Alamo Drafthouse?

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srothstein
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#16

Post by srothstein »

phddan wrote:How is the 51% of sales figured?
Is it averaged over a year, monthly, weekly??
If they happen to have a record day of sales, but not normally above 51%, does that justify posting?
Dann, the 51% is figured based on estimated annual sales for the first license application to TABC and then on actual sales for each year after that. The license application asks for dollar figure for sales for alcohol, sales for food, and all other sales. We then total the numbers and check if the alcohol sales are over 51% of the total or not.

When we give them their license or permit, we tell them which signs to post. This is why you can call TABC or e-mail them if there is a licensed premise with an incorrect sign - either way. As was posted above, you can check for the correct sign by checking the supposedly publicly posted permit.
Steve Rothstein
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tornado
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#17

Post by tornado »

Why is it that the red 51% signs and the blue unlicensed (unlawful?) possession signs are standardized, but people just make up their own 30.06 signs?

NcongruNt
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#18

Post by NcongruNt »

tornado wrote:Why is it that the red 51% signs and the blue unlicensed (unlawful?) possession signs are standardized, but people just make up their own 30.06 signs?
Because the 30.06 is not a TABC sign. The TABC signs are mandated by law for any establishment selling alcohol, but 30.06 is entirely voluntary. I'd personally rather the State NOT print up standardized 30.06. Waste of taxpayer money, and makes it all the more available for uneducated persons to post, not knowing what they are even doing.

phddan
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#19

Post by phddan »

Thanks Stephan

Dan

TheYoungGuy

Re: Alamo Drafthouse, Austin Lake Creek location, posted 30.

#20

Post by TheYoungGuy »

ELB wrote:In any case, I would avoid spending money there, and who knows, a polite complaint letter might do some good.
Why should we "avoid spending money there"? Because the management/ownership has decided to ban firearms? Uh-oh, look out! Someone is exercising their rights!

I have been to every Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, and to the South Lamar location (specifically) over 100 times. I haven't been to a regular movie theater since I was 18! And do you know why? Alamo Drafthouse has a great staff, great movies, and is one of the best darn business models I've ever seen. They also don't have punk 16 year-olds shining laser pointers on the screen, $9.50 movie tickets, and morons on the payroll.

Sorry to get preachy, but I love the Drafthouse. It is an Austin icon and a great model for other local businesses, which, by the way, help to make our great city what it is.

Finally, if you want to get legal, let's get legal. Not ONE of their signs is legitimate, and therefore, I still carry. If you feel you cannot risk it because they have "sorta correct looking 30.06 signs", I respect that and say don't carry, or go home.

pbandjelly

Re: Alamo Drafthouse, Austin Lake Creek location, posted 30.

#21

Post by pbandjelly »

ELB wrote:The letters must be at least one inch tall. That makes the overall size of a legally compliant sign pretty big, several times the size of an 8.5"x11" piece of paper. The sign in the picture ain't nowhere that big.
really? garsh!
how can you tell how big a sign is from that little itty bitty picture?
I don't see any dimensions given.
I see no real reference for size.
giving out blanket information like, "That's not a compliant sign" is a little irresponsible.

good luck in court with all that... ;-)

doublepush
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#22

Post by doublepush »

Why should we "avoid spending money there"? Because the management/ownership has decided to ban firearms? Uh-oh, look out! Someone is exercising their rights!

I have been to every Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, and to the South Lamar location (specifically) over 100 times. I haven't been to a regular movie theater since I was 18! And do you know why? Alamo Drafthouse has a great staff, great movies, and is one of the best darn business models I've ever seen. They also don't have punk 16 year-olds shining laser pointers on the screen, $9.50 movie tickets, and morons on the payroll.
I totally agree with this. I've lived in Austin for five years now and I like the vibe and environment of the Draft House. They provide a nice alternative to crappy hot dogs and popcorn at a movie theater. Being a 6'4" guy, they also leave me plenty of leg room. I went there for the first time since I started carrying last Saturday, and while I was nervous about carrying in there, it was clearly not 1" lettering. (You didn't need a ruler to figure that one out.) No problem for me, as far as I was concerned.

Corporations make these kinds of decisions whether we like them or not. I work for such a company and cannot carry into the building. I guess I can just wait for the general attitude toward personal protection to change. If I were so black-and-white about my rights, I would be out of a job that I love.

I didn't think about the 51% thing... that's an interesting twist.

-Brent
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ELB
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#23

Post by ELB »

Well well! Some "spirited" replies! Lets dissect them, shall we?


The Young Guy first:
TheYoungGuy wrote:
ELB wrote:In any case, I would avoid spending money there, and who knows, a polite complaint letter might do some good.
Why should we "avoid spending money there"? Because the management/ownership has decided to ban firearms? Uh-oh, look out! Someone is exercising their rights!
No, management/ownership did not decide to ban firearms. They decided to ban legally armed people who have not had a felony conviction, nor a couple other specified blots on their record. That does nothing to keep out people with criminal intent, not to mention firearms. Remember, the genesis of the Texas CHL law was when Suzanna Hupp (http://www.gunownersalliance.com/hupp-10.htm) obediently left her gun in her car, and got to watch as someone who ignored the law, and no doubt any signs posted, brought in HIS gun and murdered her parents and a bunch of other people.

A decision to ban CHL people from carrying on one's property is a right, but don't try to tell me it is a well-thought out, intelligent decision. Drafthouse is just making it an unarmed victim zone (e.g. see Virginia Tech).

Patronizing such places only encourages them to continue with their delusions. Therefore, I exercise my right ("Uh-oh, look out! Someone is exercising their rights!") to not support them with my money, and I also exercise my right ("Uh-oh, look out! There he goes again!) to say this out loud and to encourage others to avoid patronizing such establishments.

Next Up: pbandjelly
pbandjelly wrote:
ELB wrote:The letters must be at least one inch tall. That makes the overall size of a legally compliant sign pretty big, several times the size of an 8.5"x11" piece of paper. The sign in the picture ain't nowhere that big.
really? garsh!
how can you tell how big a sign is from that little itty bitty picture?
I don't see any dimensions given.
I see no real reference for size.
giving out blanket information like, "That's not a compliant sign" is a little irresponsible.

good luck in court with all that... ;-)
REEAALLLLY, pband. Let's check Ncongruent's original post:
NcongruNt wrote:I went to a movie at the Alamo Dafthouse Lake Creek location this past Saturday, and noticed two 30.06 notices taped to either end of the Ticket booth. They are printed on 8.5x11 pieces of paper ... Here is a picture of one of the signs:

Image
As Brent said in his post, "You didn't need a ruler to figure that one out."


Doublepush/Brent,

Drafthouse sound like a nice place, and I can see why you and Young Guy would want to go there. I expect I would like it better than a run-of-the-mill movie house as well. But I think my principle of not supporting anti-CHL business to the extent that I can is more important than going to a movie.

As far as your job situation goes, I sympathize. I worked for 22+ years for an outfit that, altho it had many many gun aficionados in it, was organizationally gun-phobic in that it basically banned anyone from having a small-arm of any kind with some exceptions for on duty guards, in your on-base housing, or locked in the armory if you lived in the dorms. Might seem odd to civilians, but it was called the US Air Force. Heck, at one overseas location where I was often alone or with one other guy running around the countryside, I was told I had al Quaeda for neighbors, and was given body armor and flak vests and taught new driving habits - but no arms. (But I got combat pay!) Tough call when the job you love impinges on your rights. I think it is much LESS of a tough call when it's choosing between a good time at the movie and supporting my rights.

When I run into an establishment that is not following the letter of the law, but shows obvious cluelessness with either a non-compliant sign or one of those home-brew versions, I generally go ahead and take care of whatever business I have there. But if at all possible I don't go back. Sometimes I write a letter, sometimes not. And I'm not 100% holy, occasionally because of commitments to other people or what-have-you I end up going back. However, like with the 10 commandments, I try to honor my principles as much as possible.

You wrote: "I guess I can just wait for the general attitude toward personal protection to change." Why are you "waiting?" Don't know how old you are, am guessing 20's? I am, ahem, a bit older. Believe me, the general attitude toward personal protection has changed immensely since I was in my 20s. It did not happen by people waiting. People pushed, pushed hard, and there was some blood along the way (see Suzanna Hupp).

Do what you can now. If you are not a TSRA and NRA member, join up. Some think the NRA too tame, so there are even more aggressive organizations. Don't wait. One of my ways to "not wait" is to not patronize businesses that foolishly think keeping out CHL holders is somehow makes them safer. You have to decide for yourself, just make sure you think it all the way through. Good luck.

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ELB
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#24

Post by ELB »

srothstein,

Excellent post, good info on the red/blue license. I had never heard of that or noticed it -- good to know as a double check.

Thanks for the post.

elb

TheYoungGuy

#25

Post by TheYoungGuy »

ELB, I love a spirited debate. Your points were well taken, and I thank you for taking a minute to explain them.

KBCraig
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#26

Post by KBCraig »

Being nowhere near Austin, I have to cast my vote against the Drafthouse, and in favor of Cinema 218 :cool:

Same concept, smaller scale, smaller city, no admission (except for the occasional cover charge for bands). Classic movies on some nights, live bands on others, and live jam sessions now and then. Great food and beverages.

Oh, and no worries about 30.06 or 51%, either. :grin:

NcongruNt
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#27

Post by NcongruNt »

Reading the updates to this thread, I was ready to hunker down for a bit of typing. It seems ELB beat me to it with a well-articulated post of his own. I'll cover some specific points, as an Austinite of 23 years.

doublepush and TheYoungGuy:

I love going to Alamo Drafthouse just as you do. I don't love it enough to die defenseless, though - maybe you like the place more than I do.

They certainly do have the right to disallow me entrance to their establishment. I have just as much right to not go there. I am in no way obligated to give them my money. I'm all for local business. I'm more for not dying, and if a business decides they don't want me to be able to defend myself, then I will decide that they don't need my money. It's that simple. While I agree that their product and service is far superior to any other theater, that is not enough for me to give up my right to defend myself.

I also have the right to make my own criticisms of their policies.

Yes, none of the signs are compliant. It still speaks for the intent of the management. Would you suddenly stop going there if they wised up and decided to post compliant signs? Either way, their intent is the same, and it is that intent that I disagree with and am relaying that I find unacceptable as a customer.

TheYoungGuy

Re: Alamo Drafthouse, Austin Lake Creek location, posted 30.

#28

Post by TheYoungGuy »

NcongruNt wrote:I love going to Alamo Drafthouse just as you do. I don't love it enough to die defenseless, though - maybe you like the place more than I do.

They certainly do have the right to disallow me entrance to their establishment. I have just as much right to not go there. I am in no way obligated to give them my money. I'm all for local business. I'm more for not dying, and if a business decides they don't want me to be able to defend myself, then I will decide that they don't need my money. It's that simple. While I agree that their product and service is far superior to any other theater, that is not enough for me to give up my right to defend myself.

I also have the right to make my own criticisms of their policies.

Yes, none of the signs are compliant. It still speaks for the intent of the management. Would you suddenly stop going there if they wised up and decided to post compliant signs? Either way, their intent is the same, and it is that intent that I disagree with and am relaying that I find unacceptable as a customer.

Please reference my first post where I said A) nothing about giving up the right to defend yourself, B) nothing that infers I prefer Alamo Drafthouse to "dying defenseless" (Remember? I said I still carry there...), and C) nothing about you not being allowed to deny them your business (Read my last sentence).

TheYoungGuy wrote:Finally, if you want to get legal, let's get legal. Not ONE of their signs is legitimate, and therefore, I still carry. If you feel you cannot risk it because they have "sorta correct looking 30.06 signs", I respect that and say don't carry, or go home.

NcongruNt
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Re: Alamo Drafthouse, Austin Lake Creek location, posted 30.

#29

Post by NcongruNt »

TheYoungGuy wrote:
NcongruNt wrote:I love going to Alamo Drafthouse just as you do. I don't love it enough to die defenseless, though - maybe you like the place more than I do.

They certainly do have the right to disallow me entrance to their establishment. I have just as much right to not go there. I am in no way obligated to give them my money. I'm all for local business. I'm more for not dying, and if a business decides they don't want me to be able to defend myself, then I will decide that they don't need my money. It's that simple. While I agree that their product and service is far superior to any other theater, that is not enough for me to give up my right to defend myself.

I also have the right to make my own criticisms of their policies.

Yes, none of the signs are compliant. It still speaks for the intent of the management. Would you suddenly stop going there if they wised up and decided to post compliant signs? Either way, their intent is the same, and it is that intent that I disagree with and am relaying that I find unacceptable as a customer.

Please reference my first post where I said A) nothing about giving up the right to defend yourself, B) nothing that infers I prefer Alamo Drafthouse to "dying defenseless" (Remember? I said I still carry there...), and C) nothing about you not being allowed to deny them your business (Read my last sentence).

TheYoungGuy wrote:Finally, if you want to get legal, let's get legal. Not ONE of their signs is legitimate, and therefore, I still carry. If you feel you cannot risk it because they have "sorta correct looking 30.06 signs", I respect that and say don't carry, or go home.

As is stated above, I agree that the signs are not compliant and it is legal to carry there. The attitude and intent of the management is why I will not go there, especially in light of the way MacKnife was treated by management in another thread about Alamo Drafthouse: Alamo Drafthouse @ Mason in Katy posted non-compliant 30.06.

My question was never answered. Let me state it again on its own.
Would you suddenly stop going there if they wised up and decided to post compliant signs?
This is why I think it is important that they need to know their policies are hurting their business. The longer they continue with what appears to be a new policy, the more established it becomes. If they are made aware that they are losing customers to this policy early on, it's much more likely that they'll drop it. By the time they get around to realizing what they are legally required to post and do so, the battle is essentially lost.

In response to point "C)", my statement was in response to this statement:
TheYoungGuy wrote:Why should we "avoid spending money there"? Because the management/ownership has decided to ban firearms? Uh-oh, look out! Someone is exercising their rights!
While I am not telling you what to do, I will certainly let you know what my opinion is, since you asked.

pbandjelly

#30

Post by pbandjelly »

ELB wrote:Next Up: pbandjelly

blah blah blah blah
tell it to the DA, what with all your "Ah don't needs me no rulers."

I know. we've seen this debate so many times here that I actually threw up before I replied. point is, YOU can go be Mr TestCase.
I'll watch my movies elsewhere
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