Today, after reading a blog post about a beatiful restored theater, I wondered: what ever happened with the contest? I posted one update later in 2016 but haven't checked since.
I am going to rerun the post, and, at the end, post an update.
But first, a cartoon. Yes, that's what they used to do in the old days, although this cartoon (post Mel Blanc) is from 1991.
And now, our feature blog post.
Did you used to have a favorite movie theater growing up?
I did. This contest made me think back to my childhood, growing up in the Bronx (a borough of New York City) in the 1950's and 1960's.
Back in the 1950's and 1960's, instead of going to the local shopping mall and going into an cinema with multiple screens, you went to a local movie theater. There was one screen, and you got two pictures for your admission fee.
My parents were far from wealthy, and we rarely went to a movie. But when we did, it was a big event. Several blocks away was a bigger theatre.
But the best one of all was the Loew's Paradise, built in 1929. I graduated from elementary and junior high school there.
Where I live, near Binghamton, New York, there are no more family theaters. The remains of some, abandoned for years, exist, slowly crumbling.
So what better thing would there be to do on a cold winter's day in upstate New York than to sit down and write an essay so that I can own my very own movie theater.
To quote from the Temple Theater website:
" The Temple Theater is at the center of Market Square in historic downtown Houlton, Maine. The Temple building is over 6000 sq. ft. on each floor, built to last in 1918 of wood, steel, and brick as a proud architectural addition to Houlton.....
- The theater and building are in fully operational condition.
- The theater has run almost continuously since 1918. There is space and approved plans for expansion of theater space.
- The Temple Theater is the quintessential small town movie theater. There is steady attendance and good community support for the theater."
So what ever happened? Not enough people entered. The money was refunded. But, I read later in 2016 that someone from the town, now living in New Jersey, was moving back, would buy the theater, and planned to live upstairs.
As of today the website (dated 2018) shows the movie theater is still active - the sale did go through.
And now, I found still another theater in Maine for sale, called The Colonial Theater, in Belfast, Maine.
Do you have a still operating movie theater near you?
I remember reading about that contest. I’m glad someone bought the place and preserved its history
ReplyDeleteI worked at our local movie theatre from high school to my 2nd year of college.
ReplyDeleteYes, we have a movie theatre here It reopened a few years back.
The real problem is that movies no longer use the old equipment- so major investments are required!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.adjuvancy.com/wordpress/80-legs/
We don't have a "real" movie theater (as opposed to a multi-screen stadium seating monstrosity) near us now; I think they've all been closed or repurposed. When I was growing up, we had the Granada Theater and the 400. The Granada was one of the great, old-fashioned movie palaces; it closed a number of years ago and went to seed before it was torn down for senior housing. The 400 is still there; it was always more of an art theater. When we got married, there was another old palace, the Colony, near us on the South Side. It's been closed for a number of years and I've kind of lost contact with people who live around there, so I don't know what happened to it. There was a small theater in our (post-marriage) neighborhood that has shown Spanish-language movies as long as I've been around there. Mary said it was where she saw "Lilies of the Field" when she was in grammar school (I guess the Sisters of St Casimir walked the whole school over there to see it one afternoon).
ReplyDeleteWhen I was living on Prospect Park Southwest, in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood in Brooklyn, there was a 1920's movie theater around the corner. It had been closed for almost a decade when I moved in there, but while I was living there, oh joy! somebody bought it and fixed it up and reopened it. They had to make it into a triplex to make it work in today's market, but they did a lovely job in the lobby, which still had the original features and was painted colorfully, with a cozy restaurant serving crepes, salads, and other light fare in a balcony area above the entrance.
ReplyDeleteIt was great having a movie theater around the corner, I went all the time!
It went downhill after I moved away. I only found that out when my friend Mandy had come out to Brooklyn once to see a movie. We were originally going to another theater but something went wrong there - we checked her smartphone to see where else it was playing and I was so excited to see that there was a showing that we could get to at the Pavilion. I was kind of psyched for Mandy to see what I remembered as a very neat place to go to the movies.
We jumped on a bus, got over there in plenty of time, and walked up to the ticket window, only to be told that we were welcome to buy tickets but the air conditioning in that theater was broken. And it was one of those gruesomely hot NYC heat wave days, too. So, thanks but no thanks. People who'd been in line behind us for the same movie then started reminiscing about the time they'd gone there only to find the theater they were in filled with the smell of sewage. I went online afterwards and found out about the slide that the place had gone through after I'd moved to Midwood.
Unsurprisingly, it closed not long after that.
The next time I was in the neighborhood I overheard a couple of local ladies talking about how it was slated to be torn down for a development. That didn't end up happening - instead it got taken over and is now a Nitehawk Cinema, one of those places where you have dinner and drinks while you watch your movie. I haven't gone back since then but I'll definitely go sometime - maybe I can get Mandy to come out for a better experience in my old neighborhood. It is nice that the old place is carrying on!
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1268
We do have a few still operating movie theaters in our city, I know of one back in the Boston area too.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe there were not enough people entering the contest to choose a winner. You'd think that kind of thing would attract a large number of people.
Our town had a cool old theater and sadly do to politics it no longer going. It had the most comfortble seats.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
Sad that it didn't have enough interest back in the day, but glad to hear someone bought it. All we've got in the area are multiplexes, but LA proper has some famous spots.
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