From my understanding, the town was called Forty-Fort because, during Revolutionary times, there was a fort constructed there that had forty residents. Not certain how accurate that is. The town is located just to the west of Wilkes-Barre, PA. I wasn’t certain of the seating capacity. Was only in this theater once and guessed at the number from memory. The building still stands today as a professional plaza.
This theater did have a great marquee, lots of neon. It was one of the brightest spots in downtown when it was fully lit and could be seen from a few blocks away. If the space becomes retail, would hope the marquee can be reused in some way.
I was in the Capitol during the mid 1980’s and it was in good shape at the time, although most of the decor was covered as indicated above. I recall it was fairly narrow and the balcony was made into the second theater. Bloomsburg is a college town, so I thought this one would remain in business simply because college students could walk from campus. The owner did open a multi-screen inside a closed department store (kmart?) outside of town and left the Capitol go. It appears to be for sale.
I was in Queens at the end of July 2005 and took this exterior shot of the former Astoria Theater. Looks like everything has been converted into retail space.
Here is an exterior shot I took of the Ritz theater building at the end of July 2005. From the earlier posts, it sounds as though at least part of the theater remains (probably the balcony) and for a while was a dinner theater. I don’t think the dinner theater is in business at this moment. I walked into the main floor part of the building and it’s been totally converted to offices. Perhaps something of the theater remains behind the new walls.
I found a postcard image showing Independence Street in Shamokin and pasted the link below. You can see the Victoria to the right in the picture. The narrow theater entrance was located on a corner with the auditorium directly behind the lobby running along the side street. This postcard image also shows what looks like another theater directly next door. When I visited the Victoria in the late 1980’s, I believe a JC Penney was in that spot. It seems unlikely another theater would be right next door, but it has happened in other cities like York, PA. I think there was also a Capitol Theater in Shamokin but thought it was in the next block across the street. Perhaps someone reading this will know for sure.
The first film ever shown at the Roxy was “The Love of Sunya,” starring Gloria Swanson. Has anyone ever seen this film and is it worth purchasing? It seems available in dvd and thought it would be interesting to actually see the film Roxy opened with. The opening night story in “Last Remaining Seats” got me interested in both the Roxy and this film.
Attached is an old post card image of Independence Street in Shamokin. The Capitol is on the right.
View link
Warren:
From my understanding, the town was called Forty-Fort because, during Revolutionary times, there was a fort constructed there that had forty residents. Not certain how accurate that is. The town is located just to the west of Wilkes-Barre, PA. I wasn’t certain of the seating capacity. Was only in this theater once and guessed at the number from memory. The building still stands today as a professional plaza.
This theater did have a great marquee, lots of neon. It was one of the brightest spots in downtown when it was fully lit and could be seen from a few blocks away. If the space becomes retail, would hope the marquee can be reused in some way.
Here is an early postcard image of the Family Theater.
View link
I was in the Capitol during the mid 1980’s and it was in good shape at the time, although most of the decor was covered as indicated above. I recall it was fairly narrow and the balcony was made into the second theater. Bloomsburg is a college town, so I thought this one would remain in business simply because college students could walk from campus. The owner did open a multi-screen inside a closed department store (kmart?) outside of town and left the Capitol go. It appears to be for sale.
View link
Does anyone know the name of the bookstore or if they have a website?
I was in Queens at the end of July 2005 and took this exterior shot of the former Astoria Theater. Looks like everything has been converted into retail space.
View link
Here is an exterior shot I took of the Ritz theater building at the end of July 2005. From the earlier posts, it sounds as though at least part of the theater remains (probably the balcony) and for a while was a dinner theater. I don’t think the dinner theater is in business at this moment. I walked into the main floor part of the building and it’s been totally converted to offices. Perhaps something of the theater remains behind the new walls.
View link
I found a postcard image showing Independence Street in Shamokin and pasted the link below. You can see the Victoria to the right in the picture. The narrow theater entrance was located on a corner with the auditorium directly behind the lobby running along the side street. This postcard image also shows what looks like another theater directly next door. When I visited the Victoria in the late 1980’s, I believe a JC Penney was in that spot. It seems unlikely another theater would be right next door, but it has happened in other cities like York, PA. I think there was also a Capitol Theater in Shamokin but thought it was in the next block across the street. Perhaps someone reading this will know for sure.
View link
Attached is a link showing an exterior image of the Vic from its early days.
View link
The official theater website is http://www.angelatheatre.net/
Some additional undated exterior photos can be viewed here.
View link
From photos, it appears this theater was quite ornate. A real loss. You can view some small photos of the interior here.
View link
Here is a photo of the Paramount theater from early 1970’s before it became the F.M. Kirby center and had the marquee replaced.
An additional small image of the Hersker from early 1930’s can be seen here. Don’t click to expand the image unless you’re a member.
View link
Another small image of the theater (with snow) can be seen here. Don’t click to expand the image unless you’re a member.
View link
An early image of the Refowich Theater can be seen here.
View link
Attached is an early postcard image of the Majestic.
View link
Attached is an image of the Victoria from the 1920’s.
View link
Here are a few additional images showing the Capitol Theatre.
This image shows the original marquee. View link
This image shows the final marquee.
View link
Here is another image of the Grand Theater around mid 1920’s. The YWCA is the building to the left.
View link
A vintage postcard image from 1910 of the Palace can be seen with the link below.
View link
You can see a picture of the Key theater marquee from 1950 here:
View link
Another exterior picture showing the second marquee can bee seen here.
View link
The first film ever shown at the Roxy was “The Love of Sunya,” starring Gloria Swanson. Has anyone ever seen this film and is it worth purchasing? It seems available in dvd and thought it would be interesting to actually see the film Roxy opened with. The opening night story in “Last Remaining Seats” got me interested in both the Roxy and this film.