My Conversation at Rolly’s Body Shop
1942 Del Oro Theater in Grass Valley.
It began as I was backing out of a parking space at the Sierra Cinema off Sutton Way in Grass Valley. Kit and I had just seen “In the Heights”—Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical homage to his largely Dominican neighborhood in the uppermost part of Manhattan. Our first movie in a theater in a year and a half. Buttered popcorn. A cup of Keurig coffee and two creamers delivered to our seats by a young man delighted to have a job. Twenty movie goers about our age, all delighted to be viewing this Tony Award-winning musical as it was meant to be seen and heard. Loud and colorful, with non-stop dancing in the streets to warp-speed rap speak. We left exhausted in a wonderful way at the end of the electric, 2 h 23 m production. And that’s when it happened.
As I backed up the car, an unfamiliar sound came from underneath our feet. Like when you run over something and don’t know if it’s a tree branch, bottle, squirrel, or heaven only knows what. Calmly Kit explained that it was a panel attached to the car’s underbelly to keep any oil or fluids from dripping on the garage floor. Somewhere between Missouri and California it had lost a few of the clips and screws that hold it in place and, it was now a dangling concern that needed to be dealt with before the whole panel fell off.
Having just endured an exhausting move and dislocation, I was not interested in one more repair that needed attention. Nonetheless, I looked up reviews of local auto repair shops in neighboring Grass Valley and found Rolly’s Body Shop located at the opposite end of Sutton Way from the Sierra Cinema. The repair shop had five stars, great reviews, and I knew how to get there. When Kit called and explained our problem, Brandon Hembree the owner said, “Come on over and I’ll take a look.” Fifteen minutes later we arrived at the top of a steep hill, literally nested an arm’s length and chain link fence away from a stretch of Highway 49 pavement and Rolly’s Body Shop.
A sign on the building read “Roll in…Roll out… We make it that easy!” As I pulled up to the open bay, Brandon walked over and looked under the car. A mechanic was immediately tasked with reattaching the panel, and we were invited to wait in the shop’s lounge where his wife Lauren managed the front office. Once inside, Kit noticed a Keurig coffee machine. When Brandon entered the office, Kit asked if he could pay for a coffee pod. Before long, he was sipping a hot coffee compliments of the shop, and the four of us got into a lively conversation about movies and local restaurants.
We discussed the array of theaters in the area that are now reopening. The Sierra Cinema just down Sutton Way. The classic 1942 Del Oro theater in downtown Grass Valley—an Art Moderne architectural beauty that you rarely find anymore. On a micro scale, there’s the Onyx—Nevada City’s film art house offering two 29-seat theaters, each with hand-painted celestial murals on the ceilings. The Onyx concession bar offers wine, beer, coffee, tea organic popcorn, a cheese plate, sorbet, baked goods, and candy. It is the analog to the Ragtag Cinema Café in Columbia that hosts an annual international documentary film festival. As part of its three-stage reopening plan, the Onyx will be hosting this year’s Nevada City Film Festival from August 27 to September 2—an event that promises to bring in actors, producers, writers, and movie aficionados from far and wide.
Ceiling in the Onyx Theater in Nevada City.
Brandon who volunteers during the film festival recalled having once seen English actor Patrick Stewart of “Star Trek” fame walking around town. We mentioned having similar experiences while volunteering at Columbia’s True/False Film Festival. When the conversation turned to favorite restaurants, I recommended One 11 Kitchen & Bar in Nevada City where its Iranian-American chef and owner Lior Ramadian features Taco Tuesday every Tuesday.
We then learned that Lauren’s heritage is a Persian-Russian blend. Her ancestors immigrated to San Francisco where her mother was born and met Lauren’s father while he was stationed there in the Navy. Her parents then moved to Tennessee where Lauren and her siblings were all born. When Lauren moved back to SF to go to college, she met and married Brandon who is from Gilroy, CA—the “Garlic Capital of the World.” Eventually they settled in Grass Valley where our unanticipated conversation at Rolly’s Body Shop took place.
When Kit and I first met in 1977 in west Los Angeles, our favorite date was a late afternoon movie showing on one of the 16 movie screens in the area—several at classic Hollywood-era movie theaters. Afterwards we headed to Stratton’s Bar & Grill in Westwood, order a bottle of white Zinfandel, and rated the movie we’d just seen on a scale of one to ten. Movies were a part of our love story then and continue to be to this day. Our recent conversation at Rolly’s Body Shop reminds us that movie theaters aren’t going away. Wonderful folks like Brandon and Lauren are a welcome part of the new scene we are becoming a part of in Nevada County, CA.
There was no charge that morning for the coffee or minor car repair. Eager to return the favor, we dropped off a box of Keurig Breakfast blend coffee pods the following morning. Before heading home, we gassed up at the Nevada City Gas Station (cash only) on S. Pine where Anthony cheerfully pumps your gas and cleans the windshields front and back while customers wait in their car. But that’s a story for another day. Love this town!