“It’s about bringing in a community, having that experience that you’re not going to get with streaming, you’re only going to get with a room full of people.”

After more than 50 years of catering to students, film buffs, and neighbors looking for a space to gather and belong, Seattle’s longest continually running moving theater, the Grand Illusion Cinema, recently dropped the final curtain…at least in their current location. They knew this day was likely to come when the building that served as the theater’s home for decades was sold in 2023, but the plot thickened when the new landlord declined to renew their lease in early 2025. As the cinema looks to relocate, Seattle Channel producer Drew Highlands and Vanishing Seattle’s Cynthia Brothers visited the space to learn just what made the

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