For $25, you could own a piece of Newcastle cinema history, with a collection of seats from the renowned King Street talkies venue showing up on Facebook Marketplace.
Six years after it closed, the Tower Cinemas building is undergoing a revival, and is expected to re-open in December.
It would appear renovations are getting under way inside as a listing for some of the old leather-upholstered and arm-rested chairs from the 1970s were listed for sale online this week. They're a far cry from the cushy, drink-holding lazyboys of your Hoyts or Event, that seem to swallow you in the (weirdly freezing?) dark of the modern cinema, but there's something delightfully charming about their no-mercy, no-recline, straight-backed functionality.
Surely these old seats are lathered in generations of popcorn buttered memories of date nights, weekend hangouts and family movie odysseys and (let's face it) are probably held together by the sticky leftovers of so many spilled soft drinks. But that's what makes them charming.
The first time I went to the Towers was (with appropriate respect for aesthetics) to see the Wes Anderson flick Isle of Dogs in 2018. There was something about the overwhelming '1970s' of the place that seemed to suit the movie and when I finally hauled my bones out of those no-nonsense chairs an hour and 42 minutes later, I felt about as old as if I was born in in the '70s too.
Still, there was something cosily familiar about the way they re-aligned the spine; like they had done it for generations.
It's unclear what the new Towers will look like. Topics contacted the new owners, Five Star Cinemas, but they declined to chat about the renovations, and attempts to contact the Marketplace seller were unsuccessful as well. Presumably the old chairs are out, but early information indicated that the foyer, candy bar and cinemas will be refurbished while retaining the classic retro carpets and red curtains.
Adam Leacy from Commercial Collective, who was involved with the sale and lease of the building since its closure, told the Newcastle Herald in April that the cinema would be brought back to its former glory, owned and operated by the Sourris brothers, Stephen and Peter, who run Five Star Cinemas out of Queensland.
"We have spent the past four months working through the process because there were some caveats on title," Mr Leacy said. "We have now worked through those which is exciting news and allows the Sourris family to come in now and own and operate the facility.
"Their intention is to be operational by Christmas so they have got their skates on and are working through what they need to do."
Everything must go
I don't spend a lot of time on Facebook Marketplace. That's not me trying to endear myself as some kind of non-tech-savvy Everyman in the way that politicians tend to do. It's just a corner of the internet that I've never really had any reason to visit.
I bought an old 35mm film camera there a few months ago before going on holidays, which has turned out really well (thanks Dylan), but aside from that, it's one of those things I hear people talk about in a way that goes over my head.
Imagine my giddy surprise, then, when I find an absolute treasure trove of the most unexpected stuff for sale - and all of it's going for a bargain.
Some of the highlights stumbled on while unearthing the renowned Tower Cinema chairs include:
- A full set of crocheted Simpsons dolls ($8)
- A talking, light-up werewolf statue in blue jeans ($250)
- A truly astonishing number of free pianos
- Two motorbikes for free with a screenshot of a realty-TV level relationship breakdown attached to the listing (spicy)
- More than a few engagement rings (not related to the motorcycle sale)
- Assorted anime figurines ($5)
- A retro spherical TV set ($495)
- A bus ($7000)
- A 'rare autographed' (graffitied) air conditioning unit ($450)
- A 'bulk' lot of crystals in various shapes and sizes ($100)
- A ladyfinger banana tree ($20), and
- A life-sized fiberglass statue of Ronald McDonald ('90s kids know the one I mean) - a steal at just $15,000
Truly, a feast for the senses.
