PORT TOWNSEND — The Rose Theatre has seen a multitude of stories since its days as a vaudeville house in the early 1900s.
Then came the pandemic of 2020-2021. It has rocked the Rose and its sister, the Starlight Room, darkening the three movie screens. The box office at 235 Taylor St. has been closed for 14 months and counting.
A few days ago, a ray of light appeared on, of all places, Facebook. The Rose is hiring. Saturday popcorn sales from the front window will wrap up this week, the posts proclaimed, so owner Rocky Friedman and his crew can ready the place for reopening this summer.
“We’re hoping it’s going to be the middle of July,” Friedman said Friday.
Jim Donaldson and Meg Snow enjoy popcorn from the Rose Theatre in downtown Port Townsend on Saturday. The theater has been popping corn on weekends for months while waiting for the day it can reopen. That day will come this summer. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)
And though Gov. Jay Inslee has green-lighted full capacity in movie houses across Washington state, this doesn’t mean the Rose will be jam-packed. Friedman is still deciding how full his theaters should be, and he’s in the process of upgrading his air filtration system; movies are yet to be booked and managers, box office and concessions workers need to be hired.
“It feels … it’s just big,” he said.
Saturday afternoon, he was busy serving bags of popcorn and talking with fans such as Sandy Krist, whose husband Phil Johnson restored the Rose building back in the ’90s.
The former vaudeville venue had been turned into a junk store, Krist said. The transformation into a cinema was complete when the Rose Theatre opened its doors July 11, 1992.
Friedman is proceeding with caution. If things are not ready by mid-July, he’s OK with that. Reopening will happen when the right staff, protocols and films are in place.
Working alongside the owner — virtually — is his daughter Renata Friedman, who lives in New York City. In addition to her work as an actor, Renata is “our social media person,” he said, posting news about movies available for streaming via Rosetheatre.com, job opportunities and this summer’s plans. Her Facebook page has 4,683 followers.
Over the past year, patrons have showered the theaters with a substance that could only be called love. Following closure March 15, 2020, Friedman launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay the theaters’ steep bills over the next while. A $160,000 goal was set, in hopes of covering expenses into 2021. As of Saturday, $192,955 in donations had come in, including a $125 gift made the day before.
“I never, never anticipated this kind of response,” Friedman wrote on the GoFundMe page last fall, adding, “Your open hearts will see us through the winter. Hopefully the tide will turn with COVID-19.”
On the website this past week, Friedman again thanked the people who have seen the Rose and Starlight to this point: supporters who donated and lent money, bought T-shirts, gift cards and memberships — and who stepped with him into the world of Rose-streamed movies.
Movie lovers including Sandy Krist, foreground, stopped by the Rose Theatre in Port Townsend on Saturday afternoon to pick up their last bags of Rose-popped corn before the cinema reopens this summer. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)
In spring 2020, Friedman began offering a diminutive version of Netflix. Patrons could buy tickets to stream the independent features and documentaries the Rose and Starlight specialized in, for $6 to $12 per household. In the beginning, viewers’ transactions went through the films’ distributors.
Streaming proved popular, so in February of this year Friedman created a dedicated streaming platform to provide patrons with direct access to their chosen films straight from the Rose website.
Friedman selects the movies, a mix of new and not so new: “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “The Eagle Huntress” are available alongside the concert film simply titled “Ella Fitzgerald,” plus dozens of comedies, dramas and performing arts documentaries.
Streaming numbers have been ticking up every month, Friedman said, to reach 349 viewings in April.
Friedman plans to keep the streaming platform open for the foreseeable future — along with showing movies on his big screens.
“We can’t wait,” said Meg Snow of Port Townsend as she munched on popcorn outside the theater.
“We’ve missed it so much.”
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladaily news.com.
