The Joy Cinema and Pub, formerly known as the Joy Theater, is a single-screen

repertory cinema A revival house, rep house, or repertory cinema is a cinema that specializes in showing classic or notable older films (as opposed to first run films). Such venues may include standard repertory cinemas, multi-function theatres that alternate bet ...

located in

Tigard, Oregon Tigard ( ) is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States. The population was 54,539 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Oregon, 12th most populous city in Oregon. Incorporated in 1961, the city i ...

History

The Joy Cinema and Pub originally went by the name Joy Theater, and was established in 1939. The Joy's specialty was second-run or offbeat movies, and was known for many years for being one of the only theaters in the Portland Metro Area to play

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

films. In 2010, the theater was owned by Arif Amaani, a

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

-based businessman who also ran a theater that showed primarily

Indian films The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on pr ...

in Seattle. In 2012, The Joy Theater was sold to advertising agent Jeff "Punk Rock" Martin, who renamed it to the Joy Cinema and Pub, as well as remodeling the interior to fit the

kitsch ''Kitsch'' ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as Naivety, naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal Taste (sociology), taste. The modern avant-garde traditionally opposed kitsch ...

aesthetic of its

art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

exterior façade. The theater's programming was revamped to show a mix of blockbusters, family films, and

cult cinema Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ha ...

. The theater also hosted weekly "Weird Wednesday" screenings, which were free, late night showings of films that were either in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

or had a questionable legal status, such as

Nosferatu ''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' () is a 1922 silent film, silent German Expressionism (cinema), German Expressionist vampire film directed by F. W. Murnau from a screenplay by Henrik Galeen. It stars Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who ...

and

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians ''Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'' is a 1964 American Christmas science fiction comedy film. It was directed by Nicholas Webster, produced and written by Paul L. Jacobson, and based on a story by Glenville Mareth. John Call stars as Santa C ...

. During the

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Joy Cinema and Pub was closed for one year, and gained notoriety for selling fresh popcorn and concessions while Washington County law dictated that the theater could not show movies.

Programming

The theater alternates between first-run, second-run, and repertory showings. In 2023, the Joy Cinema and Pub introduced a new "Midnight Movies" event, showing cult films at Midnight on Fridays.

References

External links

* {{coord, 45.4339, -122.7659, type:landmark_region:US-OR, display=title Theatres in Oregon Tigard, Oregon Cinemas and movie theaters in Oregon Repertory cinemas in the United States Art Deco architecture in Oregon Art Deco cinemas and movie theaters