There could be even less trash here in a couple of months. (Photo: Google Street View)

Cinephiles of downtown D.C., mark your calendars: In less than two months, you'll actually have movie-going options. The operator of the future West End Cinema, a three-screen arthouse movie theater under renovation in that neighborhood, says he's aiming for a soft opening on Oct. 15 and a grand opening on Oct. 29 — just four days after its liquor license hearing — and that he's close to an agreement with neighbors on operating hours.

"We've exchanged drafts of the voluntary agreement and we're pretty close to locking it up," says film producer and D.C. native Josh Levin, who moved back to town last November after about a half-decade in New York City. He says the likely operating hours for the theater at 2301 M St. NW will be 11 p.m. for the outdoor patio, which is located in front of the entrance on 23rd St.; midnight on Sunday through Thursday; and 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. "We also agreed not to start any films after midnight," he says, noting that the negotiations have "been very amicable."

Levin, a 42-year-old Capital Hill resident, says calling the West End Cinema an arthouse "is hitting it pretty much on the nose, so independent films, foreign films, and documentaries." And they'll mostly be first-run movies, with the exception of "some series that may touch on classic films." As for clientele, the liquor license application Levin filed on Aug. 2 states, "We anticipate improving the litter situation, by having employees dedicated to keeping the storefront area clean," and, "We anticipate minimal impact if any on evening noise, peace, order or quiet. Our audience is demographically older, more mature, and more well-behaved than multiplex movie theatres."

Levin, who is joined by minority partner Jamie Shor, president of PR Collaborative, says the combined capacity of the cinema will be 258, and that one of the three theaters will have removable seats to allow for special events — "the sort of prototypical event where we do a premiere screening in the largest of the three theaters, and instead of having everyone leave our premises to go to a hotel reception or bar, they can do a post-screening q-and-a with the director and meet the stars right there in theater three."

Levin ran three D.C. restaurants in the 1990's — Carmella Kitty's, Red River Grill, and Politiki — while also working in film distribution. He moved to NYC to get his MBA at Columbia University, and also runs a production company, Gallant Films. He has producing credits on six films in various stages of production, including Cape Wind: The Fight for the Future of Power in America and another doc about prolific low-budget filmmaker Roger Corman, but says, "My full-time job as of two months ago is the theater, and it's my full-time job for the foreseeable future — well, more than full time." As the general manager of the cinema, he won't have time for filmmaking "for at least the next couple of years."

D.C. used to have more cinemas than there are Starbucks today. The chains consolidated for macroeconomic reasons, says Levin, while the independent houses, like the Biograph and Key theaters in Georgetown and the Janus 3 in Dupont Circle, closed due to climbing rents. "What doomed those theaters was not [a lack of] interest," he says. "What doomed those theaters were real estate prices.... When leases came up, it made more sense for the Biograph to become a CVS, economically speaking." But culturally speaking, he adds, "It stinks."

When I ask Levin if he thinks he can succeed, despite the history of shuttered arthouse cinemas in D.C., he says, "We hope. I think there was so much consolidation that there's an opportunity for small, uniquely programmed venues to succeed. There are lots of films worth seeing. Not all of them are the kinds of films that would hold a big screen for six weeks — some of them are one-week films, some of them are one-night films. But we believe very strongly that we're nimble enough to give the right run to the right film."