News
ENLARGE
The owners of Sierra Cinemas, Del Oro, and Sutton Cinemas in Grass Valley are, left to right: Barbara and Michael Getz and Michael and Azriel LaMarca.
Customers crowded the Sierra Cinemas when the theater opened in the summer of 1989.
The size of the crowd at the movie house on East Main Street, Grass Valley, took owners Mike and Barbara Getz by surprise. They recruited friends at the last minute to help them get the guests seated for showings of Disney's “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “Field of Dreams.”
Daughter Azriel, then 14, operated the popcorn maker.
“We were so busy, and had never done this before,” said Azriel, now 34 and married to Michael LaMarca. “The butter on the popcorn kept dripping onto the floor, and I was having a hard time keeping my footing. I told my parents we needed a rug.”
Azriel LaMarca, like many Nevada County youth since, worked at the theater for her first job. She and her husband have come back to the family business and plan to take it over from her parents someday, though Mike Getz has no plans to retire in the near future.
“Retire?” Mike Getz said, making it clear the concept holds little interest for him. “It's a fun business, and it keeps you young. It gets in your blood.”
“We hope to be working less as time goes on,” added Barbara Getz, smiling at her husband.
History through film
Mike Getz got his start in the business in the 1960s, running a theater in Hollywood. In 1967, he took to the road, running a successful series of midnight movies at cinemas across the country, mostly showing independent films.
In 1979, representatives from the nonprofit Nevada Theatre Commission, which owns the historic Nevada Theatre in downtown Nevada City, contacted Getz about running some films at the theater.
Getz obliged, showed the 1975 cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and customers responded in a big way.
“Those showings were a big success,” Barbara Getz said.
Based on that, Nevada Theatre representatives asked Mike Getz to run a series of films at the theater, and he accepted, moving his family to the area.
By 1989, the Getzes opened Sierra Cinemas. In 2001, they opened Sutton Cinemas on Sutton Way, in Glenbrook Basin. By December 2003, they expanded the Sierra Theaters mini-empire to include the Del Oro Theatre on Mill Street, an Art Deco landmark whose tower and mural help define downtown Grass Valley.
“We were really excited about that,” Barbara Getz said. “It is a beautiful theater. There was a lot of work to do to get it ready, a lot of structural-type updates, but it looked great once they were finished.”
Technology advances, but work remains the same
The business is doing well despite the recession.
The Getzes have expanded into a technology that some in the industry hope will boost attendance: Three-dimensional film. Their Sierra Cinemas has two new 3D digital projectors — a far cry from the 19-millimeter film reels Mike Getz used to travel with.
Running theaters requires a lot of heavily detailed work, Mike Getz said.
“As much as we love our employees, it's a challenge to keep them on task sometimes,” Getz said. “They can be easily distracted, so giving them good training is an important part of the job. There are a lot of small details that need to be looked after, and a lot of that goes on behind the scenes.”
One of the best parts of running the theaters is the community outreach projects the Getzes do, Michael LaMarca said.
“That's the best part of working with and for Mike and Barbara,” LaMarca added. “They provide access to the community that you wouldn't find at a corporate theater. We're really an anomaly in the industry, a ma and pa movie theater.”
Azriel LaMarca heads up projects including a classic movie series, which ran earlier this year, and a summer series of $3 children's movies.
The couple's children, 5-year-old Luca and 3-year-old Mario, someday also may step into the family business, their father said.
By that time, though, there will be a new rug near the popcorn machine.
To contact Staff Writer Kyle Magin, e-mail kmagin@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4239.
The size of the crowd at the movie house on East Main Street, Grass Valley, took owners Mike and Barbara Getz by surprise. They recruited friends at the last minute to help them get the guests seated for showings of Disney's “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “Field of Dreams.”
Daughter Azriel, then 14, operated the popcorn maker.
“We were so busy, and had never done this before,” said Azriel, now 34 and married to Michael LaMarca. “The butter on the popcorn kept dripping onto the floor, and I was having a hard time keeping my footing. I told my parents we needed a rug.”
Azriel LaMarca, like many Nevada County youth since, worked at the theater for her first job. She and her husband have come back to the family business and plan to take it over from her parents someday, though Mike Getz has no plans to retire in the near future.
“Retire?” Mike Getz said, making it clear the concept holds little interest for him. “It's a fun business, and it keeps you young. It gets in your blood.”
“We hope to be working less as time goes on,” added Barbara Getz, smiling at her husband.
History through film
Mike Getz got his start in the business in the 1960s, running a theater in Hollywood. In 1967, he took to the road, running a successful series of midnight movies at cinemas across the country, mostly showing independent films.
In 1979, representatives from the nonprofit Nevada Theatre Commission, which owns the historic Nevada Theatre in downtown Nevada City, contacted Getz about running some films at the theater.
Getz obliged, showed the 1975 cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and customers responded in a big way.
“Those showings were a big success,” Barbara Getz said.
Based on that, Nevada Theatre representatives asked Mike Getz to run a series of films at the theater, and he accepted, moving his family to the area.
By 1989, the Getzes opened Sierra Cinemas. In 2001, they opened Sutton Cinemas on Sutton Way, in Glenbrook Basin. By December 2003, they expanded the Sierra Theaters mini-empire to include the Del Oro Theatre on Mill Street, an Art Deco landmark whose tower and mural help define downtown Grass Valley.
“We were really excited about that,” Barbara Getz said. “It is a beautiful theater. There was a lot of work to do to get it ready, a lot of structural-type updates, but it looked great once they were finished.”
Technology advances, but work remains the same
The business is doing well despite the recession.
The Getzes have expanded into a technology that some in the industry hope will boost attendance: Three-dimensional film. Their Sierra Cinemas has two new 3D digital projectors — a far cry from the 19-millimeter film reels Mike Getz used to travel with.
Running theaters requires a lot of heavily detailed work, Mike Getz said.
“As much as we love our employees, it's a challenge to keep them on task sometimes,” Getz said. “They can be easily distracted, so giving them good training is an important part of the job. There are a lot of small details that need to be looked after, and a lot of that goes on behind the scenes.”
One of the best parts of running the theaters is the community outreach projects the Getzes do, Michael LaMarca said.
“That's the best part of working with and for Mike and Barbara,” LaMarca added. “They provide access to the community that you wouldn't find at a corporate theater. We're really an anomaly in the industry, a ma and pa movie theater.”
Azriel LaMarca heads up projects including a classic movie series, which ran earlier this year, and a summer series of $3 children's movies.
The couple's children, 5-year-old Luca and 3-year-old Mario, someday also may step into the family business, their father said.
By that time, though, there will be a new rug near the popcorn machine.
To contact Staff Writer Kyle Magin, e-mail kmagin@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4239.
