Theaters
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October 3, 2007
New deal on Capitol Music Hall sale
WHEELING, WV — The currently closed Capitol Music Hall might find a new owner soon. Live Nation, who currently owns it, had to close it earlier this year due to fire code violations.
Real estate agent Carl Nix is looking to draw up a new deal for the Capitol Music Hall, as a previous agreement to buy the venue has fizzled.
Also, city officials who previously expressed interest in acquiring the venue on behalf of Wheeling said they may now take another look at the theater.
Mayor Nick Sparachane said the city had expressed interest in acquiring the property, but backed off when they learned of serious private interest in the venue earlier this summer.
The full story is available from the Intelligencer.
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Historic theater’s restoration plan faces final hurdles
MENLO PARK, CA — The owner of the Park Theatre is trying to keep the building open, but it might require some help that the city is unsure they want to give.
An ambitious plan to restore the Park Theater hinges on a last-ditch effort by Andy Duncan, the main proponent, to coax Menlo Park city officials into giving him a loan or joining him in a public-private partnership.
Duncan submitted a formal proposal to City Manager Glen Rojas on Thursday. Because of escalating restoration costs and the fact that a market-based solution to revamping the theater isn’t workable, Duncan has offered the city two options: Lend him $500,000 at 5 percent for 25 years or buy the land and lease it to him for 55 years.
“At $2.2 million, the second option is far more expensive for the taxpayer, but it would give the city ownership of an important historical resource,” Duncan said.
You can read the full article at the San Mateo County Times.
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Price of historic theater climbs
MESILLA, NM — The 1905 Fountain Theatre is caught in the middle of some interesting sales negotiations. Just when it was about to be bought by a band of local residents, another buyer came in with another bid. Either will maintain its film heritage
A plan by some local officials to arrange the purchase of a historic Mesilla theater has run into a hurdle, after the theater owner raised her asking price for the structure.
The snag has led the Mesilla Valley Film Society, the nonprofit group that leases the 102-year-old Fountain Theatre, to decide to refund some $60,000 in donations it raised this summer during an attempt to buy the building. The group said it plans to begin mailing letters about the refunds around the start of October.
Read more at the Las Cruces Sun-News.
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September 28, 2007
Town Theater gets concert business
HUNTSVILLE, TX — The Town Theater is generating new income and notoriety through its new role as a venue for local bands.
The Downtown Music Project took two steps forward this weekend as local bands met in the Old Town Theater to examine the sound equipment and discuss promotion for the first concert on Friday, October 5th.
Gene Myrick, director of the Friends of the Old Town Theater, said that the Theater has been in production for approximately five and a half years and has welcomed at least 65,000 people through its doors.
Read the full story at the Houstonian Online.
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September 24, 2007
Hawaii Theaters profiled in SF Gate article
The SFGate, the online version of the San Francisco Chronicle, posted an article on the surviving movie palaces of Hawaii, including a terrific photo of the 1922 Hawaii Theatre in Honolulu with its magificent marquee.
The occasional rainy day in Hawaii may be one reason to choose a movie over the beach, but even in sunny weather, the major islands all have cinemas worthy of supporting roles in your vacation script. Maui, the Big Island and Oahu also offer annual film festivals, with indoor and outdoor screening venues (often large resort lawns). For those who really want to keep the sand under their toes, there’s Sunset on the Beach, Waikiki’s free monthly event at Queen’s Beach (across from the zoo); details at sunsetonthebeach.net.
Festival or no, movie-theater buffs can take in one of these distinctive cinemas year-round.
You can read more at the SFGate.
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September 19, 2007
Beach Theatre in Miami Beach Becoming a TAO Restaurant & Lounge
MIAMI BEACH. FL — The Beach Theatre on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road is being converted into an upscale restaurant and lounge known as “Tao.” It is still in the construction phase, but should be completed soon.
If you stand on the corner of Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road and Drexel Avenue and look to the southeast, you can still see the structure that housed the screen of one of the finest movie theaters in the country, the Beach Theatre. It’s been decades since this movie palace ran its last feature, but now a new vibe is coming to 420 Lincoln Road in the form of the ritzy TAO Restaurant & Lounge.
Miami Beach will the third in a series of upscale TAO eateries that include East 58th Street in New York and another at the Venetian Resort Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, all of which operate under the watchful eye of TAO’s signature 20-foot tall golden Buddha statues.
More here ar Miami Beach USA.
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September 10, 2007
New marquee for the born-again Rivoli
CEDARBURG, WI — Longtime theatre marquee-builder Poblocki Sign Company of West Allis, WI, has been contracted for a $60,000 marquee at the 1936 Rivoli Theatre in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. (Among many others, Poblocki built the 1993 marquee for Kenosha’s 1922 Orpheum Theatre.)
In a twist of fate, company owner Jerry Poblocki told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he attended the Rivoli’s January 1936 opening program.
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September 5, 2007
Hollywood’s Famous Grauman’s Chinese Theater sold
CIM Group of Los Angeles, reportedly one of Hollywood’s largest commercial landlords has purchased Grauman’s Chinese Theater for an undisclosed sum of money. There are no plans to stop showing films there as Mann Theaters has a long term lease and plans to continue its operation.
For more details, read the AP News.
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September 3, 2007
Future maybe in doubt for Towne Square
WINCHESTER, IN — With the owner claiming they are just doing renovations, other troubles indicate financial issues might be the reason for its present closure.
The movie screens are dark inside the Towne Square Cinema and Cafe.
The downtown theater is nearly $10,000 behind on its taxes and is facing a lawsuit from an Ohio publishing company for not paying an advertising bill.
But the marquee at the theater, 117 W. Franklin St., indicates it is closed for repairs, and general manager Steve Smelser repeated the same when contacted Friday. No movies have been shown for several weeks.
For the full story, go to the Star Press
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August 31, 2007
Fox Fullerton receives grant
FULLERTON, CA — I am writing to share some good news in our efforts to reopen the Fox Fullerton Theatre. The Fullerton Historic Theatre Foundation has been selected to receive a nearly $2 million grant from the California Cultural and Historical Endowment (CCHE). The Foundation’s grant to restore the Fox Fullerton Theatre was the second highest in a highly competitive process where 194 projects totaling $213 million were submitted statewide, for just under $43 million in available funds.
This was the third and final round to distribute funds made available by Proposition 40, which was passed by California voters in 2004 and included $250 million in funding for cultural and historic preservation. We have applied each year and this is the first time our application has been successful.