Summary
Overview
Tim and Carrie League share the wild journey of building Alamo Drafthouse Cinema from a failing art house theater in Bakersfield to a national chain that revolutionized moviegoing by combining full-service dining with film. Their story includes living behind a movie screen, installing sheetrock backwards, bankruptcy during COVID, and ultimately selling to Sony Pictures Entertainment.
From Shell Engineer to Movie Theater Owner
Fresh out of Rice University in 1992, Tim took a job at Shell Oil in Bakersfield but felt out of place from day one when asked to pick art for his office walls. Within a year, he spotted an abandoned theater for lease and made the impulsive decision to sign a lease within eight days. With $50,000 in savings and no business experience, he and Carrie embarked on their first theater venture, learning everything from library books.
- Tim felt out of place at Shell Oil from day one when asked to choose landscape paintings for his office walls
- He signed the lease for the Tejon Theater in Bakersfield within eight days of seeing the 'for lease' sign
- Tim financed the first theater with $50,000 saved from two years at Shell making close to $50,000 annually
- Carrie reupholstered 90% of the 500 seats while watching movies during the week
" My two greatest strengths at the time were arrogance and ignorance that just drove me forward because I should have thought it through maybe a little bit more. "
" We had come to peace before we started with the idea of total and complete abject failure. "
The Bakersfield Struggle and a Tragic End
The Tejon Theater opened with Citizen Kane to a packed house of 250 people, but the next day only two people showed up. Located on the wrong side of the tracks, the theater struggled with crime and drug traffic despite a devoted community of 200 supporters. After a shooting incident during a Montel Jordan concert where someone died crashing into their box office, they closed after two years.
- Opening night with Citizen Kane drew 250 people, but the next day only 2 people came to see Krzysztof Kieslowski's Blue
- The theater was on the wrong side of literal train tracks with constant drug dealer and prostitute problems
- Tim cut the payphone receiver with hedge clippers at least 15 times due to drug traffic
- A shooting during a Montel Jordan concert ended with someone crashing into their box office and dying
" We were the only ones coming to National Screen Service and the Popcorn Depot to pick it up in our car and drive it back to Bakersfield. "
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