When we first started dating, we quickly discovered a mutual love and respect for movies, especially the older ones. After combining our video collections we discovered that we had a massive library of over 2000 films. We had a 52" projection TV, a surround sound system and tons of movies to watch but it just wasn't enough.
During the summer of 1999 we began a project of putting a theater in our basement. We live in an older home in Lebanon Pennsylvania with a long basement and fairly high ceilings. Around the same time we also managed to pick up a few 16mm projectors for next to nothing. Now all we had to do was get some 16mm films. That's when we discovered EBAY. Soon we had a few films and began showing them in the backyard to the neighborhood as construction on the theater basement continued.
We wanted something big enough for friends and family to enjoy and we made a projection booth and permanently mounted 2 16mm projectors and a 50 inch screen. We also managed to get out hands on 12 actual theater seats complete with cup holders. The theater wasn't finished yet but we it was complete enough to hold indoor screenings once the winter set it.
Then we found an old CRT projector in excellant condition. This would give us the opportunity to project a larger image as well as utilize our growing Video and DVD collection as well as move the surround sound system to the theater.
The Anslyn is still under construction. Our next major project will be the completion of a concession stand. Our dream is to have a complete concession with industry standard popcorn popper, soda fountain, and roller grill for hot dogs.
Since there is no external light source in the basement it gets pitch black and it's perfect for our movie screenings. It also maintains a temperature of around 65 degrees. In the winter it's a little colder and we have to heat it, but it's perfect during the warm summer nights. Our 16mm projectors are no longer used in the basement theater but we still have our outdoor screenings for the neighborhood. We call it The Anslyn Open Air Theater.