Arlington Drafthouse (Assignment 2)

While I am still working on Assignment 1 (the article about food), I am very happy with my second article. The assignment was to write about a place (country, restaurant, street, etc.) that interested you. I chose a local movie theater in the town of Arlington, VA where I live called the Arlington Drafthouse. It is a discount movie theater that also holds comedy shows, wine nights, and more. Please review the article below and submit any comments, positive or negative, you may have. Thanks!


Meg Wooldridge | Assignment 2 | # of words: 703

What’s better than a dollar movie, complete with a beer, an order of wings, and some of your best friends? Most people would say not much. Except maybe you’d prefer a glass of wine and an order of nachos - well then, it’s a good thing they have that too. The Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse, in south Arlington, is one of the area's most prized gems for anyone who likes cheap movies, cheap food, and a good time. The Drafthouse offers cheap admission to slightly dated movies, usually ones floating between the big screen and DVD, but that is only one of its many treasures. In addition to offering a wide array of drinks and food, it’s also home to comedy nights, weekly sports games, and the occasional costume event.

Converted from a 1930’s Art Deco theater, the Drafthouse, located on the corner of Walter Reed Drive and South Glebe Road, breathes like an old fashioned theater with a modern day flair. The slightly dated design with a retro box office window and tiny bar only add to the establishment’s charm. Large, comfortable chairs surround endless tabletops waiting for customers to order from a full menu, offering a vast array of food ranging from the usual bar food, such as mozzarella sticks and pizza, to the occasional modern item like the Mediterranean Chicken Wrap and the Black Bean Veggie Burger. Regular customers can be seen making their way to the floor in front of the huge screen, while new ones may be confused and wonder if they place an order at the bar first. The friendly bar staff will inform them to find a comfortable seat and the wait staff will be with them after they review the menu, raising the small table flag to indicate they are ready to order.

Given its name, the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse also prides itself on its large selection of beer, wine, and mixed drinks, all available through your perky, eccentric wait staff who wear black shirts with “ACDH” scrawled in funky, white letters, emblematic of ACDC’s signature logo. After receiving your bill, customers can now pay with a credit card, but remember to bring cash as well. Because even though the costume you’ll wear to the monthly showing of the cult movie “Office Space” may win you a prize, you still need to pay for your ticket in cash - or possibly loose change if you’re attending dollar movie night Mondays.

In the fall, Sundays are home to big screen showings of football games of the Washington Redskins and college favorites, and most weekend afternoons are filled with a variety of childrens events, like movies, magicians, and singers. Every evening, the Drafthouse is filled with people of all ages; the older crowd enjoying the widely acclaimed Oscar contender while sampling this month’s wine selection, or the thirtysomethings enjoying the jokes by the former Saturday Night Live headliner; the local young professionals who walk to the establishment to partake in a beer tasting event, or the suburban parents who park in the tiny but useful parking lot behind the theater and appease to their children’s desire to watch all day Christmas movies.

Voted the best movie theater in the Washington DC area in 2008 by the Washington Post's “Best Bet” competition and selected as “The Best Thing to Do on Friday Night” by the Washingtonian Magazine in 2009, the Arlington Drafthouse is one of the most popular places in the area. While the food isn’t exactly restaurant quality, how can you not enjoy a large selection of reputable eats to pair with this year’s best comedy at a discounted rate? After years of venue changes, the building does sometimes provide you with the occasional whiff of retaining cigarette smoke and old age, but the Drafthouse is now smoke free and offers too many events to focus on anything else. Recently, the owners of the Drafthouse bought the establishment next door and turned it into an accompanying grill. Lots of things are happening at the Drafthouse, and even though the building has been around for more than