The brand new Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Mountain View is teeming with robots, which makes lots of sense for a movie show within the coronary heart of Silicon Valley.
The ten-screen theater on the Village at San Antonio Middle is embellished with robotic toys, a wall of film posters that includes robots and even has Dumbots, an upstairs lounge with a reputation impressed by a number of the less-intelligent bots in film historical past. It’s bought drinks with enjoyable names like Gin & Oil and Rusty Smash, plus 24 beers on faucet.
“We understand it’s Silicon Valley, and there are a lot of geeks here, so we’re gonna do ‘Geeks Who Drink,’ ” Alamo Drafthouse Chief Growth Officer Chris Drazba mentioned, referring to Alamo’s widespread pub quiz occasion. “This place is going to be for you, whether it’s here in the cinema or upstairs in our bar.”
Chris Drazba, chief improvement officer for Alamo Drafthouse, left, poses with Mountain View Mayor Ellen Kamei on the grand opening of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Mountain View on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
A wall of film posters decorates Dumbots, the lounge on the new Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Mountain View, which had its ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
“Star Wars” cosplayers from the 501st Legion fan group arrive on the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the brand new Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Mountain View on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
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Chris Drazba, chief improvement officer for Alamo Drafthouse, left, poses with Mountain View Mayor Ellen Kamei on the grand opening of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Mountain View on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
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Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony was adopted by a screening of 1977’s “Star Wars” — that includes two of cinema’s most well-known droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, who would in all probability have a tricky time with Alamo’s well-known “no talking, no texting” coverage.
The opening was very particular for Mountain View Mayor Ellen Kamei, who helped reduce the ribbon with a legion of Mountain View metropolis and chamber of commerce officers. She welcomed all of the households there for the opening and whereas her children — at ages 1 and three — are slightly younger for films, she was completely happy to have her dad together with her.
“I grew up watching films with him and went to the Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco in the Mission because of him,” Kamei mentioned. “So it’s really special to be able to have an Alamo Drafthouse here in Mountain View.”
For the higher a part of every week, Kamei could have bragging rights for having the most important Alamo Drafthouse within the nation in her metropolis. However that formally modifications Monday when Alamo Drafthouse opens a barely bigger multiplex at Westfield Valley Honest, which straddles the Santa Clara and San Jose border.
Coincidentally, the title for greatest Alamo Drafthouse nonetheless will “belong” to a Kamei, nevertheless it’ll be Ellen Kamei’s mom, San Jose Metropolis Councilmember Rosemary Kamei, whose district contains Valley Honest.
By the best way, the Alamo Drafthouse Valley Honest will probably be themed round kaiju, the Japanese film style with large monsters. That theme carries over into the theater’s lounge, Bar Odo, which is called after the fictional island the place Godzilla appeared within the Nineteen Fifties. As a substitute of robotic posters, that theater pays homage to Rodan, Gamera and some extra obscure cinematic monsters. Along with first-run blockbusters like “28 Years Later” and “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” the schedule for July 5 contains 1968’s final kaiju mash-up, “Destroy All Monsters.”
You will get showtimes and extra info for each Silicon Valley theaters at www.drafthouse.com/sf.
HISTORIC PRIDE: June is the primary of San Jose’s two Satisfaction Month celebrations — nowadays the bigger one round right here is in August — making it time to go to Queer Silicon Valley’s gallery in downtown San Jose, which has a brand new exhibition, “Pride and Politics: The BAYMEC Story.”
BAYMEC Basis Govt Director Ken Yeager confirmed me and San Jose Metropolis Councilmember Pam Foley across the exhibit not too long ago, and it’s an eye-opening look again to a time when San Jose’s LGBTQ group needed to struggle for primary recognition. In 1987, the town issued a proclamation — which is on show — declaring June 20 “Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Day.” The phrase “pride” wouldn’t be used till 1994, and that proclamation is displayed as properly.
Ken Yeager, govt director of the BAYMEC Group Basis, talks in regards to the latest exhibition at Queer Silicon Valley’s gallery, “Pride and Politics: The BAYMEC Story,” on Friday, June 13, 2025. Will probably be on show on the gallery at 240 S. Market St. on weekends via July 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
“It was a very charged word. Nobody would use the word ‘pride,’ ” Yeager mentioned. “People were just much more hesitant. It isn’t like it is now. People saw it as a more political word.”
There are different artifacts masking Silicon Valley’s homosexual rights motion — together with the unique rainbow flag first raised on the outdated San Jose Metropolis Corridor in 2001, when Yeager served as the primary brazenly homosexual member of the town council — in addition to materials on the 40-year historical past of BAYMEC, a political advocacy group that’s now an important endorsement for a lot of elected officers.
The gallery is open weekends via July at 240 S. Market St., and you may get extra info at www.queersiliconvalley.org/exhibit.
POLITICS NOT AS USUAL: San Jose Stage is closing its manufacturing of the musical “Sweet Charity” on June 29, and the subsequent night, June 30, it’ll be searching for some donor generosity of a special type at its twenty ninth annual “Monday Night Live,” political satire fundraiser.
The viewers is in for a deal with, too, as this 12 months’s visitor host is San Jose Metropolis Councilmember Michael Mulcahy, whose musical theater historical past means he is aware of his manner round a stage (to not point out a song-and-dance quantity).
Search for a number of different political figures to make appearances, together with the husband of Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit Excessive Faculty President Silvia Scandar Mahan. Tickets are going quick, however you may snag one at www.thestage.org.
LOOKING FOR ARTISTS: Purposes are open for the thirteenth annual Leigh Weimers Rising Artists Awards, a program of the Rotary Membership of San Jose that gives unrestricted $5,000 grants to 4 up-and-coming creatives who make their artwork right here in Santa Clara County.
The deadline to use is June 30, and you may get extra info at www.weimersawards.com.
