No app. No kiosks. No reserved seating. No problem. I finally ventured out to the movies for the first time.
Apart from seeing more people in one place than I have seen the whole time I’ve been in Juneau, I have to say one other thing about going to the movies in Juneau stood out:
The seating shuffle.
In Denver, all theaters have reserved seating you book ahead of time. Occasionally one will arrive at their reserved seat to find an occupant, and muster up the courage to kick them out of the seat. In the worst case, the errant occupant has not made a simple error, but has chosen to ignore the system altogether and doesn’t understand what the big deal is. Is it a big deal? Well not really, but just sit in your assigned seat (which you picked out) so we don’t have to do this.
In Juneau, there are no reserved seats, and the seats are not arranged “stadium style”. There are also not that many seats (maybe 8 x 8 seats?). You know, like all movie theaters used to be.
I was curious to observe seating etiquette.
Not only was there no scuffle over reserved seats, but there was a team effort to help give everyone a clear view of the screen. As people chose seats and settled in, one woman lead the effort to stagger people so that no one’s view of the screen was blocked. I did my part and adjusted to fit the new pattern, moving over a seat when the people behind me moved behind my seat.
I can’t conclusively call this a “Juneau thing” yet. It warrants further study.
ROAD TRIP 