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August 5, 2016
Robbinsdale, MN - Robbinsdale to consider fate of Terrace Theater
From MPR News: The Robbinsdale City Council will consider the future of the historic Terrace Theater at its meeting Monday night.
The venue has been closed since the late ‘90s. But when it was built in 1951, it was considered one of the most luxurious theaters in the country. It catered to movie-goers not only from around the metro, but from all over the country and abroad.
Robbinsdale is now considering demolishing the building to make way for a new grocery store and other development. MPR’s Cathy Wurzer spoke with David Leonhardt, who chairs a local group that’s come together to fight that vision.
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Baltimore, MD - Can we rescue Baltimore’s Mayfair Theatre?
From The Baltimore Sun: fter decades of inaction, Baltimore’s Mayfair Theatre faces imminent demise. According to engineering reports commissioned by the Baltimore Housing Authority, all but the first 35 feet of the 1903 landmark — the façade and lobby — must fall to the wrecker’s ball because of public safety concerns. However, I cannot help but be skeptical. A blank slate may make it easier for redevelopment, but at what cost to the city? The Mayfair’s cultural and historical significance will be swept away in the rubble, along with the potential for an iconic addition to the city’s Bromo Arts District.
The Mayfair is essentially three structures: the lobby, the auditorium and the fly tower. The Baltimore Development Corporation says that the roof over the lobby is the only portion of cover that’s intact, but upon inspection, the fly tower roof also appears whole, suggesting that this section of the structure may be stable and therefore salvageable. What were the engineers' findings on the west side fly tower? And what would be required to stabilize the north and south walls of the structure in lieu of demolishing them? The engineering reports and related correspondence should be shared with the public. Otherwise, it is difficult to be certain whether public safety or developer convenience is the deciding factor.
Left intact, the Mayfair Theatre bears witness to Baltimore’s cultural shifts and creative adaptation through much of the 20th century. The site began life as a public bath house (vestiges still remain in the basement). As pastimes changed, the Mayfair evolved — as an ice skating rink, then a playhouse, a Vaudeville venue and finally a movie theater before closing its doors in 1980.
The entire vicinity was once a vibrant center for arts and culture. The Stanley Theatre used to sit just north of the Mayfair; now a parking lot, the Stanley had been the largest theater in Baltimore. The Hotel Kernan around the corner (now the Congress Hotel) also began life as a Turkish bath house, and over the years featured a German beer hall and vaudeville theater presenting acts like Charlie Chaplin and Will Rogers. Into the 1980s, the basement’s Marble Bar hosted punk and new wave bands like REM and Iggy Pop, in addition to many talented local musicians.
In 1993, Mayor Kurt Schmoke laid out a compelling vision for the Howard Street corridor as a magnet for artists and arts events. He understood the importance of building on the heritage and history of the area. In 2012, this vision was reinforced with the creation of the Bromo Arts District, which extends along Howard Street from Lombard to Read.
Despite this broader vision, the BDC’s West Side Strategic Plan sought to “redevelop the Congress Hotel and the Mayfair Theatre to create desirable residential development.” But the last thing an old theater’s architecture lends itself to is apartments. RFP after RFP for mixed use residential retail developments were issued for the Mayfair. These were bound to fail, and they did time and again. In the meantime, neither the city nor BDC ever took action to stabilize this historic treasure. Instead, they awaited some potential developer to fix the roof. So this beautiful treasure sat exposed to the elements for nearly 20 years — demolition by neglect.
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August 4, 2016
Worcester, MA - A rare look inside Worcester’s abandoned Paris Cinema
From MassLive: A tour through the present-day Paris Cinema makes one thing clear: If the theater is to be revitalized, there is a lot of work to be done.
The Grid apartment complex, which owns the Paris Cinema, would like to demolish the dilapidated Worcester cinema and replace it with a beer garden, which would put on live shows and outdoor movie screenings.
According to a Joe Donovan, vice president of MG2, the company that owns The Grid, said demolishing the building might only cost $500,000. A look at the inside of the old theater Monday shows the property to be in an intense state of decay, which Donovan said would cost upwards of $20 million to restore.
“This is just my opinion here, but it seems to me with what we’re doing with The Brew and the significant capital investment we’ve put into the building, I don’t really see the Paris Cinema as a good representation of Worcester today, or Worcester tomorrow.” said Frank Peace, who is opening five restaurants in The Grid.
The Paris Cinema was originally named the Capitol Theater, which opened in 1925. It closed down in 1966 for renovations and became the Paris Cinema in 1967, with the first showing being Bonnie and Clyde. By 1980 however, the cinema had become an adult movie theater, and it was closed down in 2006 by authorities following allegations of sex acts taking place in the building.
There is another vote coming up in mid-August to determine the future of the Paris Cinema, where Grid representatives will argue that returning the theater to its former glory would be fiscally infeasible.
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Laurel, MD - Laurel Theater: From movies to theater, comedy to wrecking ball
From The Baltimore Sun: Lloyd Wineland was the head of Wineland Theaters, which eventually controlled 13 theaters, including most of the drive-ins in Prince George’s County, according to Robert Headley in his book “Motion Picture Exhibition in Washington, D.C.
After buying the Laurel Theater, the Wineland era lasted for 36 years. In all that time, only two managers were employed. The first was Albert Pohl, who had already been on the Wineland payroll for 10 years as the company’s secretary-treasurer. He ran the Laurel Theater at night from 1934 to 1959, while continuing his other duties with Wineland during the day. Pohl told the News Leader in 1976 that “We used to run three shows a week except when the races were in town. There were so many people who worked at the track and had rooms in Laurel. They had nothing to do in the evenings so we ran a different show every night for them.”
In an oral history in the collection of the Laurel Historical Society, Pohl recalled that theaters first offered concessions in 1929. He also talked about the role of ushers keeping order in the old days. “They were in charge,” he said.
The theater was embroiled in controversy in 1935, when it asked the City Council for permission to show movies on Sundays. The uproar was led by the Federated Council of Church Women and the Ministers of Laurel, who started a petition drive to show “their disapproval of further desecration of the Lord’s Day.” According to the Washington Post, the delegation told the City Council that Sunday movies “would be a great catastrophe to the town.” But in a special city-wide election, Laurel citizens voted 299 to 254 to allow Sunday movies. Sunday shows started at 3 p.m.
The first full-color movie shown at the Laurel Theater was “Three Women,” in 1936.
During the Wineland era, the theater was frequently involved in community affairs. During World War II, war bond and stamps were sold in the lobby by the Women’s Club of Laurel.
Segregation
Until the mid-1950s, Laurel was a segregated town, like the rest of Maryland. But the Supreme Court’s 1954 landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education had broad implications beyond educational issues.
According to Mildred Awkward, 92, who has lived most of her life in the Grove, Laurel’s historically black community, blacks were not allowed to attend movies at the Laurel Theater until things loosened up after the Brown decision. Even then, though, there were unwritten rules, she said.
Black patrons had to enter the theater at a side door, where an usher was stationed to take their ticket money. They were not allowed to stand in line on Main Street with white patrons, she said. The side door led directly to the stairs leading to the balcony, where the black patrons were required to sit.
This continued until Civil Rights legislation was passed in 1964 outlawing any “discrimination in public accommodations.” Cynthia Whitfield, who grew up in the Grove during the 1960s and witnessed the Jim Crow laws personally, remembers when “they eventually let us come downstairs.”
Passing the baton
Pohl retired from managing the theater in 1959, but continued as a corporate officer with Wineland until his full retirement seven years later.
Ray Prior replaced Pohl as manager in 1959. Like Pohl, Prior lived in Old Town Laurel and was a big part of the community. Back in those days, newspaper ads and lobby posters for the theater prominently displayed the manager’s name.
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New York, NY - NYC’s Most Incredible Old Movie Theaters
From Paper Magazine: Before cineplexes—and before you could easily access old movies at home—going to see a movie was a completely special adventure. You had to leave the house, often entering some eccentrically glorious theater that added, in its grandiosity (or sometimes squalor), to the cinematic quality of the experience. Here are some of those lost treasures du NYC cinema:
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August 3, 2016
Fort Lee, NJ - Luxury Movie Theater Opens in Bergen County Friday
From readability.com: Fine dining and luxury seating come to a new movie theater opening in Bergen County this Friday. iPic, a chain of dine-in movie theaters, is unveiling its fourteenth location, iPic Hudson Lights, on August 5 in Fort Lee.
The theater features over-sized, extra-cushioned leather seats, a menu designed by Chef Sherry Yard, as well as an assortment of “classic candies” and “custom treats,” according to iPic’s website.
Food is delivered to your seat while you’re watching the movie and the waitstaff is trained as “ninja waiters,” so as not to disturb the viewing experience for any customers, iPic president and CEO Hamid Hashemi told northjersey.com.
There will also be a restaurant on-site called City Perch Kitchen + Bar, which will serve “abundant appetizers, just-picked vegetables, generous salads and outstanding main courses from spit-roasted chickens to char-broiled steak,“ according to iPic’s website.
Ticket prices range from $12-25, depending on the seat. Tickets for the 8 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. screenings of “Bad Moms” on August 5 are already sold out. Also screening for the opening weekend: “Jason Bourne,” “Nine Lines” and “Suicide Squad.” Grab your tickets at the iPic website.
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Middletown, OH - Music Hall’s ‘sister theater’ poised for a rebirth in Middletown
From WCPO.com: While Cincinnati’s Music Hall gets a $135 million makeover, the theater’s “sister” is hoping for a rebirth at the hands of some dedicated volunteers.
The same man who designed Music Hall designed the Sorg Opera House in Middletown; the Sorg was built in the 1890s by Samuel Hannaford. It was later transformed into a movie theater.
The building was recently bought in foreclosure for $32,000 by a group of local people who want to restore it to its former glory.
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August 2, 2016
South Bend, IN - Ghost hunters take over State
From the South Bend Tribune:
Skeptic, believer or somewhere in between — on Saturday, everyone got something out of public ghost hunts at The State theater.For the believers in the paranormal, it was an opportunity to try to communicate with the past. For the skeptics, it was a unique tour-by-flashlight of one of South Bend’s historical treasures. For the State itself, it was a chance to raise money for repair work to return it to it’s former glory.
Theater manager Jackie Oberlin said she’s experienced unexplained activity throughout the historic structure, which opened in 1921 as the Blackstone Theatre Vaudeville House. It became the State in 1931 and closed in 1977. It opened later as a nightclub, and was foreclosed in 2005. In recent years, efforts have been made to restore the crumbling plaster and other issues the aging structure faces.
“You can be in here and feel cold spots, hear noises or catch something out of the corner of your eye,” she said Saturday evening, standing in the theater’s main room. “I hope that people can get a better feel of the State, and, if people have that openness to connect, maybe experience something from the past.”
BSR Paranormal founder Jennifer Jacobs orchestrated the event, marking her second time exploring the theater for paranormal activity. The first time she came with her Fort Wayne-based team was February. On that trip she experienced cold spots, felt touches, saw electromagnetic field readers light up and even caught voices on a recorder, she said.
She didn’t expect to have a roomful of believers on the several public tours Saturday, but hoped that people who came out were interested in the property for one reason or another, whether that be paranormal or just to see the theater and play a part in its restoration. She said she does encounter skeptics from time to time.
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Flushing, Queens, NY - Historic Flushing theater may finally be redeveloped after 30 years of neglect
From Curbed NY: Xinyuan Real Estate, the Chinese firm behind Williamsburg’s The Oosten and a forthcoming Hell’s Kitchen tower, is making its first foray into Queens with the acquisition of RKO Keith’s Theater in Flushing. The firm acquired the theater for $66 million with plans to convert it into a 269-condo building, Real Estate Weekly writes.
The theater’s acquisition marks a next chapter for the decrepit, partially-landmarked building that’s been vacant for over three decades. Seller JK Equities’s plans to remake the theater into a 269-unit condo crumbled when the developer relisted the property in February.
JK Equities was the most recent in a string of developers looking to recast the once-lovely theater as an inhabitable destination, but through the decades those plans have fallen by the wayside for one reason or the next. In the late 1980s, former site owner Thomas Huang wanted to convert the theater, with its newly-landmarked ticket booth and grand lobby, into a hotel. But Huang illegally demolished some of the interiors in a move that netted him felony charges and put the theater back on the market.
Controversial developer Shaya Boymelgreen purchased the site in 2002 for $15 million with plans to build out condos at the site, but Boymelgreen ended up selling the theater to Patrick Thompson in 2010 for $20 million.
JK Equities picked the site up from Thompson in 2013 for $30 million, and have now sold the theater to Xinyuan for over twice what they paid for it just three years ago. Whether or not Xinyuan will be the developer to end the site’s 30 years of plight remains to be seen, but their plans are promising, at least.
Judging by a statement released by Xinyuan Chairman Yong Zhang, the condos planned for the site will cater to a more monied demographic, “The location for this project in downtown Flushing is ideally situated particularly as there is a shortage of inventory in the higher-end condominium segment. Given the location of this project, we expect it will be appealing to both local and foreign buyers and investors.”
Real Estate Weekly reports that Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the firm co-founded by Pritzker-winning architect I.M. Pei, will be designing the project. The firm’s website lists a project known as Flushing Square, the LLC that held the title for the property when JK Equities owned the site, as in development. Curbed has reached out to confirm PCF’s role.
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August 1, 2016
Springfield, MO - Springfield multiplex theater ends 20 year run with final films Sunday
From KY3.com: The curtain comes down Sunday on a 20-year run for a Springfield movie theater.
Wehrenberg’s Campbell 16 Theatre will close at the end of Sunday’s showings. The company announced earlier this summer that it would close the theater, saying it could not compete in a market with so many movie screens. There are two other complexes showing first-run movies with between 11 and 14 screens.
The theater will close with a little Hollywood fictional tie to the Ozarks. One of the last films showing is Jason Bourne, starring Matt Damon. The character’s back story in the series of films is that he was born in Nixa.
The theater will not stay closed for long. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema announced plans this month to renovate the theater and open next winter as a multiplex with a full service restaurant, bar and several movie screens.