Two weeks before I turned 12, Raiders of the Lost Ark starring Harrison Ford was released. My parents and I went to the theater and against my better judgement I chose to see something else.

For the life of me I cannot remember what, that tells you how good it must have been. When we regrouped in the lobby, my parents proclaimed that Raiders was one of the greatest movies in the history of ever, and chided me for not seeing it. They then offered to take me the following weekend.

The theater was packed and we could not find three seats together. I was hooked. I became a lifelong Indy fan. It seems like every time I went home to visit my parents, we always found time to watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. All five films, good and bad, have a special place in my heart.

I spent my formative years in movie theaters of all types (arthouse, restored Art Deco, homogenized multiplexes, drive-ins), as I am sure many of us of a certain age did growing up. And I’m sure some of you can remember going to see the films that inspired movies like Raiders and characters like Indiana Jones.

The three types of films that resonated with my moviegoing experience back then were horror movies, Godzilla, and the sweeping epic blockbuster. It started with waiting in line to see Star Wars four years earlier and continues to this day.

When I was 11, I saw The Phantom of the Opera (1925) with a live orchestra in an arthouse theater, and when I was in high school my earth science teacher bought and restored a historical Art Deco theater I was lucky enough to see a movie in before I moved away from my hometown. As an adult, I’ve seen numerous movies, concerts and comedy shows at historic neighborhood theaters.

Many theaters have already gone extinct. According to The Hollywood Reporter, more than 2,000 movie theaters in the United States went dark from 2019–2022, AMC alone has closed 169 locations since 2019. The fate for many independent houses is just as uncertain. Indie theaters are thriving in some locations, struggling in others. Recovery post-COVID has been pushed into 2026 for the industry as a whole as Hollywood recovers from the pandemic and two strikes. And that estimation was made before the recent wildfires ravaged Southern California.

The only first-run theater in Grays Harbor County, from the beach to Olympia in fact, is Ocean Shores Cinema. Shoppes at Riverside in Aberdeen closed in 2021 and along with it Riverside Cinemas 10.

Enter the 7th Street Theatre in Hoquiam. Since I moved to the area three-and-and-a-half years ago, I have wanted to check out the now 97-year-old venue for quite some time. Schedules and timing have never quite worked out.

Last week I coincidentally came across a promotion for a two-day run for Raiders of the Lost Ark at the 7th Street Theater this past weekend. My wife and I attended the Saturday night screening and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who attended. Our emcee, Mickey Thurman, 7th Street Theatre board of directors vice president, informed the assembled audience that Raiders was the 7th Street Theatre’s most popular film. A Facebook post detailed the numbers since the theater first ran it.

2007 — 686 people

2012 — 357 people

2018 — 434 people

2025 — 438 people

We thoroughly enjoyed the 7th Street Theatre, its atmosphere and just a hint of kitsch. We’ll have to find more excuses to go.

This was the fourth time as an adult I have gone to an indie arthouse theater to experience a movie that meant something to me — King Kong (1933) at the Tracy Grand in Tracy, California, Dracula (1931) at the Paramount in Oakland, California, a night with Bruce Campbell and Evil Dead 2 (The Castro in San Francisco) and now Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Steven Spielberg unleashed the summer blockbuster as we know it today with Jaws in 1975 and his collaboration with George Lucas and Lucasfilm to create one of the most iconic movie characters and successful movie franchises speaks to a style of filmmaking that is slowly going extinct.

On-location live action is cost-prohibitive and technology has taken the art of making movies to new places real and imagined. I only hope there is an upcoming generation of filmmakers who can draw on inspiration from days gone by to blend location, characters and action to create sweeping, epic blockbuster films that should only be seen on the big screen.

As for films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, I thank the 7th Street Theatre for keeping the charm and nostalgia of experiencing movies near and dear to our hearts on the big screen alive.