The Rosendale Theater

By Scott Warren

A night curled up on the couch with a pizza and a movie is tough to beat. Unfortunately, doing that too regularly could leave you claustrophobic, pining for the outside world and feeling like you are as confined to a box as the characters on your TV set.

Fortunately, there is a local venue that provides all the comforts of home in the form of a low-cost night on the town. On the tiny main drag of downtown Rosendale, you can get great food, film, and if you are lucky, maybe even a little live music, and all for not much more than the price of a takeout dinner and movie rental.

Previews
Before the movie, take a stroll down Main Street, passing the historic 19th century storefronts that date back to a time when Rosendale was best known for its natural cement mines. At the end of the main drag between the Rondout Creek and Old Delaware & Hudson Canal sits the Rosendale Café. The building, which has been a post office and a liquor store, is now one of the premiere food and entertainment destinations in the region.

This mostly vegetarian haven offers specialties like the tempeh reuben, FLT (Fakin’ Bacon, lettuce and tomato) on sourdough, and a sweet potato burrito with black beans. The menu is stocked with local produce and varies seasonally to favor what’s growing at the moment. Daily specials are hard to miss—instead of being an insert in the menu or recited by a waitress, they are listed on a standing board, brought tableside when each table is seated. The café also offers natural colas, sparkling juices and local root beers as well as organic coffees and home made desserts. The meals are reasonably priced, ranging from $8 to $13.

It may not quite match the comfort of the slippers and robe you would wear on your couch, but the casual atmosphere and dress as well as the friendly staff make this café feel like the living room of an eclectic old friend. Paintings and sculptures by local artists cover the walls, hanging over patrons as they surf the Web on their laptops. In the evenings, musicians and other performance artists take to the stage. Even if you just stop in for a late lunch, it is possible to catch the beginning of a jazz or folk act before heading out to the theater.

Feature Presentation
From the café it’s just a few blocks down Main Street to the entrance to the historic, single-screen Rosendale Theater, which was originally built as a firehouse. Back when it was operating, the firemen routinely pulled out the engines to make room for theater seats to show theatrical films. The programs proved popular and the firehouse was eventually bought and renovated by local resident Tony Cacchio.

The firehouse debuted as a full-time cinema in 1949 with Robert Wise’s western, Blood on the Moon. Cacchio passed away in 1998, but his family still to owns and operates the 300-seat theater which is nestled between a worn wooden floor and an antique tin ceiling.

Today, photos of the family are scattered on the walls of the lobby leading into the auditorium. Regulars still greet the elder Cacchio’s son, Tony Jr., as he works the ticket booth, chatting with his customers. They discuss the weather and catch up since their last visit to the theater. As visitors mill about the lobby they read hand-written signs that display admission prices and thank patrons for supporting the theater for nearly 60 years. The poster outside the theater has a “now showing” banner tacked to it with scores of old thumb tack holes at each corner as the tattered notice barely clings to the wall.

The Rosendale Theater has everything you would expect to find at a cinema. It is just a little bit different there. Candy and popcorn are for sale but there is no concession counter in the lobby. Confections are sold in antique pull-handle style vending machines in the lobby, which date back to the 1950s. To buy gum or anything else that would fit in the smaller slots, you are out of luck. That part of the machine was built back when candy cost less than a quarter and the machines were never upgraded to accept quarters, so they lie empty. If you are hungry, bring change—and paper currency for that matter. The Rosendale Theater accepts cash only. The only thing your debit card will buy you is a walk to the Stewart’s Shop down the road to use the nearest ATM machine (and the temptation of a much wider candy selection). Popcorn isn’t available in the lobby at all because the popcorn machine broke. In 1965.

Instead, a worker at a cart inside the auditorium pops corn and sells it in reasonably sized personal serving bags for a dollar. It is a welcome alternative to the massive $7 buckets of popcorn for sale at the multiplex theater, which was popped who knows where and brought into the theater in giant plastic bags days before.

The Rosendale Theater shows one or two films per week and only at night, so matinees are not an option. Though the theater does not show first run films they often get new films in their second or third week and by doing so manage to show current films but also to keep their prices low—currently $6. Though they show wide releases, The Rosendale Theater is known for its independent-film programming and even participates in local film festivals.

While the owners of the Rosendale seem to balance the delicate line between commercial and art house fare, there is little pretense about the place. The answering machine messages that give the weekly show times are the stuff of legend as the voice giving the message seems to be learning what is playing and who is starring just as he reads it into the receiver. When Hairspray played this summer, Queen Latifah was pronounced “Queen (long pause) Latiyeef” on the first week, left out of the message entirely the second week and replaced by Christopher Walken on the third. Of course he wasn’t completely off the hook either. His name was changed to “Christopher Walker.”

When the films play, the crowd is engaged in the experience of the cinema. They laugh during the funny parts, gasp at the shocking parts and even cry at the sad parts. When the film ends, most stay to watch the end credits. On one visit, one man, so swept up in the revelry of the end of the film, danced his way up the aisle and out of the theater to the applause of his neighbors.

Encore
“I love a theater like this. I love a theater where the audience claps at the end of the movie,” says a woman as she waits in line. “Now lets get some ice cream.” After the show, crowds tend to huddle outside on the sidewalk to discuss the film with their neighbor or to see who else from town was in the audience. It is standing room only, so some sneak next door to The Big Cheese to find some elbow room. This neighborhood shop is known for its wide assortment of local and imported cheeses, as well as sandwiches and salads during the day. After a movie lets out, the ice cream is the main attraction. A perfect post-movie snack hits the spot as patrons flock next door to discuss the film they just saw as they lick chocolate chip mint from sugar cones.

There may be no place like home, but even Dorothy pined to get off the ranch now and then. Between the food, live music, great old movie theater and the atmosphere of the small town, downtown Rosendale makes going out to the movies an event and will makes that small screen at home seem even smaller.

The Rosendale Theater is located at 408 Main Street in Rosendale, NY. They are open every day but Tuesday. For more information, call them at 845 658 8989.