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Inside The Finally-Finished & Very Deluxe Brooklyn Alamo Drafthouse
By
Scott Heins
Published Oct 25, 2016
Modified Oct 25, 2016
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By
Scott Heins
Published Oct 25, 2016
Modified Oct 25, 2016
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After a prolonged roll-out process marred by false starts, NYC's first-ever Alamo Drafthouse is finally, really, truly, set to open this weekend. Boasting seven theaters, 48 beers on tap, and 796 seats—each one coming complete with restaurant meal service—the new Brooklyn multiplex is set to become a major player in the city's cinema scene.
Occupying most of the fourth floor of Downtown Brooklyn's new City Point shopping complex, the Alamo's sprawling operation aims to blend restaurant dining and moviegoing, so you really can enjoy a lamb burger, milkshake, and IPA made to order without missing out on the antics of the Sorcerer Supreme. Chef Fernando Marulanda, whose resume includes Tavern on the Green and Bouchon, is in charge of the kitchen and plans to rotate offerings with the changing seasons. After browsing the menu, audience members/diners write down their order on a sheet of paper, which is then nabbed by a crouching, quiet-as-a-ninja waiter.
The menu is designed to make dining as distraction-free as possible, and to ensure your meal arrives quickly. On Monday, company founder Tim League hinted that servers will be utilizing a smartphone app that identifies the best, least-disruptive times to walk through the aisles for each specific film. Hardcore cinephiles will still scoff, but Alamo's dinner-and-a-movie premise has caught on with moviegoers: since opening their first theater in Austin in 1997, the chain has spread across the country with 25 locations.
Alamo refuses to run corporate ads ahead of feature films, and enforces a strict "no talking or texting" policy that helps ensure that the only glowing screen you see is the giant one straight ahead. Those looking to post a quick mid-movie review—flash on, blanket tucked—will have to go to iPic.
(Scott Heins/Gothamist)
Alamo plans to feature a wide range of movies, from new blockbusters to silver screen classics to Jean-Claude Van Damme deep cuts. Cristina Cacioppo, the theater's Creative Manager and Programmer, is opening up the theater with New In Town, a 12-film series centered around wily outsiders who set out to make it in the city. Coming to America, Muppets Take Manhattan, Mean Girls, and the 1986's timeless Ninja Turf are all part of the program. In the future, Cacioppo and Marulanda plan to collaborate on special dinner/film programs that pair specific meals, beers, and features. The theater features 35mm, 4K, and 3-D projectors, along with state-of-the-art 7.1 Dolby surround systems that can make it sound as if TIE Fighters are barreling down on you from every possible direction.
Alamo Drafthouse will feature reserved seating in all of its seven theaters, and tickets are $14.50 across the board. Seats in the theaters' front rows recline, while the rest remain upright so that waiters can pass back and forth between rows, ferrying food, drinks, and the check to the table you share with a neighbor. A special "roof deck" will also be open for special events.
(Scott Heins/Gothamist)
Beyond the films and food, the theater's lobbies feature ultra-rare vintage posters imported from Turkey, and portions of the lobby carpet leading toward the ultra-macabre House of Wax bar and museum were once part of the The Shining's Overlook Hotel. All of these small details, along with the eclectic yet inclusive programming, helps make Alamo feel more like an earnest cinema geek club, and less like the all-in-one shopping mall chain theater that it sort of is. When its doors open at long last,this Friday, hopefully it'll find a way to be both.
Alamo Drafthouse is located on the fourth floor of City Point in Downtown Brooklyn // 445 Albee Square West, Brooklyn // Tickets $14.50 // Website // 718-513-2547
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Scott Heins
Scott Heins is a freelance photo and video journalist based in New York City, and a frequent contributor to Gothamist + WNYC. His work often centers around labor rights, housing, and policing. In 2018-2019 he traveled to four states while covering a wave of public school teachers strikes, with work featured in The New York Times, The Intercept, Getty Images, Splinter, and Bloomberg Photos. Scott is a dues-paying member of the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project.
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