The State Theatre on Front Street is the anchor of downtown Traverse City and one of the best-preserved small-city movie palaces in the Midwest. The 1916 building has a proper marquee, a restored interior with ornate plasterwork, and still functions as a working cinema — rare among theaters of its age.
Beyond the regular film schedule, the State is the main venue for the Traverse City Film Festival each August. The festival draws filmmakers and film lovers from across the country, and the combination of great cinema and a lakeside summer town makes for an unusually pleasant festival atmosphere. If you are in town during the festival, check the schedule — tickets are affordable and queues are manageable by film-festival standards.