I agree, LTS. I spoke last summer to Willis Johnson, owner of Classic Cinemas who saved a good number of theaters in the Western Suburbs, and basically he said the primary factor that sealed the HPT’s fate was when the city allowed Landmark to build its multiscreen theater practically next door at Renaissance Place. Too many screens in too small a geography. Meanwhile, Alcyon Foundation could not generate sufficient interest in the community in having and preserving a vintage theater. Their communication efforts were not helped by the fact that the theater’s historic architecture and charm had been totally compromised and papered over decades prior, so that hardly anyone could muster any sentiment for the building. The weird chapter of the theater being owned and run briefly by the City is fun to discuss but not really relevant. (Surely if the City cared, some improvements to meet fire code could have kept it open.) The other factors make up the typical recipe for losing an old theater, so far as I can see.
I agree, LTS. I spoke last summer to Willis Johnson, owner of Classic Cinemas who saved a good number of theaters in the Western Suburbs, and basically he said the primary factor that sealed the HPT’s fate was when the city allowed Landmark to build its multiscreen theater practically next door at Renaissance Place. Too many screens in too small a geography. Meanwhile, Alcyon Foundation could not generate sufficient interest in the community in having and preserving a vintage theater. Their communication efforts were not helped by the fact that the theater’s historic architecture and charm had been totally compromised and papered over decades prior, so that hardly anyone could muster any sentiment for the building. The weird chapter of the theater being owned and run briefly by the City is fun to discuss but not really relevant. (Surely if the City cared, some improvements to meet fire code could have kept it open.) The other factors make up the typical recipe for losing an old theater, so far as I can see.