 1900s, companies like Paramount and Columbia helped to open the first picture palaces, opulent and

decadent houses for exhibiting film. The 1980s saw a huge boom in moviegoing culture as theater

chains expanded the accessibility of movies across the country. But recently, the COVID pandemic

and the rise of streaming services

have threatened the existence of movie theaters altogether. So now, where do movie theaters fit into our

modern culture? Today, producer Trevor Young walks us through the turbulent but grand history

of movie theaters and visits one special theater in Los Angeles,

which still thrives on independent cinema.

Last year, I had the opportunity to move to Los Angeles.

As you probably know, we're huge film nerds here on the ephemeral team, and L.A. is a huge

film town, so I was excited to visit all the local theaters around here.

But what I wasn't expecting was just how opulent and dense with historical meaning all of the

mainstay theaters here really are.

Most of them have been around for decades, some for over a century.

...