![]() Overall the physical building is beautiful & the musical itself was outstanding. When she returned to her seat she was visibly upset and said she didn’t feel comfortable with a man going into the ladies’ restroom so she got out of line. Lastly, my elderly mother was with me & she went to the regular women’s restroom where a MAN was in line behind her. Very frustrated since I’m in a wheelchair & there were other restrooms they could’ve (and should’ve) used. 7:30pm 10:00pm CANDLELIGHT CABARET SHOW: HOLLY JOLLY HOLIDAYS Pottersvilles finest stage show. I went to the one that was marked accessible only to find a line of able bodied young women & girls in line. Bijou Theater First Presbyterian Church, 23 Cayuga Street. My question to TN Theatre is why are you allowing able bodied people to reserve seats that are supposed to be only for those with physical disabilities? For the record, I’m in a wheelchair.įrom there I decided to use the restroom. Again an employee had to tell them that we were in the right seats. After finding out we were in the correct seats, we were accused of taking the seats by young fully able bodied patrons (who were already intoxicated). I had to have my husband go find an employee to come in & see if we were in the correct section. ![]() I purchased accessible seating but our seats were not marked. This again left the Bijou Theatre as the only independently owned theatre in Eugene until the David Minor Theatre opened in 2008.Beautiful venue but a few things need to be addressed. Unfortunatley Bove had no luck with The Mercury Theater which only remained open for approximately a year and a half and closed in mid July of 1989, due to what seemed to be lack of leasing payments and a lack of sufficient audience. His plan was to postpone any major renovations until the new lease in late 1989. Bove again showed films like the one's he showed in his Cinema 7 theatre. Cinema 7 closed in 1987 leaving the Bijou as the only independently owned theatre and only theatre who's main films were independent, that is until Steve Bove opened another theatre this time in Springfield, The Mercury Theater, taking over the building that the last theater, The Fine Arts Theater on 630 Main St. Cinema 7 had a single theatre that sat 120 people and like the Bijou it often had showings of, "a mix of foreign films, HollyWood Classics and occasional second-run and "revival" features”(10). When the Bijou first opened there was another independent theatre, Cinema 7 owned by Steve Bove, which opened in 1974. The Charles was run by Audubon Films in the 1960s. In 1949, the Bijou was renamed the Charles Theatre in his memory. The Bijou Cinemas is only one of two independently owned theaters in Eugene the other being the David Minor theatre which opened up back in 2008. The theater was managed by Charles Steiner until his death on June 29,1946. Lamont had been planning on adding another theatre from as early as 1982, but had trouble because of an appeal by a neighbor who thought the noise and traffic would be unbearable(7). Lamont again updated the Bijou in July of 1987 by investing $45,000 to add a second theatre that seated 92 people(6). Tickets prices jumped fifty cents after the update(5). In 1981 Lamont and his partner W.H Taft Chatham updated the theatre from a 120 seats to 142 and from a 16mm projection equipment to 32mm and they also updated the screen to a Silver-gio screen. The Bijou's first films were Get out Your Handkerchiefs(1978), The Rink(1916) a Chaplin short, The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour(1967), Beatles Tokyo(1966), and Flash Gordon(1980)(4). After discovering that the Wilcox building had space open, which was formerly a chapel, he opened the bijou in 1980 by selling his photography equipment(3). Lamont had always been interested in films and it was at the Waco Twin Cinemas on Franklin Boulevard in Springfield that Lamont learned how to use a projector. In 1956 it became McGaffey and Andreason Mortuary(2). It was originally the home of the first congregational Church, United Church for Christ. Wilcox who was the first dean of the architect school. The building the theatre had moved into was a old spanish missionary style church that was constructed in 1925 by The University of Oregon's own W.R.B. The Bijou theatre was opened in Octoby Robert Mcneely, who later changed his name to Michael Lamont, as a single screen 120 seat movie theatre that specialized in independent films.
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