Theater’s Baby Brigade Meets a Crying Need

OAKLAND —  They stream into this second-run movie house, moms and dads loaded with diaper bags, strollers, Snuglis and car seats.

The regulars know it’s best to arrive early, right when the doors open, to score one of the couches up front.

“They’re good for nursing,” said Deva Lustig, as she settled gently onto a worn plaid sofa so she wouldn’t wake Sonia Marie, her 5-week-old daughter.

Every Monday night, the Parkway Theater opens its doors to the Baby Brigade, and the place is always packed.

No one minds if a baby cries or crawls on the floor--it’s expected. There are also lots of gurgling and burping, and more than a few dads stroll across the back of the theater with fussy infants.

“It reminds me of movie nights in the dorms,” said Karen Nierlich, who arrived too late on a recent Monday to snag a couch, which doubles nicely as a makeshift crib. She made do by spreading out a blanket near one of the cocktail tables in back for 5-month-old Portia.

“There’s this feeling of camaraderie,” said Nierlich’s husband, Tod Abbot, a Web developer who cut out of work to see “Run Lola Run.”

“When we go out to other places with the baby, we’re constantly anxious about having to leave.”

The theater’s owners started the Baby Brigade in 1998. Until then the Parkway was lucky to draw 30 moviegoers to a Monday night show, said co-owner Catherine Fisher. But after a few months of opening the doors to parents and babies, the 6:30 show began selling out, drawing 150 people almost every week.

Fisher said the event’s popularity speaks to the changing expectations of parents--thirty- and forty-somethings reluctant to forgo a night out but also unwilling to leave the baby at home with a sitter.

People like Hannah Raiden-Wright.

“I worked today, and I really didn’t want to go out without her,” said Raiden-Wright, who often joins the Baby Brigade with her husband, Bart, and 5-month-old Mara.

“I wish there were more baby- friendly events like this,” she said. “We rent movies at home, but after a while it gets so isolating.”

Many of the same families return week after week to the Parkway, which was built in the 1920s and feels more like a giant living room than a theater. The concession stand sells pizza, pasta, wine and beer. There’s free popcorn to anyone who brings a baby.

Introductions are easily made by asking a baby’s name. Parents discuss the merits of baby slings versus baby backpacks.

“It’s very important to get a community going,” said Mary McLaren as her 6-week-old son, Tenday, slept in his car seat. She munched on popcorn with friend Lisa Newman, an attorney who came with her husband and 5-week-old daughter, Belinda.

“Events like this take the place of family,” said Newman, who is originally from New York. “You end up asking other moms questions that you’d ask your mom or grandmom if they were nearby.”

Baby Brigade parents say they often mark developmental milestones by the weekly films.

“She started rolling over by herself sometime after ‘The Straight Story,’ ” Abbot said of his daughter, Portia, with a wide smile.

For Jessica Sagun, watching movies at the Parkway reminds her of when she met her husband.

“He brought me here on one of our first dates,” said Sagun, who was sitting on a couch while husband Alan Yu danced around with their 3-month-old daughter, Raven. “That was almost three years ago.”

Before Raven was born, Sagun and her husband went to the movies at least twice a week. They figured that would stop after the baby arrived. That is, until Yu stumbled upon the Baby Brigade on a night out with the guys.

“We walked in through the doors, and all we saw were all these babies everywhere,” Yu said. “At first we were laughing. But then after the movie started, we just pounded beers every time a baby cried. After that we couldn’t hear a thing.”

Yu, a bartender, said he shifted his work schedule so he could attend the Monday night shows with his family. These days, he hardly notices when there’s crying.

But in the Baby Brigade lore, there are some crying stories that stand out. Parents recall that during a fight scene between Annette Bening and Kevin Spacey in “American Beauty,” all the babies in the theater started wailing in unison.

The peaceful moments are memorable too.

“When they played the ‘Buena Vista Social Club,’ it was really quiet,” said Heather Martin, who comes to the Parkway with her 9-month-old twin daughters. “They really loved the music.”