Hearne: Alamo Redo, Celemency for Texters & Towels for Nudists

Turns out those Alamo Draft House dudes aren’t such tough guys after all…

The new signs are up on the former AMC Mainstreet theater downtown’s marquee announcing the switch to Alamo and the Texans have plenty of cool, new things and plans afoot to liven things – that is, up once this heatwave lets up and it’s safe to go outside again.

“When we do the renovation in September the ticket prices will be the same upstairs and down, so you won’t be paying a premium to go upstairs,” says Caitlin Stevens, Alamo’s creative manager at the Mainstreet.

The Mainstreet will remain open throughout the renovation as Alamo implements its fixes on an auditorium by auditorium basis.

Which will be a bit costly in terms of overall theater capacity however.

The largest auditorium downstairs which holds 283 people will hold approximately half as many once the first row has been removed and tables and serving aisles are installed. However, as noted here recently, Alamo’s fancy-schmancy upstairs auditoriums will actually hold more people after the it retrofits them for dining.

There’s more...

Starting with a kitchen that makes most of the Alamo’s menu items from scratch and with locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. That thanks to Alamo chef Jeff Rinehart who’s already made his way to Kansas City’s Farmers Market.

“We’ll do feasts where we do a five-course meal and it’s all paired with beer and wine and also paired with the film,” Stevens says.

Local ingredients under consideration include exclusive and unique Boulevard beers, Christopher Elbow chocolates, Fevere bread and of course, Shatto milk.

And let the record show Alamo isn’t knee jerking after last weekend’s Dark Knight Massacre like its forebear at the Mainstreet, AMC which banned costumes at its theaters.

“We are not changing any of our policies and we’re not making any statements,” Stevens says.

Speaking of wearing costumes at the Alamo…

“We have an Arena Rock Sing-Along next month,” Stevens says. “And we’ll have lots of videos of Journey and Queen and other bands.”

Air guitarists welcome.

And as it turns out, even the Alamo’s ultra strict no talking, no texting policy for non sing-along events isn’t nearly as egregious as many in the mainstream media have made it out to be.

“We’re very adamant but if someone sees something happen, that person gets a warning first,” Stevens says. “We don’t eject them right away. There’s always a warning.”

Wildest thing ever to go down at an Alamo?

“We had a nudist screening once for a nudist group,” Stevens says. “And we had to require that they were fully dressed when they entered the theater, then they were allowed to disrobe in the theater and they had to bring a towel to sit on. I don’t think we ever did that again.”