Overdue Vacation (Chicago/Seattle/Vancouver)

[Ryan Gallagher]

If any projectionists/techs want to grab a coffee/beer I'll be passing through Seattle and Vancouver this December.
Booth tours with analog stuff still around for bonus points!

I'm doing the "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" version... Flying to Chicago, catching the wintery Amtrak Empire Builder westbound to Seattle, a week there overlapping my friend's mom duties, and then transitioning to Vancouver, BC through the new year.

I know Chicago is a sweet destination for a union stage tech and projectionist, but unfortunately due to train timing, flight costs, and my late planning... I'm literally only there one night and morning (hotel in the theatre district though). Maybe in the Summer next time for a longer visit!

Arrive late night on 12th in Chicago
12th (morning/afternoon free in Chicago)
12th 3:05p Train from Union Station
14th 12p arrival to Seattle
15th - 19th available in Seattle
20th (ish) train or bus to Vancouver
21st - 1st available in Vancouver
2nd (ish) train or bus to Seattle
3rd Red Eye back to Austin

Sounds like a miserable vacation weather wise for most... but some of us sun-drenched folks actually seek out the cold for a change of pace. My winter weather quota has been empty for a few years.

[Leo Enticknap]

I know the feeling. Having spent the first 38 years of my life in England (and the last decade in north-eastern England, where it rains for around 200 days of the year, and has daytime highs above 70 for only around 50), adjusting to Southern California weather was a bit of a learning curve. A couple of weeks ago I did an eight-hour drive back from an OOT job, from Santa Cruz to Loma Linda, almost all of it through torrential rain. It was the first serious rain that SoCal and the Central Valley had received in several months, and bizarrely, I actually quite enjoyed the drive. Found out the hard way that I needed new wiper blades, though.

I've only ever done one long distance train ride in this country, from Santa Barbara to Seattle on the Coast Starlight in 2005. A friend told me that it was nicknamed the Coast Starlate (because Amtrak "borrows" the railroad from the freight company that owns it, and their trains take priority), and he wasn't wrong! We arrived 15 hours behind schedule, in the middle of the night. Thankfully, I'd allowed an extra day to cover the risk of this, and ended up needing it. My main memory is of prolonged stops in the forests and mountains of Northern California and Southern Oregon waiting for late running freight trains to reach the section of double track on which the two trains could pass each other, during which a lot of the passengers got off and walked onto the trackside to smoke. Once we had clearance to get going again, we had to wait until the smoking was done and everyone got back on.

[Ed Gordon]

Ryan, hopefully you will find a Seattle projectionist that can give you a tour of their theater. There are tours open to the public but your timing is off for those since they occur on Saturdays. You can learn a lot about STG theaters at the web site STG Archive.

STG ARCHIVE
Open Tuesdays from 10am to 2pm
Located in the Paramount Theatre Office Tower
911 Pine Street in downtown Seattle

The entire Archive collection is documented in a database, classified and organized using the Dewey Decimal System. The collection’s contents are searchable by and accessible to everyone, at the Archive location in the Paramount building and also here on these web pages. The pages provides a plethora of data related to performers and performances that have appeared at the Seattle Theatre Group® theatres.

On Thursday, March 1, 2012, the Seattle Theatre Group® Historic Theatres Library officially opened to the public. The dedication coincided with the initial opening of Seattle’s Paramount Theatre on March 1, 1928. In January 2020, the Historic Theatres Library changed its name to the Seattle Theatre Group Archive.

To develop a historic theatre library for the Paramount, Moore and Neptune Theatres was the vision of Seattle Theatre Group®. The project began early in December 2010 in conjunction with the writing of the book entitled “Seattle’s Paramount Theatre, From Birth to Rebirth and Beyond.” It required the gathering, sorting, documenting, cataloging, and preserving over 100 years of historical data. With nearly 14,000 volunteers hours to date, this continues to be an on-going project.

The Archive contains binders on a variety of topics from the performers that graced the stages over the many decades, a journey through the peaks and valleys that these theatres had to endure, wall hangings depicting the many challenges along the way, the visionaries responsible for these theatres, priceless memorabilia, and countless signed posters, along with a number of other posters. Also included in the Archive are converted CD/DVDs of performers and events, along with Seattle’s Paramount Theatre opening night silent movie DVD entitled, “Feel My Pulse.”

The Archive is located in the Paramount Theatre’s Office Tower, adjacent to the theatre. It is open to the public on Tuesday from 10am – 2pm. Admission is free. In addition, the Archive will be open for all public and student tours of the Paramount Theatre. Private group tours of the Archive and theatre can be arranged by contacting Marian Thrasher at library@stgpresents.org.

Search the Archives

Paramount Theatre - Free Tour - Seattle WA

[Ryan Gallagher]

Yeah Leo, I’ve done Coast Starlight from SF to Vancouver in the past, but this was an excuse to do one of the horizontal lines. Empire is supposedly one of the nicer ones scenery wise, but the “better” direction is eastbound due to where the daylight portions are (delays not withstanding).

Amtrak is miserably out dated compared to some long haul trains around the world, but I’ll take what we got.

[Benjamin Ruder]

This looked like an interesting opportunity to meet up, but unfortunately my Friday mornings are booked up! Perhaps another time.

[Ryan Gallagher]

This could get interesting. Winter blast while on the train, and Seattle/Vancouver are flooding right now. My friend might have to fly or ferry to Seattle instead of use the bus this week, some roads are cut off today. Amtrack cancelled two trains between them already.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

If any projectionists/techs want to grab a coffee/beer I'll be passing through Seattle and Vancouver this December.
Booth tours with analog stuff still around for bonus points!

I'm doing the "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" version... Flying to Chicago, catching the wintery Amtrak Empire Builder westbound to Seattle, a week there overlapping my friend's mom duties, and then transitioning to Vancouver, BC through the new year.

I know Chicago is a sweet destination for a union stage tech and projectionist, but unfortunately due to train timing, flight costs, and my late planning... I'm literally only there one night and morning (hotel in the theatre district though). Maybe in the Summer next time for a longer visit!

Arrive late night on 12th in Chicago
12th (morning/afternoon free in Chicago)
12th 3:05p Train from Union Station
14th 12p arrival to Seattle
15th - 19th available in Seattle
20th (ish) train or bus to Vancouver
21st - 1st available in Vancouver
2nd (ish) train or bus to Seattle
3rd Red Eye back to Austin

Sounds like a miserable vacation weather wise for most... but some of us sun-drenched folks actually seek out the cold for a change of pace. My winter weather quota has been empty for a few years.

Expect to do a lot of waiting on sidings for freight trains to pass... they have the right of way. I've done Chicago to SF a number of times to attend Dolby Training, and Salt Lake City to Granby, CO a number of times. There are always waits, some as long as an hour. Back in the days I used it the food was cooked fresh, but may or may not be today. Expect warmed up pre-prepared meals... If you get fresh cooked food, you're lucky.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Expect to do a lot of waiting on sidings for freight trains to pass... they have the right of way. I've done Chicago to SF a number of times to attend Dolby Training, and Salt Lake City to Granby, CO a number of times. There are always waits, some as long as an hour. Back in the days I used it the food was cooked fresh, but may or may not be today. Expect warmed up pre-prepared meals... If you get fresh cooked food, you're lucky.

On the train now in Milwaukee, The Empire Builder is the one line that has right of way over freight, but yes, most of the rest of Amtrak is like that. Empire often runs on time or early even.

My challenge will be track condition after Spokane due to the flooding going on now in the PNW. Last 3 trains shoved everyone headed to Seattle on buses in Spokane.

Dining is TBD, but included in the roomette, so gonna try them all.

[Ed Gordon]

On the train now in Milwaukee, The Empire Builder is the one line that has right of way over freight, but yes, most of the rest of Amtrak is like that. Empire often runs on time or early even.

My challenge will be track condition after Spokane due to the flooding going on now in the PNW. Last 3 trains shoved everyone headed to Seattle on buses in Spokane.

Dining is TBD, but included in the roomette, so gonna try them all.

Ryan, you can check road conditions in Washington state at: https://wsdot.com/Travel/Real-time/Map/

There is more rain coming but I think the worst is over. If you wind up on a bus in Spokane, you will be traveling west on Interstate 90. Your challenge the will be getting over Snoqualmie Pass.

[Scotty Wright]

14th 12p arrival to Seattle
15th - 19th available in Seattle

hey Ryan! I’d be happy to get you a tour at the Pacific Science Center. We have 2 imax theaters: one dual laser, and the other is dual xenon (but still has an original film system in the booth). We’re closed Monday and Tuesday but open the rest of the week.

[Ryan Gallagher]

hey Ryan! I’d be happy to get you a tour at the Pacific Science Center. We have 2 imax theaters: one dual laser, and the other is dual xenon (but still has an original film system in the booth). We’re closed Monday and Tuesday but open the rest of the week.

Fun! I’ll DM you for contact info. Last time I was in town I did the very cool Connections Musem.

We are emerging from the cold, our coldest fresh air stop was -9F actual in Minot. But no wind and sun was out. Havre was +5F just now which felt downright pleasant. Creeping up to +13F in Shelby. Literally was on the Polar Express!

IMG_6934.jpg

Word is we’ll make it all the way, no bus from Spokane!

[Ryan Gallagher]

Happy New Year all. My last full day in Vancouver BC! I did manage to meet up with Ron Lacheur at the VIFF Centre downtown a couple days ago, also met one of their projectionists (also Ryan) who was running the DCI show that afternoon for some quick booth look see and shop talk over a bev.

Image 1-1-26 at 4.11 PM.jpg

Very clean modern booth, a bit crowded with typically two DCI projectors and hosting the two FP38Ds, but they make it work! Quite a change from my vintage booth experiences.

Dragged my friend's 14yr old daughter whom is very into her robotics program at school and she thought the booth and projectors were pretty cool. Impressing a 14yr old is a high bar, count that as a win team.

We also made a 5min stop at Vancouver's tiniest theatre. A diorama project in the side of a hacker space in East Vancouver. This time of year it plays mostly holiday clips. Ron and Ryan had only heard about it but not been themselves.

IMG_7036.jpgIMG_7035.jpg

Still aiming to catch Scotty at the Boeing and PACCAR IMAX's in Seattle on the way back out, I have an afternoon to kill before my red-eye back home.

We opted not go out for NYE but did visit the Festival of Lights in the botanical gardens the night before. So much better than our holiday light "trail" in Austin, which is really just a paved road through a park with corporate sponsored cartoonish displays on either side. Our Zilker tree is the best thing we got, and definitely worth the visit if you are into crowds and swarms of kids and holidays. We typically aren't, but the vancouver festival of light in the gardens were very enjoyable all the same. The Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is also a lighting decorated hotspot, but VERY expensive comparatively. Maybe next time.

Screenshot 2026-01-01 at 4.21.43 PM.jpg

As a Texan I did spring for the gondola tickets to spend an afternoon frolicking in the snow on Grouse though. About the same cost as Capilano and there is a wintery wonderland light trail up there too.

Image 1-1-26 at 4.36 PM.jpg

Happy New Year!

[Ryan Gallagher]

Wrapping up this topic. I did indeed manage to catch Scotty at the Seattle Science Center Boeing and PACCAR IMAX rooms for booth tours and chit-chat on my final Seattle lay-over day before my flight out. Scotty was a great host and definitely loves giving the technical tour. Met Jenn Bentz too whom my former head carp and IMAX install tech (John Lewis) knows well. She is practically furniture there... 35 years! As well as the other two projectionists on duty that day.

Cheers!

John Lewis seemed to think your Gen 1 IMAX projector was going to be revived for Nolan's "The Odyssey", but I didn't quite get that impression while I was with you, perhaps I mis-interpreted the plan. He mentioned he's being roped in to running two weeks of Odyssey somewhere undetermined already. Last 15p70 he ran was Dunkirk.

I also have the distinct honor of being able to say I walked out of AVATAR IMAX 3D on the largest screen in Washington after 20 min. ;-) (I had dinner plans with my hosts before my flight). Hehe.

[Scotty Wright]

John Lewis seemed to think your Gen 1 IMAX projector was going to be revived for Nolan's "The Odyssey", but I didn't quite get that impression while I was with you, perhaps I mis-interpreted the plan. He mentioned he's being roped in to running two weeks of Odyssey somewhere undetermined already. Last 15p70 he ran was Dunkirk.

While I would jump at the opportunity, no one’s told us or even inspected the system to make that call. And It’s been dead for over a decade.

I met Mr Keighley from imax (rip) a couple of times and he talked about wanting imax film reinstalled in Boeing bc that’s the 1.43 screen, but the science center isn’t interested (and that’s putting it lightly).

PACCAR’s a 1.90 retrofit imax too, so even if by miracle, we ran Odyssey in there, we’d get a lot of crap about it not being a full-size 1.43 imax like Boeing and lose folks to Cineplex Langley outside Vancouver. But still would be pretty cool to see an Imax film print screening in an historic worlds fair venue. And man I would love the opportunity learn. Between Jenn and my other colleagues they probably have 4-5 decades of imax film experience at the science center, but I’m a purely digital boy lol