In photos of the Avalon, one can see some type of stylized box on the sidewalk next to the road. It has an “A” on it, and is aligned with the theatre box office. It appears in photos that were taken twenty years apart. Anyone know what this might have been?
Cinema City is now closed. The owners of the mall ran into trouble and closed the entire site sometime around September 14th, 2012, meaning that all of the tenants were closed down.
Actually, as it turned out, we weren’t able to restore the chairs that were here when we took over. They were loungers, not rockers. IE, fixed seat, reclining back.
The seats and backs could have been redone, but the standards and hinging had gone so long without maintenance, or cleaning, that a combination of rust (from roof leaks that were never reported to the land lady) and acid, from spilled soda, had eaten through much of the metal. In some cases, you could literally push hard with a thumb and dent the metal. Unfortunately, the seats and back required this particular standard, so without the metal, the upholstered parts were worthless.
The high school auditorium seats in the middle are in generally good shape, though there are a few “blah HEARTS blah"s scratched in the backs. The plan is to replace these sometime next year, with the same seats we’ve put in on the sides. When we do replace them, the center section will be completely removed and put back in on a radius. The new side seats are already angled toward the screen.
Unfortunately, the projection booth was removed during the renovation, so they can no longer play film there. I guess it was worth it to get the springy floor for the dancers.
Not sure on the style. We’ll be going with modern doors, but hopefully something either similar (3 pane) or stylized. Anyway we cut it, it’s a minimum of $7,000, so not a cheap fix. The existing doors don’t really go with anything in the interior, and we really need secure, energy efficient doors with panic hardware.
Heh. The “white” on the doors is primer, to slow the rotting as much as possible. Huge chunks of wood are falling off now. We’re planning on putting in new doors for better security and safety.
I just met the man who owned it for many years. He apparently purchased it 30 years ago, and was the person who “twinned” it, by closing in the balcony and building a wall down the middle of the auditorium. At the same time, the projection equipment was moved to the main floor.
We have the opening slated for Dec 4 — assuming there’s no problem with occupancy/food/liquor licenses. ;)
As someone noted earlier, we have done some one off events in the past couple of months. The Manhattan Short Film Festival in September, a 24-hour horror marathon in October, and will have have Crispin Hellion Glover’s Big Slide Show Part 2 on November 22nd.
This has been a year-long process, but once we made the decision to make some major facility upgrades there was no way to avoid the delay.
As an aside, the landlady — who took some lumps when the theatre closed last year — has been gracious and generous. She’s helped with the cost of our renovations, is getting the roof replaced, etc. What we’ve done here couldn’t possibly have happened without her help.
Hmmm, I don’t think the Strand could have been Art Deco/Moderne when it opened in 1916, since what would later come to be called Art Deco didn’t develop until the 20’s.
It would be interesting to find a photo of the interior from that period. The exterior of the building has the feel of Federalist style, but interior may have been Art Nouveau, which is sometimes confused with Art Deco.
We are still working on the renovation of the theatre. Just this past week, we received the construction drawings and hope to finalize them so that they can go for permitting the last week of May.
We’re probably looking at the last week of August, 2009, or the first two weeks of September, 2009, for the opening.
No screen additions. There is ZERO way to add screens that would be any larger than what people could do at home. Even using the adjoining storefront(s) might give you screens with 50 seats. The size of the auditorium has been diminished once in the past, so I wouldn’t want to take any space there. We’ll just have to work hard to keep people coming to the single screen. ;)
We WILL be upgrading equipment. We will be running archive prints, so we’ll be installing a matched pair with vertical feed and take-up. In the short term, I may work something out with Jeff, but the stuff is in bad shape at this point and I would have to rebuild the Simplex at a minimum. I’ve got RFIs out now to Strong, Kinoton, Christie. The acoustics are the number one issue for me. As you know, they’re awful. I often have trouble with dialog, and that is a frequent complaint from friends.
Kind of going back to the “adding screans” bit, a better use of one of the storefronts would be new men’s and women’s rooms. We would use the existing women’s room as a unisex handicapped bathroom. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Grandview Theatre, the “men’s room” is actually a “man’s room” and neither bathroom has accommodation for wheelchairs.
Monika,
Thanks for the jpeg. My wife and I were looking for decorating ideas at our metro library and came across that book. It’s the first color picture of the exterior I’ve seen prior to the marquee being removed. I’m still hoping to track down someone in the neighborhood with a color picture of the marquee in good shape.
I’m with you re: the page for this theatre. I’ll ask if CT can swap names for 7763 — IE “Grandview Theatre” (also known as Drexel Grandview).
Ron,
No plans for live entertainment for now, as there isn’t much of a stage. Maybe the occasional tie-in with a movie. We would like to expand the stage out a bit toward the first row of seats. I need to check sight-lines as to whether that is workable.
Does anyone out there know what the original interior was like before the construction of the new retail space/main lobby? Any pictures of the (original) interior?
This is a frame of film taken in 1939.
In photos of the Avalon, one can see some type of stylized box on the sidewalk next to the road. It has an “A” on it, and is aligned with the theatre box office. It appears in photos that were taken twenty years apart. Anyone know what this might have been?
Here’s a short clip of the Avalon in 1939.
https://youtu.be/9qBic2s1D0s
The main floor was converted to a dance club and re-opened in February, 2013, as the “Club Centrum”. It closed later that year in September.
As an aside, we have kept one 35mm projector in place, and mothballed the other in the booth. Just in case.
David Nedrow
Grandview Theatre
Cinema City is now closed. The owners of the mall ran into trouble and closed the entire site sometime around September 14th, 2012, meaning that all of the tenants were closed down.
More info at the following article:
http://www.theotherpaper.com/entertainment/movies/article_e8e41c98-027e-11e2-9dfa-0019bb2963f4.html
URL should be:
http://www.themurphytheatre.org/
Note the “the”.
Hey, a reply exactly one year later! ;)
Keith is right, something is “better than nothing”, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Lincoln no longer operates as a movie theatre.
Actually, as it turned out, we weren’t able to restore the chairs that were here when we took over. They were loungers, not rockers. IE, fixed seat, reclining back.
The seats and backs could have been redone, but the standards and hinging had gone so long without maintenance, or cleaning, that a combination of rust (from roof leaks that were never reported to the land lady) and acid, from spilled soda, had eaten through much of the metal. In some cases, you could literally push hard with a thumb and dent the metal. Unfortunately, the seats and back required this particular standard, so without the metal, the upholstered parts were worthless.
The high school auditorium seats in the middle are in generally good shape, though there are a few “blah HEARTS blah"s scratched in the backs. The plan is to replace these sometime next year, with the same seats we’ve put in on the sides. When we do replace them, the center section will be completely removed and put back in on a radius. The new side seats are already angled toward the screen.
“talent venue”?
As in the Newport (ugh!) or the Palace?
The projection booth was removed during the renovations, so they can no longer show film.
Unfortunately, the projection booth was removed during the renovation, so they can no longer play film there. I guess it was worth it to get the springy floor for the dancers.
Not sure on the style. We’ll be going with modern doors, but hopefully something either similar (3 pane) or stylized. Anyway we cut it, it’s a minimum of $7,000, so not a cheap fix. The existing doors don’t really go with anything in the interior, and we really need secure, energy efficient doors with panic hardware.
Heh. The “white” on the doors is primer, to slow the rotting as much as possible. Huge chunks of wood are falling off now. We’re planning on putting in new doors for better security and safety.
I just met the man who owned it for many years. He apparently purchased it 30 years ago, and was the person who “twinned” it, by closing in the balcony and building a wall down the middle of the auditorium. At the same time, the projection equipment was moved to the main floor.
We have the opening slated for Dec 4 — assuming there’s no problem with occupancy/food/liquor licenses. ;)
As someone noted earlier, we have done some one off events in the past couple of months. The Manhattan Short Film Festival in September, a 24-hour horror marathon in October, and will have have Crispin Hellion Glover’s Big Slide Show Part 2 on November 22nd.
This has been a year-long process, but once we made the decision to make some major facility upgrades there was no way to avoid the delay.
As an aside, the landlady — who took some lumps when the theatre closed last year — has been gracious and generous. She’s helped with the cost of our renovations, is getting the roof replaced, etc. What we’ve done here couldn’t possibly have happened without her help.
-David
Sure, a visit is fine. Check your email.
MikeR,
Do you, or your friend, have any additional info re: the organ that may have been in the Grandview Theatre?
There’s a great article about the theatre in the June, 2009 issue of Columbus Monthly.
Hmmm, I don’t think the Strand could have been Art Deco/Moderne when it opened in 1916, since what would later come to be called Art Deco didn’t develop until the 20’s.
It would be interesting to find a photo of the interior from that period. The exterior of the building has the feel of Federalist style, but interior may have been Art Nouveau, which is sometimes confused with Art Deco.
Update…
We are still working on the renovation of the theatre. Just this past week, we received the construction drawings and hope to finalize them so that they can go for permitting the last week of May.
We’re probably looking at the last week of August, 2009, or the first two weeks of September, 2009, for the opening.
I update the theatre blog pretty frequently…
https://grandviewtheatre.net/wordpress/
I hope to have daily updates posted to…
https://grandviewtheatre.net/wordpress/
Mark L,
No screen additions. There is ZERO way to add screens that would be any larger than what people could do at home. Even using the adjoining storefront(s) might give you screens with 50 seats. The size of the auditorium has been diminished once in the past, so I wouldn’t want to take any space there. We’ll just have to work hard to keep people coming to the single screen. ;)
We WILL be upgrading equipment. We will be running archive prints, so we’ll be installing a matched pair with vertical feed and take-up. In the short term, I may work something out with Jeff, but the stuff is in bad shape at this point and I would have to rebuild the Simplex at a minimum. I’ve got RFIs out now to Strong, Kinoton, Christie. The acoustics are the number one issue for me. As you know, they’re awful. I often have trouble with dialog, and that is a frequent complaint from friends.
Kind of going back to the “adding screans” bit, a better use of one of the storefronts would be new men’s and women’s rooms. We would use the existing women’s room as a unisex handicapped bathroom. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Grandview Theatre, the “men’s room” is actually a “man’s room” and neither bathroom has accommodation for wheelchairs.
Monika,
Thanks for the jpeg. My wife and I were looking for decorating ideas at our metro library and came across that book. It’s the first color picture of the exterior I’ve seen prior to the marquee being removed. I’m still hoping to track down someone in the neighborhood with a color picture of the marquee in good shape.
I’m with you re: the page for this theatre. I’ll ask if CT can swap names for 7763 — IE “Grandview Theatre” (also known as Drexel Grandview).
Ron,
No plans for live entertainment for now, as there isn’t much of a stage. Maybe the occasional tie-in with a movie. We would like to expand the stage out a bit toward the first row of seats. I need to check sight-lines as to whether that is workable.
David
The Grandview Theatre (né Drexel Grandview né Grandview Theatre) is expected to resume programming early 2009. My wife and I will be the new operators. We’d like to open sooner, but there is a lot of cleanup and renovation to be done.
David Nedrow
Does anyone out there know what the original interior was like before the construction of the new retail space/main lobby? Any pictures of the (original) interior?
-David