Crestline residents have several movie-going choices:

• to go down the hill into the urban jungle for more movie theaters than you can shake your wallet at,
• to head into Big Bear for the two smallish Village theaters (and a 45 minutes drive from Crestline at best),
• …or to head over to Blue Jay for the one little theater that serves all of Crestline, Lake Arrowhead, Twin Peaks, Cedar Glen and the other local small communities.

From Crestline one can take the road through Twin Peaks or the Rim of the World Highway to Blue Jay. It’s about a seven to 10 minute drive either way, making this cinema the most convenient place for locals to catch a flick.

As Blue Jay isn’t a large village, it’s easy to spot the theater by the movie marquee. The building itself seems halfway on stilts. There is a large, flat parking lot (remember, always a plus out here). There are a few shady spots in the lot but it’s mostly out in the open.

From the lot, one needs to walk up a couple flights of stairs to enter the theater proper, although you do buy your tickets on the first floor. An elevator is also available.

Inside are the usual restrooms, game machines and food concessions.

Weekend tickets are $7.50 each, an actual bargain compared to most of southern California. Weekday tickets (Mon through Thursday) on non-holidays are $6.50 each. Very nice!

The seating is relatively flat (no stadium seating here). The smallish screens a decent, with okay sound - the theater reminded us of the kind of dollar cinema that you’d find anywhere else. I guess that is why the prices are so good. Asking ten bucks to see a film here would be a hard sell. 

Blue Jay Theater Overall:

Our impression of the Blue Jay Cinema is pretty neutral. The prices are good, it’s close by, and they get the first run movies. Four movies play on one marquee. So that’s all workable.

For movies we are super excited to see, the ones that call for large screens, stadium seating and surround sound, we will probably head down the hill to San Bernardino for an evening out.

Very few movies are so incredible that we’ll actually reserve this option. Overall, out of sheer laziness, the Blue Jay theater is our cinema of choice.

Blue Jay Cinema movie times and listings

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