After my July 15 post, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Coming to NYC!, I’d seen no evidence of renovation at the Metro theater near my home in Manhattan and so have wondered if the enterprise is really going to happen. Happily for my neighborhood and for NYC film buffs, an Oct. 11 item in DNAinfo.comNewYork brings the good news that a key part of  the process is moving ahead. Emily Frost reports that Alamo, based in Austin, TX–which serves food and drink at their screenings–has received approval for a liquor license from our local community board. Meantime, I also found a June West Side Rag interview with Alamo founder Tim Lee who says they’d begun seeking the city permits required to begin gutting the interior and renovating the space to accommodate the five screens and viewing spaces they envision for the theater which first opened to the public in 1933. For readers unfamiliar with the site, the classic Art Deco marquee–shown above in a photograph and below in a painting by my wife Kyle Gallup–has landmark status and will be preserved as is, though the interior has no similar exemption. I’m very pleased with this news, and look forward to having them in the neighborhood, perhaps in 2013, or the next year.