Cinema Café moving north, but keeping its ‘hodgepodge’ vibe

FORT COLLINS — Its marquee advertises a couple of features you’ve probably never heard of. The lobby, where they serve up snacks, coffee and local brews, is decorated all the way around with a funky mural that’s part Diego Rivera and part Marvel Comics.

The Lyric Cinema Cafe, Fort Collins’ hippest movie house, has been a Mountain Avenue landmark for nearly a decade. But that’s about to change.

Ben Mozer opened the Lyric in 2007, squeezing two theaters and an eatery into a space previously occupied by a laundromat. The idea was to show “smaller” films in a casual setting, which could include wine, beer and finger foods if one was so inclined.

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“I’ve always had this philosophy that independent cinema is kind of like where pop culture and high art collide,” Mozer said. “We get some really eccentric, pretentious stuff and we get some ‘poppy’ stuff, and so you try and meld those things together.”

The formula appears to be working. According to Mozer, the first few years were a struggle, but by 2011 the Lyric was turning a modest profit. Things were looking even better in 2012, until technology caught up with him.

“The movie industry went from 35 millimeter to digital projection in about nine months,” he said, “so everyone in the country had that much time to convert over.”

Making that switch didn’t come cheaply, with digital projectors running anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000 apiece. A successful Kickstarter campaign helped Mozer finance the new equipment, but there followed several months of technical glitches.

“All that screwed up my 2012 and 2013 numbers, but then 2014 was through the roof,” he said. “It’s actually been steady growth since we installed the new projectors and worked out the bugs.”

Mozer said this feels like the right time to relocate.

“With movie theaters it’s all about putting butts in seats, and if all you have is 130 seats, then you’re only going to make so much money. And if rents keep rising and payroll keeps rising and the cost of goods keep rising, well, my space doesn’t keep expanding.”

In fact, finding a new home for the Lyric always has been part of Mozer’s strategy.

“We wound up (on Mountain) because this is what I could do at the time,” he said. “Everybody’s gotten really attached to this building now, but this was never going to be the permanent home of the Lyric, not in my mind.”

One of those people with an attachment to the current location is Patrick Caldwell, a Fort Collins resident who frequents the Lyric with his wife.

“We like the fact that it offers us a chance to see smaller, alternative films, which are a nice change from the usual Hollywood blockbuster fare,” he said. “Plus, they have beer. Sweet, foamy beer.”

He’s heard about the plans for a new facility, and has his reservations.

“I do worry that it will lose some of the smaller, rustic feel of the old theater,” he said, “but we’ll still probably attend.”

Mozer says not to worry.

“It’s still me doing it. … I mean, this place wouldn’t look like it does without somebody like me running it,” he said. “I decided early on that I’d go with an ‘art’ idea in mind, still hodgepodge like here, just a little more ‘strategically’ hodgepodge.”

He feels the new place may even bring in some different clientele.

“I know there are a lot of people in town who won’t even darken the doorstep here because they think it’s just awful,” he said, “so hopefully we can attract some of those folks.”

The Lyric’s new home will be on North College Avenue near Conifer Street, across from Jax Outdoor Gear, although that wasn’t Mozer’s first choice. He’d been eying a building close to New Belgium Brewing, and when that deal stalled he looked at a few Old Town locations. “But the lowest I could get into an existing building in downtown Fort Collins was about three-and-a-half to four million dollars. Prices weren’t just ratcheting up, they were exploding.”

After expanding his search, he settled on the property along North College, where he plans to build exactly what he wants. “The new location will be 10,000 square feet with a 300-seat theater and two 100-seat theaters…we’ll have a bigger restaurant, a full bar, a rooftop patio and an outdoor screen for the ‘bike-in’ theater.” Mozer also envisions it being more of an art hub, allowing for sculpture installations and even music shows – and all for about $2.6 million.

As he sees it, the move is more a necessity than a risk.

“We’ve been growing and growing and now we’re starting to burst at the seams,” he said, “so I can either accommodate that growth or just wither away here.”

When it comes to Fort Collins, and the North College corridor in particular, Mozer pointed to the Alamo Draft House in Austin, Texas. “Back in the seventies it was a dinky theater and Austin was this cute place that had a cool art scene and then ‘BOOM,’ it blew up and the Alamo Draft House is one of the reasons why it grew in the direction it did. So you can either have a stake in this and have some influence, or just leave this up to the old white guys to decide what our mini-malls are going to look like.”

Don’t expect any mini-malls in Ben Mozer’s future.