Saturday nights at PLU are fairly quiet. Students are often off-campus spending time with their family or else on the hunt for food because The Commons is closed. Saturday night is also the least productive time of the week, because dinner in town usually leads to shenanigans with friends, which means there’s absolutely no work getting done.
If you’re looking for something to do that won’t cost you more money you don’t have, look no further than The Grand Cinema in Tacoma! Make sure to bring your PLU ID card, because all Tacoma-area residing students get in to most showings for free, courtesy of Tacoma Creates.
I went two weekends ago with some friends from Bremerton to go see The Boy and The Heron. Students wishing to get in free can’t pre-order online, which means we did have to wait in line, but even with how absurdly packed it was we still managed to get through fairly quickly. The only reason we missed the beginning of the movie was because we left PLU later than intended. Students who don’t live in the Tacoma area still receive a discount with their ID – instead of paying full price it is dropped to $10 for all movies.
One of the things I enjoyed about The Grand Cinema was that it wasn’t a chain theater, which gave it a more “homey” feel. The showing rooms were smaller, which makes you feel like you’re really watching with everyone else, especially when the audience was chuckling at the movie. The only downside is that it’s hard to get seats in the back where you don’t feel like you’re staring into the eyes of God to watch the screen, but I think it’s a fair trade-off for a smaller, more intimate showing.
