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Demolitions
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September 29, 2010
Long-closed Olympic Theater razed by fire
FORKS, WA — Closed and boarded up for over two decades, the Olympic Theater burned to the ground in an early morning fire on September 22. Investigators are currently saying that the fire was of suspicious origin.
There is more information and pictures in this blog entry and also here.
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September 28, 2010
Baronet Theatre torn down in Asbury Park
ASBURY PARK, NJ — After almost 100 years, the Baronet Theatre was unfortunately razed last week.
Giberson said the roof of the Baronet caved in to the interior of the theatre, probably sometime during the winter.
“With the conditions found there, there was no saving it at this point,‘’ Giberson said.
Read the full story at APP.com.
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September 23, 2010
CityPlace project approval spells doom for St. Francis Theatre
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The Board of Supervisors has approved a developer’s plan for a new retail development on Market Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets which would result in the demolition of the St. Francis Theatre which opened in 1910 as the Empress. An attempt to at least preserve the facade failed.
Some opponents also wanted a historic theater facade renovated rather than torn down with two other buildings to make way for affordable electronics, sporting goods and other stores.
Transit and bicycle advocates said they didn’t want to stop the project but to ensure adequate safeguards for cyclists and pedestrians and limit parking to the 70 spaces allowed under the downtown plan.
The full story is at SFGate.
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September 21, 2010
Demolition of Showcase Cinemas in Toledo is imminent
TOLEDO, OH — Workers have erected fencing around the Showcase Cinemas in preparation for the theater’s destruction. The theater closed in 2005. Plans to build hotels on the site have been dropped and the property will up for sale when the theater building is razed. It was once a 70mm Cinerama house.
The former theater at 3500 Secor Rd. closed in 2005. Last Spring, several regional hotel owners expressed interest in building on the West Toledo site. Under a site plan, the current structure, built in 1964, was to be demolished to make way for a pair of hotels and a retail strip on the property. That plan was withdrawn months later.
There is more at ToledoOnTheMove.com.
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July 16, 2010
Capitol Theatre in Woodstock ordered demolished
WOODSTOCK, ONTARIO, CANADA —The city has ordered the demolition of the Capitol Theatre after a portion of its roof recently collapsed. The theater opened in 1908 as the Woodstock Opera House and became the Capitol when Famous Players bought the building in 1927. It closed in 1999.
The full story is in the Oxford Review.
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June 30, 2010
Latest interior photos of Odeon (Paramount)
NEWCASTLE, ENGLAND — Current owners of the building have allowed the Newcastle and Northumberland Society to tour the interior of the former Odeon Cinema, which closed in 2002, photos taken show many of its original features and fittings have been removed since closure. The cinema and neighboring buildings are earmarked for demolition.
Urban Exploration website, 28 days later has been given permission to show the photos.
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June 15, 2010
Super Cinemas in Davenport to be demolished
DAVENPORT, IA — Built in 1990 by National Amusements, the Super Cinemas building is about to be demolished. Prior to closing, it had operated as bargain cinema.
Crews are beginning to dismantle and salvage items from the vacant movie theater in preparation for demolition later this week, said Dan Palmer, the chief executive officer of Tri-City Electric Co., the building’s owner.
Palmer said Monday that by demolishing the 35,000-square-foot building, the developers will be left with a more attractive piece of frontage property to market. Tri-City Electric’s new headquarters sits adjacent and behind the theater property.
There is more in the Quad-City Times.
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June 1, 2010
Movie theaters destroyed in rioting in Thailand
BANGKOK, THAILAND — The widespread rioting and burning in Bangkok has claimed at least three theaters in the country’s capital. The ruined include include the classic single screen Siam Theater, the fifteen-screen SF World Cinemas megaplex, and the fourteen-screen theater owned by Major Cineplex in the wrecked Siam Paragon complex which included an IMAX auditorium.
The SF World and Major multiplexes, shut for the last six weeks while protesters blockaded the streets around them, were host to the Bangkok International Film Festival in recent years. Organizers of the event had already planned on using different venues.
Hardcore anti-government “Red Shirt” protesters dissatisfied with their leaders' surrender resorted to looting and torching the shopping malls, seen as symbols of a growing consumerist culture that has turned its back on Thailand’s rural poor.
There is more in the Hollywood Reporter.
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May 28, 2010
Ford-Wyoming Drive-In shrinking
DEARBORN, MI — The Ford-Wyoming Drive-In is down to 5 screens. Theaters 6-9 are being torn down as I type this. The snack bar has been cleaned out and the screens will be torn down before the end of May. The screens were offered for free around the drive-in circuit but no one wanted them.
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May 17, 2010
RKO Chester being razed
BRONX, NY — Unfourtnatly, The demolition of the Chester has begun. The building has scaffolds all around it with demolition contractor signs on it. I passed it on the Cross Bronx Expressway yesterday (14 May 2010) and the roof beams are now exposed and parts of the parapit walls are being removed. I have tried to get a look inside but the roll down door on the side is always closed(I think the workers are getting access from the motel property next to the theater).