Hawai'i's newest place for old flicks

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer

"For years and years, I ran the Akebono theater in Hilo," said Pat Rocco. "It had been in business since 1919, but last year when the lease ran out, there was nothing we could do. The owners just didn't want a theater there anymore." The Akebono theater now sits idle next to a Mexican restaurant.

So Rocco took years of theater knowledge (he also ran the old Mountain View theater for many years) and tried something new. Literally. In a storefront in downtown Hilo just a block from the historic Palace Theatre, he opened the state's newest place for old movies, Hawaii Island Theater.

It seats just 35 people, but HIT is packing them in nightly. For the first few weeks, people were lined up around the block and extra shows had to be added, Rocco said.

"We took a lot of the ambiance from the Akebono theater and tried to recreate it here," Rocco said. "We're all wood, no tiles. There are a lot of little extras, like a lounge just for the ladies, where they can sip coffee and read a magazine before the show. Outside, we've got old-style running lights, big wooden poster holders and original movie posters on display."

In March, the theater is showing an entire month's worth of Oscar-winning pictures. "We're showing the best pictures of our lives," Rocco said. "People really respond to those kinds of memories."