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Renovations
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February 5, 2007
Milwaukee’s Venetian Theatre center of new renovation effort
MILWAUKEE, WI — For Milwaukee’s long-closed, long-deteriorating Venetian Theatre, its roof for years open to sky,rain, and snow, might the darkest hour be preceding a new dawn?
Paul Bachowski of MUSIC LLC, Milwaukee Urban Skyline Investment Company, has announced plans to renovate the 1927-vintage neighborhood movie palace. In a February 1, 2007, posting on the Web site of Milwaukee Renaissance, Bachowski notes that a city official has stated that the city will hold off on plans to demolish the long-vacant theater if Bachowski can produce a “financially supported renovation plan.”
Bachowski states that he plans to raise at least $200,000 toward the first phase of the theater’s renovation, adding that a nonprofit entity will be formed to oversee the renovation of the interior and manage fund-raising. He adds that his partner in the effort, Devon Duke, will oversee operation of a nonprofit lounge in the theater’s lobby to help raise money to “make the theater functional once again.”
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January 29, 2007
Auburn Schine Theater
AUBURN, NY — The Cayuga County Arts Council unveiled the facade at The Auburn Schine Theatre on Friday January 12, 2007. The Auburn Theatre is located at 14 South St, Auburn, NY. The Arts Council owns The Auburn Theatre and continues to work on its renovation and rehabilitation.
The doors and box office have been restored to their original art deco design. The design is a plastic laminate and their colors are very bright and vibrant. The original colors include black, red, white, silver, yellow green, and a rusty terra cotta. The design is accented by ornamental metal work which has been restored to virtually an exact match of the 1939 John Eberson design. The newly refurbished theatre facade will be a bright addition to downtown landscape and will brightly highlight the future possibilities for the theatre restoration.
Following the unveiling, the Cayuga County Arts Council hosted a reception at Westminster Presbyterian Church.
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January 25, 2007
Volunteers from Home Depot give the Lebowsky Center a makeover
OWOSSO, MI — About 100 employees from over a dozen mid-Michigan Home Depot stores volunteered to give the Lebowsky Center a face lift. The Home Depot employees donated 800 to 1000 hours of labor and the company donated $2,500 to $3,000 worth of materials to make the 80-year-old former Capitol Theatre look more like it did during its vaudeville days.
More details can be found in The Flint Journal.
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January 24, 2007
New life at the Rex Cinema
Members will be interested in the restoration of the Rex Cinema in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. The theater currently shows first and second run films.
To see more, go to the Rex Cinema Site.
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January 18, 2007
Green Theater’s search for identity
LAPLATA, MO — The Green Theater Restoration committee is busy raising funds and looking for a purpose for the long closed movie theater.
The Green Theater Restoration committee has been busy since first buying the 1935 theatre in 2006. They have raised more than $32,000 through various fundraisers and took possession this week of an adjacent building that shares a door with the theatre.
They have also hired an architect, Linda Derrick, who met with the group Monday night at the Depot Inn and Suites. She told the 20 supporters they need to agree on a direction and a purpose and they need to put it in writing.
To read more on this story, go to theKirksville Daily Express.
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January 1, 2007
Hollywood Theater - Pittsburgh, PA renovation
PITTSBURGH, PA — Today’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review includes an article with photos on the current renovation of the Hollywood Theater in the Dormont neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
“The theater will draw in people from all over the South Hills,” said Garry McGrath, chief financial officer for the Bradley Center, which has campuses in Mt. Lebanon and Robinson. “It’s too much of an asset to remain closed.”
McGrath said the theater will seat about 300 patrons — 250 in large theater seats and an additional 50 or so in a coffeehouse-style setting. The interior has been repainted, and a concessions stand has been installed that will be run by teenagers from Bradley.
For more, go to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
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December 29, 2006
Re-opening of Pulaski Theatre draws near
PULASKI, VA — With new seats and refurbished walls, The Pulaski Theatre is on pace to reach its ideal spring 2007 reopening date.
Passers-by on the town’s Main Street can see one big sign of visible progress: the new marquee made by Sign Systems of Radford to resemble the old and long-gone marquee the building sported when it last housed a movie theater.
The new marquee was lit for the first time for Pulaski’s Christmas parade. And the theater’s outside brick work is cleaned up. New poster cases are on the walls.
For more on this story, go to the Roanoke Times.
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November 28, 2006
Baltimore’s Town Theatre gets a new lease on life
BALTIMORE, MD — The city of Baltimore is throwing more and more dollars at revitalizing old theaters; this time the Town Theatre taking centerstage.
In a development that could further the transformation of downtown Baltimore’s west side from a neglected shopping district into a vibrant arts center, Everyman Theatre, a thriving regional troupe, will move into a vacant vaudeville house across from the restored Hippodrome.
Civic leaders say the shift into the Town Theatre – to be announced today – will build on the Hippodrome’s momentum, reviving a once-grand theater district. The development comes in the midst of improvements to the west side, which has added restaurants and more than 750 apartments in the past two years, a turnaround after the shopping district’s long slide.
The Town – which once played host to such stars as Mae West and Joe E. Brown – is the final parcel in Bank of America’s Centerpoint project, a major mixed-use complex of retail and 392 apartments that wraps around the Town. Bank of America’s donation of the Town to Everyman will be made public at a celebration this afternoon of the completion of Centerpoint.
For more, go to the Baltimore Sun
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November 22, 2006
Shores Theatre closing for renovation/expansion
ST. CLAIR SHORES, MI — The Shores Theatre in the Detroit suburb of St. Clair Shores will close for five months to allow for expansion and renovation to create a five-screen cineplex with stadium-style seating.
About two years in the making, the theater project has begun with interior demolition scheduled for later this month, said David Tolfree, operational manager for the theater. The goal, he said, is to have the project wrapped up for a May 1 grand opening with the premiere of “Spider-Man 3.”
The theater interior will be gutted to make way for five theaters with stadium seating, two concessions stands, a larger lobby and two entrances. The exterior of the facility, which was built in 1935, will feature two automated ticket kiosks and new signage.
The theater’s existing marquee will be preserved by the city’s historical society, said theater spokesman Bruce Ferguson.
For more details go to The Detroit News.
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November 10, 2006
Warner Grand Theatre reopens after major redo
SAN PEDRO, CA — The Warner Grand Theatre, L.A.’s venerable Naby reopened this past Saturday with a stunning performance by the resident, Golden State Pops Orchestra.
This marked the first performance with the near completion of an $800,000 restoration
including the rebuilding of the original seats, complete down to a near ‘dead-on’ re-covering of the 1500 plus seats with a customed loomed fabric, replicating the original.Also included was the complete strip of the stagehouse from its original hemp system, to a more modern “T” rail, complete with a new loading dock and a new screen system and updated film sound capabilities.
Funding for this major restoration was accomplished and continues by the community theatre support group, Grand Vision Foundation.
For info about future programs, visit The Warner Grand Official Website.