For a movie lover, knowing that another local theater has gone down is always another pang to the heart. When it’s one you’ve spent a lot of time at, the news is just that much harder to take.

Sure, the Gateway 8 wasn’t the nicest of movie theaters, having crossed over to the shabby side some time ago. The seats weren’t particularly comfortable, the floor had a definite sticky quality to it, and the screens weren’t anywhere near the size available at the Megaplex just a few miles south at Salt Lake City’s Gateway Mall.

But it was simple, and relatively quiet, and close enough that I could stop by to catch a movie on my way home from work without having to deal with the huge production that you have to go through every time you try to park at the Gateway Mall.

I could give myself a movie as an afternoon treat, taking a leisurely hour or two by myself to see “Monsters vs. Aliens” and unwind from the work day before I went home to do everything I needed to do there. The darkened movie theater was relaxing, and those seats weren’t so bad if you let yourself lean back and stretch out.

Champion shoppers always talk about the little out-of-the-way stores where they can find things that aren’t available anywhere else, and that’s how I felt about Gateway 8. It was my own little private escape, a place where I could go and just enjoy a movie without having my ears blasted by explosions transmitted through sound systems with the volume turned up to seat-shaking loud.

Some people would argue that you can get that kind of experience at home, but there you can’t watch a movie without everything else you should be doing – bills, making dinner, mowing the lawn – crowding in.

A movie theater, however, truly takes you away from it all, and a smaller local one like Gateway 8 generally kept you safe even from those annoying cell phone guys that always insist on talking in the middle of the show.

It’s good to hear that the new owners are thinking of saving the theater. Apparently, they plan on remodeling and re-opening Gateway 8, probably under a new name (see complete article in today’s issue). When it does, I plan to be one of the first people in line for a ticket (on my way home from work, of course).

Unfortunately, there’s no word yet on when that re-opening might happen, so until it does I’m left to mourn my secret refuge from the rest of the world. Since I can’t stop watching movies I’ll go back to braving the parking jungles of Gateway Mall, wishing all the while that I was back in Bountiful just watching the show.

jwardell@davisclipper.com