Why The Mystic is the Best Theatre Ever. Real Butter and Stepstools
Why I adore this tiny arthouse theatre in a red brick attic. Ross makes you popcorn to order with real butter. Plus a magnificent and gentle film from Iran: My Favorite Cake
I’m switching gears now to report from my current location in a small mining town in northern California, Nevada City.
I came here for the summer after months in France and Morocco.
Nevada City, California
This little town is honestly a hidden gem. That term is over used and I don’t like it, but it fits for the town AND the theare.
(A hidden gem theatre in a hidden gem town.)
In the past 6 years I have travelled to places I thought I would like to settle in the US; Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Sandpoint (Idaho), New Orleans. None of them stuck.
But this little town is the place I would choose to settle if I had to, right now, in the USA.
This post is about one of the sweet, vibrant and humble things I love about Nevada City:
The Mystic Theatre
You only know it is there because of a sandwich board that is out sometimes on the sidewalk.
There is an almost-hidden door squeezed between a Sushi place and the extended part of the same Sushi place in an old building in the downtown pedestrian area.
My local Airbnb host told me about it last year when I spent the summer here.
This humble little attic theatre is delightful!
You walk up a slanted, old stairway to a small landing and you don’t know whether to go through the door on the right or the door on the left.
So you choose left, and open the door into a dark room. As you get used to the dark, you see rows of theatre seats, 5 across
They are attached to platforms a few inches above the floor.
There are maybe 20 of them.
Pictures and rugs hang on brick walls, there are some fake plants and a theatre screen in the front.
You see a counter in the back with a tiny popcorn machine, boxes of tea and vintage movie posters sitting on a stool.
Ross is the maestro who chooses amazing films of all categories, makes you popcorn and sells it and tea and cookies at reasonable prices.
He also has a wall of old VHS (yes, VHS!) movies plus vintage posters like “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” on the wall.
And you need stepstools to watch the movie or your feet dangle.
The seats are so high that feet don’t reach the floor, even if you are kinda tall like me. So he has little folding stools you get from the side of the room to bring to your seat.
I recently saw one of, if not THE best film I have ever seen:
My Favorite Cake
This is the name of the film I want to share with you. I saw it a couple days ago at the Mystic.
It is magnificent.
I mean the depth of the acting, the joy and pain of life is shown in two main characters in the setting of modern Iran.
It felt like a poem to me. A Mary Oliver poem about ordinary love.
The setting is modern day Iran, with themes of loneliness, the oppression of the morality police and the joy of everyday life and love.
A rich but simple film, with wonderful characters and full of joy and also pain.
I won’t say more. No spoilers.
That’s all for now.
Later I will share more about Nevada City.
This little town is like a mix between a Victorian east coast town and a European village.
Rock walls, narrow streets, old restored buildings, and a beautiful creek runs through.
I leave you with a few photos from downtonw Nevada City:
