Napoleon Dynamite's 20th Anniversary

While strolling about in Encinitas, we noticed the marquee on La Paloma Theatre. I have wanted to see anything there and tonight's showing of Napoleon Dynamite was just perfect.

I have been enthralled by La Paloma Theatre for years. Its history dates back to 1928 when it was built by Santa Monica bank president Aubrey Austin, and designed by Edward J. Baum. Its opening night, on February 11, 1928, was attended by actress Mary Pickford.
La Paloma was one of the first theaters to install sound equipment for talking movies, which premiered in 1927. It was also the first building in the area to have a distinct architectural style, with features like twin mosque-like façades, mosaic-patterned wallpaper, and handmade floor tiles. The theater was popular with notable figures like Charlie Chaplin and Bing Crosby, and is associated with the development of downtown Encinitas and the rise of Vaudeville acts and "talkies".



Today, it is one of the few remaining single-screen theaters in the San Diego area and continues to offer entertainment, including first-run movies, surf premieres, live concerts, and community events. The theater also has a tradition of showing classic movies on holidays, such as Princess Bride on Valentine's Day (on our list) and Die Hard on Christmas.
It also shows movies from our sons' teen years which we only saw on a television screen. Napoleon Dynamite is one of those movies that we nostalgically remember from our days of raising boys. To see it on the big screen for the first time, TWO decades after its theatrical release, was pretty darn fun.
I love this description written by Kier Gomes, "Napoleon Dynamite is a lot of things but the movie and the character are never fake. Never putting on a prettier face to sell us something or make an impression- but that doesn’t mean that we can’t love it for what it is. And at the end of the day- through Napoleon’s struggle to make friends, then his struggle to keep those friends while his uncle ruins everybody’s life and eats all their steak, to eventually realizing that the true meaning of the story and the key to being happy in your own awkward and never perfect life- is just to keep being yourself and let the people that accept you find you in time- and eventually, even in the smallest towns, and even with the strangest people, everybody can make a friend." What a powerful message!

I have always appreciated how cinema offers us a break from our reality. It is especially valued when the content viewed is hysterical. This was the absolute perfect movie choice and we thoroughly loved seeing it in such a historic setting. WOW.

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