I wanted a way to gather friends and family for a movie night. Back in the day, our house was Grand Central Station. Any given day or night, year round, it was full of friends, laughter, food, games, music, and of course movies. We converted an attic playroom into a home theater and that was the place to be. Birthday parties, sleepovers, TV show and movie marathons (Gilmore Girls anyone? Or maybe Harry Potter?), family movie nights, and holiday movies all had their runs.
Between the gatherings of wonderful madness that was life back then, I was able to sneak upstairs and watch movies that I had chosen just for me. I made great use of the local library (this was my streaming service before there were streaming services) sometimes checking out enough movies to watch one or two a night for a week. Then going back and doing it all over again. For years.
I love all kinds of movies. I always have. I’m old enough to remember the TV debut of “At the Movies” with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Their groundbreaking show was confirmation I was on the right track. It was exciting to know there were other people out there who thought and felt the way I did about movies. There’s a place for blockbusters and movies with mass appeal, and we’ll watch and discuss some of those here, but the movies that impact me the most are usually smaller movies. Lesser known movies.
A funny thing happened and we all got older. Didn’t see that coming. We became empty nesters. We downsized. Covid happened. The world went virtual. I missed my kids and family. I missed the collective viewing experience and I missed other people’s opinions. We’re building a house on Hiker Street and we want the new place to be a lot like the old place. A place where friends and family hang out and go through life together. Watch movies together. So out of that comes the Hiker Street AV Club. And you’re all invited to join.