BUILD IT AND
THEY WILL COME
When “talkies” first hit the silver screen in the late ’20s,
Eugene had five theaters (the Heilig, the Rex, the Colonial,
the Eugene State Theater and the McDonald), and by
1980, more than 10 theaters lit up the town with their
marquees. Today, the city is host to three theaters: the
Regal Valley River Center Stadium 15, the David Minor
Theater and the Bijou. Forty years after what was then
called the Eugene Renewal Agency razed the Heilig —
Eugene’s oldest movie theater — the Bijou Metro will
open with the aid of the current Eugene Urban Renewal
Agency. Unlike the controversial 12-screen multiplex that
was originally proposed by the urban renewal project in
the mid-aughts, the Bijou Metro will be a compact venue
totaling 3,300 square feet.
Crafting an experience was on Schiessl’s mind two
years ago when he started working with developer Steve
Master of Master Capital Management LLC and Denny
Braud and Mike Sullivan of Eugene’s Urban Renewal
Agency. According to Braud, the city of Eugene is
financing $70,000 for the Bijou Metro and $500,000 for
Master Capital Management LLC to revamp the Bijou site,
the former First National Bank building and later a Taco
Time, through the Downtown Revitalization Loan Program
(other loan benefactors coming to the block include Off
The Waffle, Noisette Pastry Kitchen and The Barn Light).
Braud, who describes the Bijou Metro as “the perfect
project for downtown,” estimates that the city has invested
about $20 million into the Broadway area thus far.
“If X marks the spot,” Master says, pointing to the
intersection of Willamette Street and Broadway Avenue,
“this is the best corner in Eugene. It just doesn’t get better
than this.”
Standing on the first floor of the gutted 19th-century
bank building, Master’s voice is barely audible over the
cacophony of drills and hammers working overhead on 16
luxury apartments, also owned by Master. “This is going
to be the First National Tap House,” he says, patting a
cobbled brick wall. Master and business partner developer
Tim Weiskind (their other projects include the Park Place
apartments downtown) are looking to collaborate with the
Metro. “We’re going to do a projector on the wall and Ed
is going to supply us with old movies to play.”
There will also be a digital reader board alerting beer-
sipping patrons that their movie is about to start across
the hall and a full, mobile kitchen specializing in gourmet
burgers with indoor and outdoor seating. Handsome
copper bank vault doors (weighing several tons each)
will be pulled from the basement for a display behind the
bar.
Master slides his shoe across the floor, revealing the
original marbled tiles hidden by construction dust. “It’s
stone from the original bank,” he says. Built in 1886, the
Bristow building, which became first National Bank in
1898, was the first brick building in Eugene. He and
Schiessl want to leave much of the original stone and
brickwork in place. They outline the 20-seat theater that
will be on Broadway across from the incoming Sizzle Pie,
a Portland-based pizzeria chain. The three other auditoriums
will be on the northern side of the site. Each theater will
have stadium seating and digital projection with screens
ranging from 14 to 22 feet. The two larger auditoriums will
also have 16mm and 35mm projection capabilities for
archival film.
With true art house flair, the décor will be inspired by
the Art Nouveau design of the Paris Metro. The theater’s
sign will closely mimic the curling wrought iron lines and
red background of its French counterpart. “We’re going for
that fancy underground look,” Schiessl says. Local neon
artist Neal Conner of Neon Latitudes will be helping with
interior design and signage. And in keeping with the
French theme, wine, beer and some amuse-bouches are in
order — all of which will be available at concessions (with
popcorn, of course.) The Bijou is working with a local chef
to design a menu that will include seasonal variety of
hand-made gourmet sandwiches, grilled paninis, salads,
soups and other specialties, featuring locally sourced
natural ingredients, along with artisan spices and sauces.
Eventually the wine, beer and food menu will be available
at the original Bijou as soon as the Oregon Liquor Control
Commission gives the go-ahead.
“We have a few more hoops to jump through than the
David Minor Theater because we are not 21 and older,”
Schiessl says. He emphasizes there will be no text-a-beer
service. “We are certainly building this to be a movie
theater where you can also get a beer, rather than a bar
where you can see a movie. We don’t want cell phones. We
don’t want talking. We’re thinking about even adopting a
policy like the Alamo Drafthouse where it’s like, if you
talk, you text, you’re out of here. We don’t want people to
opt for home video instead of coming to see a movie just
because there are people talking.”
DUDE, AT LEAST IT’S AN ETHOS
The Bijou is “booking their own films. I think it makes
a fabulous difference,” says former EW film critic Lois
Wadsworth. She explains that programming for most
theaters, i.e. the ubiquitous multiplex, is done on a national
scale by a booker who has no ties to the local communities
where the films play. “They know the Eugene audience.
They live here,” Wadsworth says. “I can’t tell you about
booking; I can just tell you it’s the part that matters.”
During the majority of the Bijou’s lifespan, original
owner Michael Lamont worked with Portland-based booker
Roger Paulson of Paulson Theater Services. Schiessl took
over film booking at the end of 2010, three years after
Lamont died. “Roger was a great resource as I got on my
feet and helped me make the necessary contacts when I
began booking the theater. There are certainly benefits to
having a professional film buyer, in terms of their clout in
being able to get product from large distributors, and we
may employ one again in the future,” Schiessl says. For
now, he enjoys responding to Bijou customer requests and
tailoring the films to a local audience, which is paying off as
the theater is seeing the first box office rise since 2005.
Programming, however, can be tricky, and the myriad
requirements of film distributors add significantly to the
need for a second theater.
“The way our business is right now, we have to make
these lose-lose choices almost every week. Do we hang on
to a movie that’s moderately successful and try to exploit
second, third and fourth week audiences on it or hope it
DIGITAL RENDERING OF THE PLANS FOR THE NEW BIJOU METRO
DIGITA L RENDERING COUR TE S Y M A S TER C A PITA L M A N AGEMENT
eugeneweekly.com • September 27, 2012
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