Dearest wonderful strangers who ran the Kirkland Parkplace cinema,

You will never know how much your little cinema has meant to me. I was always overjoyed when the Kirkland Parkplace Cinema would show the classics. The month that you showed Hitchcock films was one of best of my adult life. Imagine how stupid I felt when I missed your final showing, The Last Picture Show, because it was a weeknight. You stole my heart with the classics and you showed so many current films that one couldn’t find on the Eastside. You showed films for kids. You even showed movies for babies.

Kirkland Parkplace Cinema truly did feel like a community. I’ll miss the cosy, but admittedly odd theaters, the employees, who were always friendly and polite, and oh the snackbar. Where else could I get my sodas Italian and my get my Junior Mints nearly frozen? I wish you all nothing but happy endings. Whatever the new property company paid you, I think you deserve more. You will be leaving a gaping hole in the culture of the Eastside and in my cinemaphile heart.

Here’s looking at you kid,

Kelly Senseman, Bellevue