It's been a place where lots of memories were made in the dark. For generations of U-W students, it was the setting for a lot of first dates and probably a few last ones. For a while in the 70s, it was a porno house.
Now the Neptune Theater, the old movie house in the U District, may be designated as historic. The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board is expected to decide Nov. 14, whether to designate the 91-year-old theater a landmark. The push coming from a local architect concerned that Sound Transit's construction of the light rail line to the University District might have impact on it. The Seattle Theatre Group took over the lease and has been running it as a performance hall.
According to the landmarks application, the theater is the only survivor of five that opened in the University District during the silent era. It described the scene the night it opened to a full house on Nov. 16, 1921. It showed a movie called Serenade (1921). The movie was presented with live musical accompaniment performed by B Lingren on the Neptune's three-manual Kimball theater organ, said to be the largest Kimball on the west coast. The patrons were directed to their seats by ushers dressed in Dutch costumes.
· Neptune theater to close, reopen as performance venue [Seattle Pi]
· Neptune Theater could become a city landmark [Komo]
—Kery Murakami
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