TBD’s Andrew Beaujon might have told City Paper writer Christopher Heller and me to stop our “wounded sniping” at Alamo Drafthouse for deciding to open one of its awesome movie theaters in Ashburn but call it a “D.C.” location, but it seems the latest bit of news about the movie house, set to open next year, is, perhaps, a small victory for the complainants.
The Ashburn location will be called Alamo Ashburn, says Brandy Fons, the cinema chain’s publicist. Alamo DC is an umbrella under which the entire Washington metropolitan statistical area may eventually find shelter. “We plan to group all DC theaters in this same manner under the DC market on the homepage but then will have a drop down menu for specific theater locations,” Fons writes in an email.
So, to be clear, the theater in Ashburn, 30 miles away, will be labeled as such, but there just might be future outposts of the film geek’s paradise within closer range. We can only hope that the next time Alamo Drafthouse says “D.C.” they mean it, or maybe Arlington or Silver Spring. I’m still holding out fear that future definitions of “D.C.” will include something as commuter-unfriendly as Columbia, Md., or worse, National Harbor.
