Hailed as one of the last movie theaters in North County, Park Cinemas is trying a new approach to keep the business alive: hosting community events.
Co-owner Jennifer Roush Kloth took over the business from her father, John, in 2016. She said that similar to other movie theaters around the county, the Paso Robles theater fell on hard times during the COVID-19 pandemic, and her family almost lost the business.
“You can’t sit there and pay bills for two years and not have an income,” she said.
- Photos Courtesy Of Annette Rodriguez
- SAY CHEESE (left to right) Jeff Davis, Heather Branton, Tina Salter, Michael Swan, Brenda Nicovich, and Charles Charm pose in their Spoon River costumes as part of a dress rehearsal for the play, which will be at Park Cinemas in Paso Robles on Oct. 24.
While theaters used to be a big business, the rise of streaming services led to a slow decline. In 2002, the average annual number of tickets sold per person in the U.S. was 4.2, which dropped to 3.5 by 2019. Today, though, sales are climbing again but remain low by historical standards.
- Photos Courtesy Of Annette Rodriguez
- AND SCENE Charles Charm (left) and Michael Swan (right) practice their monologues for Spoon River, which will be at Park Cinemas for one night only.
Kloth and her sister, Catherine, had to figure out a way to keep their small family-owned theater going. They decided to apply for federal funding in the latter half of the pandemic and qualified for it, allowing the pair to explore how to best serve the Paso Robles community.
The question was: How could they attract people to the movies when people can access so much from the comfort of their own homes?
“I ask people all the time: ‘When’s the last time you actually watched a movie?’ And I mean truly watched it,” Kloth said. “When you’re at home, you’re working with your kids, you have your phone on, you’re making dinner, you’re doing this or the other, and it’s very rare that someone will actually sit through a movie at home.”
The movie theater is an experience; it’s not necessarily just about watching the movie, she said.
“When you’re a kid, you know, it could be your first date, it could be your first kiss, it could be anything. The place you hang out with your friends after a game or whatever that looks like,” she said. “And oftentimes, it’s the first time kids get to be alone without their parents.”
Adding to this experience, the sisters decided, was the best way forward. So the pair spent the pandemic funding to open up the theater to the community, allowing different groups to rent out the space for events. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved, Kloth said.
Recently, the theater added reclining chairs that go all the way back, allowing people to lie down, and a new liquor license enabling Park Cinemas to serve beer and wine. And now the movie house is ready to host its first community fundraising event: Spoon River Anthology.
- Photos Courtesy Of Annette Rodriguez
- CAN’T FORGET Brenda Nicovich (left), Tina Salter (middle), and Michael Swan (right) come back as the dead residents of the small town of Spoon River to tell stories of what caused the town to eventually crumble. The play is put on by the American Association of University Women’s Atascadero chapter.
Hosted by the American Association of University Women‘s Atascadero chapter, the play takes place around World War I, producer Linda Baker said.
“It’s a series of monologues,” she said. “Each character has returned from the dead to talk about their life in this small town of Spoon River.”
It’s a small town with big secrets, and the audience will hear all about the plague of infidelity, secrecy, and violence that once ran through this now ghost town from the very ghosts who used to live there and just can’t seem to get past it.
To help set the mood, the Paso Robles History Museum and the Historical Society are showing a vintage slideshow to accompany the ghostly actors.
“It’s spoken word, music, and a slideshow,” Baker said. “There’s four of us involved, and that turned out to be really interesting, because we each brought something important to it, and I think it wound up being a bit of entertainment for a small amount of money.”
This new business direction is just the beginning for Park Cinemas. Kloth said they look forward to hosting private events, like birthday parties or anniversaries, running conferences, and providing meeting rooms.
“It’s just a different way of running a movie theater,” she said. “We can do workshops because we have nine screens, and I can put a slideshow on each screen from a computer.”
Moviegoers are allowed to bring pillows and blankets, and the theater is also offering free football Sundays for residents to come in, grab a beer, relax in a cozy seat, and watch their favorite team with their friends or family.
But don’t worry, Park will still be playing movies.
“We understand right now with the writers strike and all that kind of stuff, it’s been really hard. We know the movies aren’t the best, but with the fall and winter season finally starting to get a few good ones,” Kloth said. “But when you bring in events like this, it changes the game.” Δ
Reach Staff Writer Samantha Herrera at [email protected].
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