the last picture show

i will admit to loving mom and pop businesses, little home-grown stores or organizations operated out of crazy spaces, with a shoestring budget and plenty of charm. new york has plenty of those, seems to nurture their odd independent businesses, although my favorites are the movie theaters.

when we lived in park slope, we could easily stroll down to the pavillion, and often did to catch a new release on their old screens. the theaters were aging and somewhat ill-tended, but it was such a neighborly audience that i loved going to see movies in that place. there's a big fancy multiplex on court that is maybe 10 minutes away, and it was perfect for "up" and "harry potter" this summer, but my favorite movie theater in the nabe is cobble hill cinemas, just a few minutes in the other direction. they run special deals on thursday nights, though their regular tickets are still much cheaper than the fancy screens down the street, and they sell delicious popcorn, and they have painted film scenes on the walls (which is both funny and terrifying, when you come face to face with a four-foot-tall crazy-jack-nicholson-in-the-shining picture) and old movie posters, and signs on the stairs saying "only 20 more to go!" ("i counted 19" said s, last weekend when we went to see "inglourious basterds"), and comfy seats (though not such great speakers) and they play a mix of wide-release and indie films, and i just love it.

probably secretly (or not-so-secretly and maybe i'm just totally clueless) they're owned by someone more incorporated than my next door neighbors, but it still feels like a local spot, the kind that seem to be holding out better in new york than anywhere else, the kind that help to make this city so unique.

hey soph

today in my new cool work nabe (described perfectly by a reviewer as "on the transitional frontier between proletarian chinatown and posh soho") as i was headed out in the late afternoon for some much-need warm caffeine, i spotted sofia coppola walking towards me. she is distinctive looking, and yet also fairly normal in appearance at the same time. (i was on the phone with s and told him about my sighting, and he said "i wouldn't have recognized her." but he doesn't love marc jacobs or "the virgin suicides" as much as some people i know, so that makes sense to me.) anyways, i was overwhelmed by a desire to say hello to her.

i'm sure we're all glad that i did not.