On My First Visit to a Local Landmark

Film: “Control”
Date: Monday, November 5^th, 2007
Cost of Ticket: 7.75 (matinée)
Cost of Concessions: 9.25 for medium popcorn, medium drink
Cost for Parking (off site): 4.00 (3.00 validated parking available)

Total cost: 21.00

Notes: I approached the new Landmark Harbor East theater complex from the low-lying scruffiness of the Fells Point area. I was admittedly afraid of venturing into this Forbidden City by car due to traffic, parking, and construction.

It was been called a “mini-city,” and I agree with this analogy. As you approach the new skyscrapers and upscale condos starting in the 500s, which take advantage of a zoning variance known as the “hole in the doughnut,” you see a new Manhattan-like skyline rising amidst the familiar industrial squalor and decay of Baltimore.

As rich people jogged by, itunes isolated, through the clang and dust of the seemingly eternal construction projects, I wondered who would fill these structures. Are we building a ghost town, as the poet once said?

There was a massive project underway right in front of the theater, shutting down the turnabout that surrounds a memorial to a war atrocity. I was glad once again that I had walked.

The theater is still missing a frontispiece that will be fancy, so it was a bit hard to figure out where to go in. Once I had bought my ticket from the booth, I was through the non-nondescript office building doors and on my way.

I was taken back by the modern opulence of the place. It was impressive on a number of levels, all praised by a recent column in the Sun.

The lobby steers you into a bar area. Since it was 11AM, the bar was closed, but the concession counter was not. Six, maybe seven concessionists sat there ready to go, a stark contrast to staff numbers at other area theaters during matinées.

Every helpful and friendly staff person I encountered was African-American, which is in contrast to the occasionally surly but usually on-point racially mixed MICA student workers at the Charles and the pimply Caucasian teenagers/grouchy elderly workers at the Senator. This better reflects the population of the city, and I thought it should be noted.

The lobby was sprinkled with books about movies and DVDs, all for the buying. The concession stand was deluxe, gourmet vegan cookies, specialty popcorn... the works. I was curious to see if I could really order a crabcake, but stuck with the standard medium popcorn, medium soda.

All the screening rooms are underground, like tombs. The auditorium was stadium style with real leather chairs. I wondered about the mechanics of cleaning them. As I sat down, one of two people in attendance, I reflected on all the posters for movies that the Charles would not be allowed to show bedecking the lobby.

Right before the previews started, I noticed my soda was leaking all over the place. Unfortunately, It was too late to do much about it without missing some of the film. As I sat there, trying to stop my soda from hemorrhaging all over the fancy leather seat, I pondered the future of this theater and film exhibition in Baltimore.