♪♪​
-It’s about bringing in a community and having that experience.
-The beloved Grand Illusion Theater
just closed to its doors,
and now it's searching for a new home.
We take a look at what's made this small space
a huge favorite
among Seattle's most passionate movie lovers.
-We are conveying their stories
using the medium of comics... -And meet the comics
journalists who illustrate difficult health
care cases at the Seattle/King County Clinic.
-And I mean, it's the biggest video store on planet Earth.
-Scarecrow Video is the place for hard to find
movies and videos.
Come with us as we browse their massive catalog
and hit rewind on their incredible history.
These stories and more next on CityStream.
♪♪
-Hi, I'm Enrique Cerna.
Welcome to CityStream from MoPop,
♪♪
The Museum of Pop Culture, better known
as MoPop, celebrates all things pop culture.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen launched it in
2000 as the Experience Music Project.
Today, MoPop houses
the world's largest collection of Nirvana memorabilia,
along with iconic artifacts from Jimi Hendrix, sci-fi,
horror, fantasy, TV and film, and much more.
Famed architect Frank Gehry designed the bold, funky
formed structure.
You really couldn't miss it if you tried,
whether walking by on the Seattle Center campus
or riding through it on the monorail
[ monorail horn honking ]
Seattle's oldest independent movie theater,
The Grand Illusion,
closed its doors in January. For more than 50 years,
they've shown everything
from the classics to the cult classics.
But with no new permanent home,
the future of the organization remains uncertain.
Producers Drew Highlands and
Vanishing Seattle's Cynthia Brothers
show us why their loyal employees and fans
are not ready to call
it lights out just yet.
[Film reel clicking] ♪♪
-The Grand
Illusion Cinema it's a small nonprofit,
volunteer-operated movie theater in the U District.
It was started in 1970 by a guy named Randy Finley,
and it was called the Movie House back then.
And he kind of recognized that there needs to be a spot
for students to come see movies.
It was kind of like he saw an opportunity,
I guess, with the market to be like, oh,
I can show these movies that like nobody else is showing.
And Randy operated it probably until like the late 70s.
And I think that's when it became
The Grand Illusion, and that's when Paul Doyle took over
and renamed it The Grand Illusion.
-It's about bringing in a community
and having that experience that you really
you're not going to get it with streaming.
You only get it with a room full of people,
and it's just big enough to be a home. ♪♪
-What is great about the venues and what was great
about the Grand Illusion,
what it's its intimacy because it's so small.
There's like 68 seats in the place.
Yeah, it's a small screen, but you're
there's not a bad seat in the house
and you're in the movie and you're experiencing it
in a close proximity to the rest of the audience.
-It came here in 1977 as a student
at the University of Washington,
and this was the very first cinema in Seattle I came to,
and I was, I loved it, and they also showed very,
special movies from all over the world,
which is was already hard to find in the US at the time.
-I think we just bring one huge sense of community into it.
We play a lot of movies that don't get like huge
distribution, so people, like,
they will come here specifically to see it.
-We're not really tied to the new releases,
the Hollywood blockbusters or anything like that. So.
So we can show older repertory films, classic stuff,
new foreign and independent things all the time.
-There's Kung Fu Clubhouse, there's VHS Über Ales,
which they have their own
little scene that they bring it here
and people come here to enjoy it.
I think it's a space
where people can really enjoy, like the full spectrum
of really high brow and really low brow,
which always existed.
And I feel like it really thrives.
But I think the thing has changed is just
the audiences has really grown,
and we have a lot of loyal people.
-I've been sitting out here
since 4:00 hoping to get a ticket.
I was foolish and did not purchase
my ticket ahead of time,
so I'm participating in the Grand Illusions
time-honored tradition of the standby line.
[Popcorn popping]
-Theaters are rare enough,
but like a theater like this is really rare.
And the staff is amazing.
The people I've met,
it's just like it's a cool community
and it's just such a nice group of people
and everybody's really passionate about it.
It's amazing.
-I love this theater
that's about,
you know, being in community with other people
who are interested in the same kinds of things.
And actually standing in line and talking with
my neighbors in line was a huge part of it.
Some of the first,
most interesting movies I saw, I saw here, it's right here.
-It's right in the U District.
It's easily accessible by public transit.
It's a stone's throw away from UW.
It's not shiny and brand new.
It's, you know, it's wonderfully scuffed up.
It's it's like a comfortable pair of jeans. [seat squeaks]
That's something that I'll miss about
having the Grand Illusion be here.
-Well, it's such a funky building,
and I spent so much time here.
And, like, there's weird crawl spaces
and things like that in the booth.
Like, the walls are covered with stuff.
I hung up while I was here projecting.
You know, it's a lot of pictures.
You know, it's a picture of me and Quentin Tarantino
standing in front of the Grand Illusion, you know?
So had a lot of good times here.
-That's kind of the name of the game around here.
It's just like random stuff.
Nobody knows where it came from. I mean,
it's one of my favorite spots,
you know, to ever hang out in, yeah.
You just kind of absorb it all.
All that weird stuff hanging all over the place.
And I mean, it's still, you know, it's
just a little room, but, like, hard to imagine
a new place having the same, the soul of it.
It's like a place you kind of want to show somebody if
they've never been here for the first time.
You want to be like, oh, you should check it,
check out the booth.
Because it's like really cool in there.
There's all this stuff on the walls
and this big machinery and stuff like that.
But I would say it's like where the magic happens,
you know. [unintelligible staticky speach]
-I'm talking about the building alone.
-I know very well what you’re talking about-
[traffic] -This week's probably been a little harder,
you know, just knowing that the end is near and,
all that kind of stuff. But it's not.
It's not like there's, like, some good stuff happening.
So I know it's not the end of it.
It's mostly just kind of like,
oh, there's a lot of memories here,
you know, a lot of connections with people and just,
the routine of it, I guess, you know.
But yeah, definitely, definitely
♪♪ getting to me
a little bit that it's kind of coming
to an end, at least at this location, to say-
[unintelligible] [applause]
-Hey, everybody, thanks for being here for our,
final night of shows here at 1403 northeast 50th Street.
We've been it's been a movie theater here for,
like, 54 years, so, like, you can't really,
just move into some new spot and be like, oh, hey, it's
the movie theater again. It's just like you remember it.
So, you know, whenever we move,
a lot of stuff
is going to change,
but it's still like, you know, it's a shoe box
and there speakers and a screen and all that.
And, it's like an immersive experience.
Sorry. [voice wavers]
But, yeah,
the plan has always been to, to move it, move the theater,
and, yeah, I appreciate everybody being here.
And, we'll get the show on the road, so thank you.
[applause]
-I was born in Seattle.
I lived my whole life here.
I've watched people die,
Buildings get knocked down,
everything has its time, and everything has a lifespan.
And eventually it goes away.
And hopefully people make something,
you know, really interesting that happens here.
And maybe they don't.
And that's what happens. ♪♪ [light switch clicks, door squeaks]
♪ sentimental music ♪
[Film reel clicking] ♪♪
-The Grand Illusion
is still active with their memberships
as well as special pop up screenings at other
independent theaters around Seattle. To learn more about
what is screening, where and when, as well as any
up dates on a possible new home visit
♪♪​
Since we're here,
we thought we'd give you a little look around MoPop.
This particular section has over 150 artifacts
from sci-fi movies and TV shows.
Just the other weekend
they had a special May the fourth event
celebrating the Star Wars franchise.
There was
Cosplay, family activities, and lots of genuine artifacts
from the films.
♪♪​
Next, telling serious stories through comics.
Meet the comics journalists
of the Seattle/King County Clinic,
as City Stream continues.
-We are the everyday storytellers
of this great city.
We are Seattle Channel, a gateway to everything
Seattle.
The intersection between government,
culture, news and the ever
unfolding story of the city we call home.
So follow your curiosity and come explore
Seattle with us.
♪♪​
Seattle Channel.
♪♪​
-Welcome back to CityStream from MoPop.
Not far from here,
the Seattle/King County Clinic
just wrapped up its 10th year, changing lives by offering
free medical and dental care to thousands.
In total, providers saw more than 3,300 patients in four days,
providing more than $10 million worth of services
they otherwise could not afford.
But behind those numbers are real people,
each with a story shaped by inequity,
and by a health care system
that to often leaves them behind.
Share those deeply personal stories while protecting
privacy. Comics journalists have found a powerful way.
Producer Randy Eng has more.
-People who come from all walks of life who need to use the Seattle/King
County Clinic, they have many different reasons.
So we wanted to be able to share their stories
as part of the work that we do with the clinic.
- I'm 37 years old.
I work for a small business.
They can't afford dental insurance.
-Comics journalism is using the medium of comics,
but in this case, you're talking to people and then do interviews
like a newspaper article or for TV.
And then you are conveying their stories using the medium of comics.
- When they share those stories with comic journalists,
these comics, these illustrated stories, really
have the ability to help better inform people about who's
struggling to get care and why they're in this situation.
Because a lot of times people jump to conclusions.
One of the first conclusions people jump to right now
is that people in need are people experiencing homelessness.
With Seattle/King County Clinic,
95% of our patients are housed.
- Comics are fun to read.
Although it might take you by surprise, you might think you're about
to have a laugh and instead you're like, oh no, this is actually a tragic story.
- In another hour I'll have dental surgery and extraction.
Without this clinic, “dental”...
is myself and a pair of pliers.
I've done it before.
It's not fun.
- The reason why we were doing comics at all
is to get people to look at the problems in different ways.
- I have insurance, but they don't cover
more than one a year.
- These are real people, and they're real people
telling their stories in the churn of this system.
You can have what you think is good medical insurance
until you really put it to use.
(sound of pencil drawing)
- I've always had eczema my whole life.
I saw a dermatologist and they sent me to light therapy.
It was very effective in helping my eczema.
Anyway, they changed health care plans in the middle of me
getting these treatments, and I just was like, oh yeah, that’s covered.
Like, I didn't think that would change, you know?
Now I know much better.
This was me getting all my medical bills in the mail
and trying to pretend that they didn't exist,
because I didn't have the money to pay them.
(♪♪)
One of the things I really love about comics
is that it makes subjects that are hard to talk about or taboo or,
you know, difficult, for whatever reason, a little bit easier, a little bit easier
to digest, a little bit easier to consume because it feels a little bit
more harmless.
- I like the comics medium because it's also emotional.
We can convey a lot of empathy for what people are going through.
We can, hear what they're saying.
We can also have thought bubbles that express what they're thinking.
We can show the humanity in their face and really try
and connect to people who are reading it, who might have similar experiences.
So I really like
using that emotional part of the comics medium.
- Call me “Trombone Larry.”
I moved here after Katrina hit in New Orleans.
I need a crown or something to cover my broken tooth.
- He had had some damage to his teeth and because of that, he couldn't
get his mouth into the right position to play the trombone.
Without that piece of tooth.
I can't put the real oomph into the music.
If you can't get that, what else you got?
-For him, it meant that he would be able to go back to work
playing music if he could get his teeth fixed.
(trombone music)
He was somebody I was able to get in touch with afterwards
because I wanted him to see the comic strip I drew about him,
and he was actually playing music again, and he was really happy about it.
(trombone music)
You know, that one sticks in my mind.
- Janet.
(♪♪)
So she was part of our intermittent parking staff.
She would come in when there were certain events.
She had some dental needs that were beyond her financial capabilities,
and so she was going to
come and wait in line for a ticket and try to get dental care.
So she came to the clinic on a subsequent day.
Ended up, I think, getting some crowns.
As she was starting
to make her way to the exit.
Somebody stopped her and said, you look to be
somebody who's about an age that may need a mammogram.
And so she said, you know what?
My primary care provider has been suggesting this for a really long time.
I've been putting it off. I'm going to go do it.
And she did.
And, she told me that they diagnosed her
with breast cancer in that mammography exam.
You know, here was somebody who was working,
but they just couldn't afford it with the type of insurance that they had.
(♪♪)
Janet,
continued to work at Seattle Center, and she came back for a number of years
as a volunteer because she wanted to pay it forward.
Unfortunately, in our fifth year, Janet succumbed to her
her diagnosis of breast cancer.
(♪♪)
- Part of the responsibility of telling these stories is making sure
that we actually do something with them, that we use it as a call to action
to advocate for better access to health care services.
- We've started to include these comics in our final reports,
and I ultimately learned I had to hold back these comics
because they got so engrossed in looking at these that they wouldn't
pay attention to what I was saying.
- I think that's something that people need to get.
Is that the clinic is a Band-Aid on this system.
These comics are just part of the larger cry
for help, to see that the people deserve so much better.
-New comics will
be made this year with more patient stories.
Tatiana's experiences with medical debt
and the future of health care accessibility.
To view the current clinic stories, visit
SeattleCenter.org/SKCClinic and scroll
down to stories from Seattle/King County Clinic.
Let's take a look at another special exhibit
here at MoPop.
It's called the “Asian Comics Evolution of an Art Form.”
This immersive experience explores the powerful
impact of comics art on global pop culture.
It goes far beyond manga and anime.
Asian comics art stretches back
hundreds of years and spans many regions.
This bold art form has influenced everything
from politics and fashion to music, video games
and film.
Coming up next, we visit the place
to find those hard
to get out of print movies
you won't see on any streaming service.
We browse the shelves or Scarecrow Video
right after this.
(♪♪)
Welcome back to
City Stream from MoPop, the Museum of Pop Culture.
Many of the artifacts
here are from
well-known movies you can easily find streamed online.
But what about those hidden gems you loved
and you just can't find anymore,
especially foreign films or the really old ones?
Now I've searched everywhere for one of my favorites,
“Big Foot Exorcist,” and I haven't found it yet.
Well, that's where Scarecrow Video comes in.
It might be your best shot.
Feliks Banel has more.
[mechanical hum]
-All right, well, over here,
you've got all the used and new stuff for sale.
A lot of people sort of forget that we get new releases a lot.
-Matt Lynch works at Scarecrow Video on Roosevelt.
He's been there since 2003.
-The job at that point was mostly renting people movies
and putting the movies back on the shelves when they come back.
And so most of what you do all day
is have a big stack of movies under your arm,
and you have to learn where everything is,
or else it's going to take you forever to put it all away.
Some of my favorite little esoteric sections
are right here.
There's blaxploitation, "vroom" for car chase movies,
bikers, rednecks, truckers.
-I did my job.
-The store has only been there ten years longer than Matt.
-It's like I've been staring at these stacks for two decades,
and I can still find something I never saw before.
It's pretty amazing.
-There aren't too many video stores left in Seattle,
or really anywhere these days.
-I mean, you know, there are still video stores
up and running that have been started,
you know, in the meantime,
but they're certainly not as big as we are.
-But Scarecrow is special, and Matt is special, too.
-I just know -- I know myself pretty well.
I like it here. This is where I belong.
[film projector clicking]
-Of course, I'm not bright about doing things.
-One of his favorite movies was "The Wizard of Oz,"
and we really liked the character of the Scarecrow
because he had lots of heart and no brains.
And then it rhymed -- "scarecrow," "video,"
so we're like, "Okay, that's it, we're doing it."
-Rebecca Soriano has spent a lot of time
at Scarecrow Video.
She's the co-founder of the place along with George Latsios.
[ Tape rewinding ]
-George is a really cool guy.
-Well, I always wanted to have a video store.
I always loved movies and such, so...
Dream is to own your own movie theater,
your own, and of course, it's impossible these days.
So the next best thing was the video store.
-George was my husband,
and he and I met in Pennsylvania.
He wanted to have a video store,
and it was going to be the best video store ever.
He explained it to me,
and I bought into it and I said, "Okay."
So I remember when we moved in,
this was huge.
We didn't have enough tapes to fill it.
So the front part of the store was a place to drink coffee.
-That's interesting.
-George and Rebecca had a plan to buy a house
and work their day jobs for a while
until they had enough money saved to open a store,
but George couldn't wait that long,
so he quit his job.
But somehow they found a way to rent a storefront.
Before Roosevelt,
the first Scarecrow Video was at 65th and Latona.
-So it was tiny. It was --
I don't remember how many square feet,
but it wasn't very big.
We had 400 movies, approximately. I'm not sure.
George was in charge of kind of organizing the videos,
and I made the posters.
There's still one here. It makes me laugh.
The signs, I mean. Um, anyway...
Some of these signs I made myself,
which is amazing.
They're still here.
♪♪
-Scarecrow Video was not an overnight success.
Rebecca was teaching school
and working in the store in the evenings,
but the eclectic and growing collection
was attracting fans and building a following,
like musician Kurt Cobain and film critic Roger Ebert.
[ Telephone ringing ]
-One day I got a phone call from somebody,
and they were like,
"Roger Ebert just helped me find a movie in your store."
And I'm like, "Yeah, that's cool, isn't it?"
[ Chuckles ] It was so awesome.
-By the early '90s,
Scarecrow had outgrown its Latona home.
It was time to find someplace bigger.
-Just having one or a handful of great video stores.
And I don't mean the same town --
I want to scatter them everywhere.
Maybe one in Frisco, maybe one in Tokyo, one in London.
-The new Scarecrow Video was busier than ever.
Then tragedy struck.
George was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor.
There were many tough years.
George doubled down on working at Scarecrow
for as long as his health allowed.
Eventually, he went back to his native Greece.
The couple divorced, amicably, says Rebecca,
and they sold the store.
And then, sadly, George passed away.
♪♪
-He was the most radical guy I ever knew.
-We had various people who wanted it,
and then we had two people who came in who were film buffs.
They were also Microsoft employees,
and they had the money to buy it.
We lucked out. Totally lucked out.
We could have -- it could have been a disaster.
♪♪
-Speaking of disasters, besides Scarecrow,
have you seen many video stores around lately
that still rent video tapes?
-Rewind!
[ Beep ]
-Now we keep all the video tapes back here.
They take up a lot of space.
We built these custom roller shelves to keep them organized.
-Or have you seen any video stores, period?
Thanks to passionate staff and customers,
Scarecrow Video has found a way to survive.
Thrive even.
[ Computer beeps ]
-You know, I think
that Scarecrow is a really interesting jewel
in Seattle's crown.
I mean, it's the biggest video store on planet Earth
in this city that's become so sort of tech
and convenience-oriented.
It sort of stands as a piece of that DIY spirit
that Seattle is built on.
-Part of that DIY spirit
means radically shifting how Scarecrow does business.
In fact, they're technically no longer
even considered a business.
-On this live stream fundraiser,
we are going to attempt to raise $30,000.
-While we're a nonprofit, we're only nonprofit in 2014,
so that's a big part of it.
That allows us to fundraise,
some memberships, things like that.
We started our Rent by Mail program
as a pilot program just before COVID,
and then when COVID struck,
that kept us alive during the lockdown.
-That's awesome, man.
-Rebecca hasn't been officially part of Scarecrow for decades,
but she still comes back every now and then,
which is good
because she knows some of the best stories about the place.
-We used to tease that this whole wing right here
was funded by Kurt Cobain and his late fees.
-But you don't have to be a rock star
or a famous film critic to appreciate
and be welcomed by Scarecrow Video.
There's something here for everyone.
♪♪
-To me right now, it's overwhelming
because, I mean, I'm walking down the aisles
and it's so much more than I remember,
and it's like, I could spend hours in here.
I just don't even know where to start.
-But I didn't scare ya?
-Scarecrows don't bring the crows.
They chase them away.
-Even though George is gone
and the video rental business has disappeared
from nearly everywhere else,
people keep coming back to Scarecrow
to celebrate George's legacy
and to rent some pretty great movies, too.
♪♪
-That's a wrap.
-Since this feature originally aired,
Scarecrow Video has received enough donations
to keep the lights on for another two years.
That gives you at least two years
to go through their 150,000 title library.
If you'd like to see what they've got,
go to their web page at ScarecrowVideo.org.
And yes, “Bigfoot Exorcist” is in their catalog.
That wraps up this edition of
CityStream from MoPop, the Museum of Pop Culture.
If you'd like to know more about the museum,
their special exhibits and events,
as well as this guy Jason,
just go to their website and MoPop.org.
I'm Enrique Cerna,
thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time.
♪♪​