This is topic Cinemas with a little history or character in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 07-21-2002, 04:04 PM:
 
A gentleman emailed me today about getting a list of cinemas "with a little history or character". He's starting in LA in two weeks and taking a four-week bus trip to NYC with no particular route or agenda.

So, then, anywhere between LA and NYC, please nominate the best of the best! Preferably, theaters that are still operating in some capacity.

I'll start the list with:

I could probably go on forever ...


 

Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 07-21-2002, 08:52 PM:
 
The Chicago Theatre doesn't show movies too often anymore. Actually, I was told (and this may be completely not true) that they don't even own their own projectors. They just rent them when needed.
 
Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-21-2002, 09:24 PM:
 
If the Northpark 1-2 were still standing, I'd highly recommend that one if a drive through Dallas was part of the trip. With that theater gone, I can't really think of any in the north Texas and Oklahoma region that are either historically noteworthy or technically superior to the nth degree.
 
Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 07-21-2002, 10:31 PM:
 
Adam, The Paramount here in Austin. www.theparamount.org The Majestic in San Antonio www.themajestic.com The Paramount in Abilene, TX, www.paramount-abilene.org The Texas Theatre in Dallas, TX


 

Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 07-22-2002, 12:14 AM:
 
Adam,
You have seen the pics of our theatre.
(Pines Theatre, C Howard Crane, 1941, Hunters Cabin)
I think we just may have a little bit of character

------------------
Adam Fraser
www.pinestheatre.com
 

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 07-22-2002, 02:22 AM:
 
We have a little character in our theatres but defamation laws prevent me from naming him or exposing his more entertaining habits

And of course back in March we briefly had a big character when came to call!

Hey Adam M stop changing your pic. Moving round the old SR's is making me dizzy.

When do we get the one of you draped seductively over the QTRU ?


 

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 07-22-2002, 02:48 AM:
 
Here's a few nominations from the SoCal area. All of these are currently operating:

Orpheum, Downtown Los Angeles, CA (G. Albert Lansburgh, 1926, French Baroque)
Los Angeles, Downtown Los Angeles, CA (S. Charles Lee, 1931, Versailles)
El Capitan, Hollywood, CA (G. Albert Lansburgh, 1926, East Indian)
Grauman's Egyptian, Hollywood, CA (Meyer & Holler, 1922, Egyptian)
Checchi Gori Fine Arts, Beverly Hills, CA (1936)
Grauman's Chinese, Hollywood, CA (Raymond Kennedy, 1927, Chinese)
Silent Movie Theater, Hollywood, CA (1942) (How's this for a history!)
New Beverly, Los Angeles, CA (a dump, but great programming and lots of character)
Old Town Music Hall, El Segundo, CA
Warner Grand, San Pedro, CA (B. Marcus Prieca, 1931, Art-Deco)
The Bay, Seal Beach, CA
Mann (Fox) Village, Westwood, CA (Percy Parke Lewis, 1931, Spanish Moderne)
Cinerama Dome, Hollywood, CA (Welton Beckett, 1963, Geodesic)
Nuart, Santa Monica, CA (another dump, but lots of character)
The Art, Long Beach, CA (still another dump, but lots of character)

Paul
SMPTE Hollywood Section
Mercenary video/16/35/70mm/IMAX projectionist
"When the money runs out, so does I."


 

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-22-2002, 05:20 AM:
 
Ah yes, the Paramount theater in Abilene, TX. What a gorgeous place. Fully restored. I would've had pictures posted a year ago of this place, but my camera died on me in the lobby that day. I will make it a point to get back out there.

William, where is the Texas theater? I've never heard of it.
 

Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 07-22-2002, 07:34 AM:
 
Brad,

Surely he is refrerring to the theatre that Oswald was arrested at after the Kennedy assination. Its located in the South Dallas/Oak Cliff area if I remember right. I belive athough the building is still standing, it is no longer in use, damaged by fire several years ago, during a failed attempt to use it as a live venue theater.
 

Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 07-22-2002, 08:15 AM:
 
Yes Brad, Jason is right. I am refering to the Texas Theatre that is inthe Oak Cliff nieghborhood of Dallas. They do have a Web Page for it, but I did not bookmark it for some stupid reason and I am trying to locate it now. When I find it I will post it here.


OK found it. Web Page is: http://www.texas-theatre.org/


 

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 07-22-2002, 10:26 AM:
 
Adam F - C Howard Crane designed your theater? I really need to come up there soon!

Dick - I though of doing an animated gif of me humping the projector, but thought it might be a bit much for a public forum. I'll send you a sexy QTRU photo soon, but the photo shoot will have to occur well after hours, as the booth gallery window has no curtain.

Everyone else - Thanks for the names ... keep 'em coming!

 

Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 07-22-2002, 12:11 PM:
 
Adam M.,
Yep, I believe his firm at the time was called, Kellogg, Crane, and some other name I cant remember. We still have all of the original blueprints that his firm was comissioned to draw. The owner of the theatre W. James Olson owned many theatres at the time in Michigan. You and anyone else is welcome to come take a tour, just drop me a line.

------------------
Adam Fraser
www.pinestheatre.com
 

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-22-2002, 01:54 PM:
 
It would be way off the path, but there are quite a few old classic theatres in Montana. Going from east to west, here are some I know about. All of these are operating.

Miles City: The Montana Theatre, built in 1936, still almost completely original auditorium decor...single screen with around 600 seats.

Forsyth: Roxy Theatre (that's mine!) built in 1930, Spanish design by Charles Wood of Spokane WA. Exterior, including neon marquee still completely original, lobby walls and doors are original, with modern auditorium and booth.

Bozeman: Ellen Theatre, one of Carmike's few single-screen houses. Needs a good cleaning but it's still classic.

Anaconda: Washoe Theatre. Beautifully preserved inside. A 1400 seat house in a town of 4000 people. Has SDDS sound, cloth wall murals, etc.

Missoula: Wilma Theatre. One of the finest classic movie theatres in the northwest. It has had 2 extra screens added but without major changes to the main auditorium. (I believe this was the first theatre in Montana to have digital sound.)

All of these towns are right on Interstate 94 (or 90, west of Billings) except Anaconda, which is about 10 miles off the highway.

John Eickhof could probably add more to this list. There are pictures of many of these theatres and lots of others on his website www.nteequip.com. (Scroll down to "Theatre Picture Gallery" links.)


 

Posted by Geoffrey Weiss (Member # 882) on 07-23-2002, 01:49 PM:
 
The Palace Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky--formerly the Loew's or Loew's Palace Theatre.

This theatre, built in the mid-twenties, is an Eberson-designed "atmospheric" theatre intended to resemble an Italian garden at dusk. They run a classic movie series on weekends in July-August and have stage shows and concerts the rest of the time. I plan to see Alice Cooper there in October!

 

Posted by Jeff Taylor (Member # 443) on 07-23-2002, 02:02 PM:
 
I didn't see anyone mention the Loew's Jersey, one of Loew's five "wonder theaters" from 1929 now under restoration in Jersey City, NJ. http://www.loewsjersey.org.
 
Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 07-23-2002, 03:21 PM:
 
The Loews Jersey was on my starter list. What were the other four Loews "wonder theaters"?

 
Posted by Daniel Boisson (Member # 1027) on 07-23-2002, 05:34 PM:
 
the Roosevelt Cinemas in Hyde Park, NY where i work was originally built by F.D.R. as a single screen. It has since been chopped up, but there's still lots of really old (and valuable) things around.

------------------
3% Body Fat. 1% Brain Activity.
 

Posted by Greg Pauley (Member # 503) on 07-23-2002, 10:07 PM:
 
Adam,

If this guy would like to look at the Keith-Albee in Huntington, Wv. I'd be happy to give him a tour. The theatre is open daily for movies and still does about 10 live shows each year. You can see pictures of the Keith at www.ourshowtimes.com.


 

Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 07-23-2002, 10:53 PM:
 
Adam - The other 4 Loew's Wonder Theatres were: the Loew's Kings in Brooklyn (sitting abandoned), the Loew's Valencia (now a church); the Lowe's Victoria (about to be renovated as part of the Harlem/Apollo Theatre project) and the Lowe's 175th Street (also a church). The 175th Street is essentially the same theatre as the former Loew's State in Syracuse NY (now called the Landmark Theatre).

Last week the Theatre Historical Society of America visted all 5 of the Wonder Theatres as part of its NYC conclave tour.
 

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 07-24-2002, 03:12 AM:
 
quote:
Last week the Theatre Historical Society of America visted all 5 of the Wonder Theatres as part of its NYC conclave tour.

Got into the long-closed Liberty, the first theater to show "Birth of A Nation". Scores of theaters; highlights were bumping every pot in the Loew's Jersey booth with the tweaker, & cracking walnuts under the bell hammer in the clock on the facade. While the locals were trying to chase us guys off the roof, a bunch of the ladies TP'd the big Pearlman chandelier in the lobby. Great time.


 

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 07-24-2002, 08:17 AM:
 
Loew's Victoria was converted into a five plex around 1991 and operated less than two years. The theatre had been vacant for many years and there was a lot of water damage to the original ceilings and the interior walls.

Another one of the Loew's Theatres that is worth a mention is the Loews Paradise in the Bronx, Just off Fordham Road on the Concourse. This theatre was converted to a Quad in the Seventies but they were careful to protect the the work of John Eberson. The Theatre has been closed for several years. I believe that the site has been designated a Landmark.


 

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 07-25-2002, 02:47 AM:
 
The Kings in Brooklyn still looked pretty together, & it was good to see the 175th (Reverend Ike's) again & it's still looking mighty fine, but the word is that the Paradise had a bad, unattended roof leak and it's melting the interior plaster walls from the top down.

quote:
The other 4 Loew's Wonder Theatres were: the Loew's Kings in Brooklyn (sitting abandoned), the Loew's Valencia (now a church); the Lowe's Victoria (about to be renovated as part of the Harlem/Apollo Theatre project) and the Lowe's 175th Street (also a church).

I think the Paradise, not the Victoria, was the 5th Wonder Theatre; one way to remember is that the 5 Wonder theatres built by Loew's had contracts out at the same time to the Robert Morton company for special theatre organs, & the 5 organs from the Jersey/Valencia/Paradise/Kings/175th are the unique Wonder Mortons. Only the 175th still has its Wonder Morton, the others were all taken out, fortunately the Wonder Morton from the Paradise came back to the Jersey. The Jersey's Wonder Morton went out to California someplace.

The Victoria was sort of in informally-considered-later Loew's Wonder theatre. They wouldn't let us take pictures in the Victoria, & I wanted to *so* bad. It was a classic big house lowball carve-up into a multi, with the classic partitions straight down the floor so that the side seats were at an angle to the screen, out-of-the-yellow-pages lumber & construction work on the partitions & new stairs, nothing but the void of limitless black space at the sides of the risers, 8 billion gallons of the same color blue latex paint all over everything. They're pulling it all out, they'll never take any pictures, & no one will ever truly be able to know what one of these was like. It had been closed for a while, & going in was a time warp. The Victoria will be made into a media & studio-integrated performing arts space, & likely with all the new stuff will be greatly changed from the original. I sure wanted pictures of it, it was a textbook example.



 

Posted by Mathew Molloy (Member # 666) on 07-25-2002, 05:14 AM:
 
THE ROSE THEATRE in Port Townsend, Washington. www.rosetheatre.com

Built in 1917, closed in 1958 in opposition to the war tax put on cinemas and reopened in 1992 beautifully restored with federal, state and local funds as it's considered an historic landmark...one of the few surviving nickleodeons in the country. Beautiful seating, plush curtains and a rolldrop act curtain. My only complaint is the top/bottom masking. But the sound is beautiful in there. Owned and operated by Rocky Friedman...the best darn guy in the world! They just need to get some pictures of the interior up on their site.

Also like to mention Landmark's The Harvard Exit Theatre in Seattle...converted from a Women's Century Club with the nicest damn lobby I've ever seen complete with grand piano and working fireplace (also in the upstairs lobby and manager's office) and the place is haunted!
 

Posted by Matthew Bailey (Member # 601) on 07-25-2002, 05:35 AM:
 
I think you should not forget the Shubert(Majestic) theatre in Chicago which is still in operation since the 1900's.
 
Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 07-25-2002, 10:04 AM:
 
The Shubert Theater is another one that doesn't currently show movies. Right now, they are home to the Blue Man Group.
 
Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 07-25-2002, 12:04 PM:
 
It's a new multi/megaplex but it certainly has character and it's worth seeing:

I nominate the award-winning, top-grossing Muvico Paradise 24 in Davie, Florida. This complex is beautifully rendered as an ancient-Egyptian palace.

http://www.icsc.org/srch/sct/current/sct0700/02.html

A quick Google search informs me that the designers of this project won an award in 2000:

http://www.segd.org/awards/2000.html

While there, watch/listen out for the special "Egypt" logo trailer that Dolby made specially for Muvico's Egyptian theatres.

http://www.dolby.com/press/mp_pr_0205_muviotrailer.html

Note: There is another Muvico with an Egyptian theme in Maryland but I haven't actually visited or even seen photos of that one.


 

Posted by Mitchell Cope (Member # 32) on 07-25-2002, 05:37 PM:
 
Though I haven't been there in years, The Tampa Theatre in Tampa, Florida is a favorite.

Yes Brad, the Texas Theatre is in Oak Cliff on Jefferson Blvd near the intersection of Zang. It was part of the Rowley theater chain that I guess became part of UA. I used to go there as a kid, before it became famous. Unfortunately, and I knew it at the time, they remodeled it right after Oswald was captured there. It had a beautiful Spanish/Mediterranean architecture. I understand that is being recovered under the existing walls.

Oliver Stone used the actual theatre in his film, "JFK". He also contributed to its restoration.
 

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 07-25-2002, 06:33 PM:
 
quote:
_________________________________________________________________
The Jersey's Wonder Morton went out to California someplace.

_________________________________________________________________

The Loew's Jersey City, Wonder Morton is now located at the
Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, California. This is a
beautiful Spanish Mission atmospheric theatre.
 

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 07-26-2002, 12:23 AM:
 
That's it. The Wonder Morton from the Loew's Kings is now in a private home near Chicago, & it's one of the best instruments out that way: http://www.wheatonfox.com/
The Loew's Kings organ used to be Lee Erwin's axe.

Yes, I prefer a snortin' Morton to a syrupy Wurlitzer, almost any day.

That's 3 Wonder Mortons, the 175th/Paradise/Kings, & isn't the one from the Jersey privately owned & in storage?

On a cross-country tour of historic theaters still showing films, you'd need to include the Ohio Theatre in Columbus, operated by CAPA. They often show silents there, too, accompanied of course on the Ohio's excellent Robert Morton theatre organ. http://www.capa.com/movies/schedule.html

CAPA is now operating the Chicago, so it may be that since they're accustomed to generating revenue with film series, they may get the booth back together at the Chicago.


 

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 07-27-2002, 12:27 PM:
 
Thanks for all the great leads, guys! I'll be compiling the list and sending it to the fellow today, but feel free to keep the thread going -- I'm always looking for stuff to see on the road!

 




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