After eight months of sitting unused and dark, the Avalon Cinema is getting ready to bring up the house lights on its second act - as the city's first theater pub.

"We're reopening on the 20th," owner Paul Turner said.

Thirsty patrons may have to wait another month or so after that to quaff a microbrew or sip a chardonnay as they take in a show. Turner's still working with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission on the details of his application to serve beer and wine at the theater at 160 N.W. Jackson Ave.

The Avalon shut down in February after nine years of screening independent and foreign films and a short stint as a discount venue for second-run Hollywood fare. Ticket sales had dropped off with the arrival of Carmike's 12-screen cineplex on Circle Boulevard and the success of Turner's own four-screen Darkside Cinemas, which opened downtown last year.

"The grosses here were falling off substantially, and a projector at the Darkside broke," Turner said. "So what we did is we moved the projection equipment over there and used it as an excuse to close this one down."

Rather than walking away from the Avalon, however, Turner looked for a way to reinvent it. After canvassing his e-mail list of more than 2,500 customers, he decided there was strong demand for a theater pub in Corvallis.

He plans to serve local craft beers from Oregon Trail Ales and is talking to a couple of area wineries about carrying their labels. Pizza will be on the menu as well, along with popcorn, candy and all the usual snack bar items. In response to another frequent customer request, the new Avalon will also serve coffee.

The city signed off on Turner's application for a beer and wine license last month. He's now waiting for final approval from the OLCC and working with the agency to set ground rules for allowing minors in for weekend matinees. Although this is permitted under state law, theater pubs are required to submit a plan to ensure underage patrons don't have access to alcohol.

There are only 16 licensed theater pubs in Oregon to date, with half a dozen of those owned by the McMenamin brothers.

"God bless McMenamins," Turner said. "They're the ones that paved the way in Oregon for theater pubs."

Opening the new Avalon will be "Clear Cut," Peter Richardson's 2005 documentary on the Clemens Foundation's tussle with the Philomath School District over educational values. Richardson will be at the theater Oct. 20-21 to talk about the film.

Using digital projection equipment, the Avalon will be able to screen a wide variety of movies, Turner said, from current documentaries and indie pictures to cult classics to cinematic chestnuts that have entered the public domain. He's looking forward to putting together a variety of film packages.

"Say we do a science-fiction weekend," Turner said. "We would start with some 'Ming the Merciless' serials, then go into the 1950s 'Flash Gordon' movies, then finish up with 'Plan 9 From Outer Space.'"

Other mini-film festival themes could include Westerns, Audrey Hepburn movies and the works of Turner's favorite director, Stanley Kubrick. The Avalon may also screen concert films to take advantage of the theater's sound system, which Turner boasts features "the subwoofer from hell."

"I've got a good one here that'll rattle some fillings loose," he promised.

To get ready for the reopening, Turner and Darkside employee Hovey Grosvenor have extensively remodeled the building, giving it a funky, relaxed look that Turner calls "retro tacky."

The raised auditorium floor has been removed, and the tiers of theater seats have been replaced with a variety of seating options - restaurant booths along one wall, armchairs along another, an assortment of sofas and a big sectional up front that's been nicknamed "the pillow pit." For the traditionalist, there are also some standard

theater-style seats with small tables between them to hold food and beverages.

Altogether the theater will accommodate about 80 people.

"We reconfigured the whole room so people will be more inclined to hang out," Turner said.

The space also has a number of unexpected touches - such as the abstract swirls and splotches of color on the concrete floor.

"We had 25 gallons of paint that we didn't want to pay the fees to get rid of," Turner explained. "We Jackson Pollacked the floor with it."