Gosh,Charles,you must be almost as old as me.As in Richmond,the enemy in SLC is the various egos and factions fighting for the soul of the town.Rocky is always the fly in the ointment.Right now,he thinks leading protest against Bush is his highest priority.Politics aside,his priorities are often a little strange,to say the least.There is an old fellow in SLC,one Harold Cowley,that used to manage some of those downtown venues.The stories he could tell were fantastic.During the sixties and 70’s there was no downtown that held a candle to SLC for compact,safe and varied theater district.
Article in a SLC paper today points out the ongoing struggle to save and rehab the Utah.A study due in Dec.will carry a lot of weight.A Broadway type venue is the dream of the ever weird mayor.The worry by the worried class is that there will be too few cultural dollars chasing too many venues in the downtown region.
I first noticed this theater up close in 1969,when I stopped for the night in a Holiday Inn in downtown-imagine that?Spending the night in E.St.Louis?It looked like it had closed recently,although,I guess it had been closed for about 9 years.What a shame.It appeared quite pristine.
I drove by this theater a few weeks ago on a cross-country jaunt(made a point to look up as many theaters as possible).I found this bldg absolutely breathtaking.Aren’t there any shots of the interior or news on the state of the interior?
Yes,that was the Roxy,of course.I was in UT last week and realized this great old theater wasn’t listed here.As I drove past,the place looked good.I wonder if it is breaking even with the competition from the multiplex a mile and a half or so South.Same owner isn’t it?By the way,this has nothing to do with show places,but the fresh tree ripe cherries on down S.on old 89 were sooo good.I ate nearly a lb.while driving S on I 15.
Yes sir,I passed a drive-in site right on the N.C.border on the S.side of Danville,on rt.29.The only thing left is a rusting sign frame.The site has been leveled and is used for trailer storage.
Way to go,Mr.Memory.I passed this site twice yesterday.The place is slowly crumbling since it was just walked away from.The hurricane damaged the screen rather badly,holes are showing,the weeds are now high enough to nearly hide the play equipment.The sign is starting toward the ground,though one side still says closed.Some one took down the “see you nxt year"that was there.The cottage style bldg that held the projection equipment and snack bar is still in good shape.
From the pictures of the place,it had a full stage set up, some great architectural features.The “retail"use doesn’t tell anything about what is left intact.
This posting took me to the fact that there are MANY theaters on current and former military bases around the country.Some are simple wooden stuctures that look like they were built from left over parts or materials from the “temporary"WWII barracks.Take little Ft Pickett,Va.It has two theaters,one dating from WWII,one built in the 50’s or 60’s that still shows movies.Ft Douglas,Ut has a nice old brick theater that I think was built in the 30’s.I could go on and on.Sadly many really nice theaters have been destroyed.A beautiful stone one at Camp Blanding,Fla.comes to mind.We could start a whole new site,just for military theaters.Ft.Lee ,VA uses theirs as a very active community theater site.
Yes,I was one of those tiny kiddees dropped off.Saw swashbuckling,cowboy and g-type war movies.The theater was built just before the “new bridge"was built.Went to the ancient elemetary school just down the road for a few years.It still looks the same.I thought that the last time I was down that road(Univ.Blvd.) the theater was being used as a church.Saw some English movie there around 1956 or 7 that had Rex and his wife Kay Kendall as leads.In my pre-pubescent youth,I thought she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
The front is “preserved”,but the auditorium is no more.The place was used by a church a few years ago,as the theater across and down still is.My caustic comments are on this site elsewhere about this place.It should have been saved.
I have driven by this theater several times in the past few years and it is obvious it was a sustantial and probably noteworthy facility.The bulk and design showed it’s vaudeville origin.I’m thrilled that something will be down to preserve and use it.South Hill and the surrounding area is one of the hardest hit by the destruction of the US textile industry(thanks for trying to save 1 dollar on jeans and destroying people’s lives)and the concurrent destruction of the US tobacco industry.It’s kind of a sad little town,like others of its ilk,but there are good and tough people here who realize that quality of life is to be savored and presreved.
As much as I like Aberdeen(I used to make more $ per sq.ft.there than any other town for my industrial sales efforts),the whole place was a bit seedy and unsophisicated.I had hoped they could market the place for its timber boom past,but no way.There is great potential there still,but money,vision and willing hands are not there.The two theaters there could have had a great part in that untried effort.
People here would have to go to Olympia or the S.shore in Aberdeen for entertainment since the theater in Montesano closed a long time ago.It’s a tribute to these tough folks who have been through so much,from heartless robberbarons,anti-human enviro nazis,and the occasional hostile bigfoot,to keep this treasure going.
Emporia used to have one of the finest small town movie palaces in this country.Acording to the National trust magazine some years back and a man engaged at the time to the owner’s daughter,the soulless pratt cared not a witt about it,and it was leveled.
It is sadly inronic that say much of the old retail core of downtown Richmond,the great department store hulks ,are going and gone for this arts center boondogle.Anyone familiar with the horror that is politics in the City of Richmond,knows there is big trouble in Little China.The “Arts Center"has become a political football between several forces.Mayor Wilder,in his patented,butt-headed way has tried to interject sanity into that zoo.The inmates of the zoo are saying "no way Jose”.Hopefully the great theater will not be hurt by the over-reaching of some and the infighting by others.
It is sad to hear that this theater is no more.I saw several movies there in 1967 era.It was a very nice house.There was a nice theater very close to this one.Plus,A block away was a “new” theater in the basement of the Regina Inn.I got my hair cut in a shop near the enterance of the theater,also below the hotel.The Americans I was always with refered to it as “Redchina”,rather than Regina.That wasn’t nice.Sask.is much better than the home of the chicoms.Did have some fun run-ins with real commies at the college theater during some public events.We Americans in dark suits were suspected of being FBI agents hunting draft dodgers.
The “style"of this theater can best be described as post-WW II concrete block.I got a Vandermeide record as part of a white elephant gift at a HP Christmas party a few years ago.I’m too frightened to play it.
Gosh,Charles,you must be almost as old as me.As in Richmond,the enemy in SLC is the various egos and factions fighting for the soul of the town.Rocky is always the fly in the ointment.Right now,he thinks leading protest against Bush is his highest priority.Politics aside,his priorities are often a little strange,to say the least.There is an old fellow in SLC,one Harold Cowley,that used to manage some of those downtown venues.The stories he could tell were fantastic.During the sixties and 70’s there was no downtown that held a candle to SLC for compact,safe and varied theater district.
Article in a SLC paper today points out the ongoing struggle to save and rehab the Utah.A study due in Dec.will carry a lot of weight.A Broadway type venue is the dream of the ever weird mayor.The worry by the worried class is that there will be too few cultural dollars chasing too many venues in the downtown region.
If that’s what they are playing-close'em up!!
I first noticed this theater up close in 1969,when I stopped for the night in a Holiday Inn in downtown-imagine that?Spending the night in E.St.Louis?It looked like it had closed recently,although,I guess it had been closed for about 9 years.What a shame.It appeared quite pristine.
I drove by this theater a few weeks ago on a cross-country jaunt(made a point to look up as many theaters as possible).I found this bldg absolutely breathtaking.Aren’t there any shots of the interior or news on the state of the interior?
Yes,that was the Roxy,of course.I was in UT last week and realized this great old theater wasn’t listed here.As I drove past,the place looked good.I wonder if it is breaking even with the competition from the multiplex a mile and a half or so South.Same owner isn’t it?By the way,this has nothing to do with show places,but the fresh tree ripe cherries on down S.on old 89 were sooo good.I ate nearly a lb.while driving S on I 15.
This theater was aimed at the black audience,
Yes sir,I passed a drive-in site right on the N.C.border on the S.side of Danville,on rt.29.The only thing left is a rusting sign frame.The site has been leveled and is used for trailer storage.
Way to go,Mr.Memory.I passed this site twice yesterday.The place is slowly crumbling since it was just walked away from.The hurricane damaged the screen rather badly,holes are showing,the weeds are now high enough to nearly hide the play equipment.The sign is starting toward the ground,though one side still says closed.Some one took down the “see you nxt year"that was there.The cottage style bldg that held the projection equipment and snack bar is still in good shape.
From the pictures of the place,it had a full stage set up, some great architectural features.The “retail"use doesn’t tell anything about what is left intact.
This posting took me to the fact that there are MANY theaters on current and former military bases around the country.Some are simple wooden stuctures that look like they were built from left over parts or materials from the “temporary"WWII barracks.Take little Ft Pickett,Va.It has two theaters,one dating from WWII,one built in the 50’s or 60’s that still shows movies.Ft Douglas,Ut has a nice old brick theater that I think was built in the 30’s.I could go on and on.Sadly many really nice theaters have been destroyed.A beautiful stone one at Camp Blanding,Fla.comes to mind.We could start a whole new site,just for military theaters.Ft.Lee ,VA uses theirs as a very active community theater site.
Is this the one being used as a gym?
Yes,I was one of those tiny kiddees dropped off.Saw swashbuckling,cowboy and g-type war movies.The theater was built just before the “new bridge"was built.Went to the ancient elemetary school just down the road for a few years.It still looks the same.I thought that the last time I was down that road(Univ.Blvd.) the theater was being used as a church.Saw some English movie there around 1956 or 7 that had Rex and his wife Kay Kendall as leads.In my pre-pubescent youth,I thought she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
The front is “preserved”,but the auditorium is no more.The place was used by a church a few years ago,as the theater across and down still is.My caustic comments are on this site elsewhere about this place.It should have been saved.
I have driven by this theater several times in the past few years and it is obvious it was a sustantial and probably noteworthy facility.The bulk and design showed it’s vaudeville origin.I’m thrilled that something will be down to preserve and use it.South Hill and the surrounding area is one of the hardest hit by the destruction of the US textile industry(thanks for trying to save 1 dollar on jeans and destroying people’s lives)and the concurrent destruction of the US tobacco industry.It’s kind of a sad little town,like others of its ilk,but there are good and tough people here who realize that quality of life is to be savored and presreved.
Mr.Memory,you are awesome.Does your seer stone reveal what the indoor theater’s fate was in Louisa?
As much as I like Aberdeen(I used to make more $ per sq.ft.there than any other town for my industrial sales efforts),the whole place was a bit seedy and unsophisicated.I had hoped they could market the place for its timber boom past,but no way.There is great potential there still,but money,vision and willing hands are not there.The two theaters there could have had a great part in that untried effort.
People here would have to go to Olympia or the S.shore in Aberdeen for entertainment since the theater in Montesano closed a long time ago.It’s a tribute to these tough folks who have been through so much,from heartless robberbarons,anti-human enviro nazis,and the occasional hostile bigfoot,to keep this treasure going.
Emporia used to have one of the finest small town movie palaces in this country.Acording to the National trust magazine some years back and a man engaged at the time to the owner’s daughter,the soulless pratt cared not a witt about it,and it was leveled.
I believe a Regal mutiplex occupied part of this site,but it has been closed for several years.
According to another web site,this nice old theater is used for community theater productions.Was built in 1926
It is sadly inronic that say much of the old retail core of downtown Richmond,the great department store hulks ,are going and gone for this arts center boondogle.Anyone familiar with the horror that is politics in the City of Richmond,knows there is big trouble in Little China.The “Arts Center"has become a political football between several forces.Mayor Wilder,in his patented,butt-headed way has tried to interject sanity into that zoo.The inmates of the zoo are saying "no way Jose”.Hopefully the great theater will not be hurt by the over-reaching of some and the infighting by others.
It is sad to hear that this theater is no more.I saw several movies there in 1967 era.It was a very nice house.There was a nice theater very close to this one.Plus,A block away was a “new” theater in the basement of the Regina Inn.I got my hair cut in a shop near the enterance of the theater,also below the hotel.The Americans I was always with refered to it as “Redchina”,rather than Regina.That wasn’t nice.Sask.is much better than the home of the chicoms.Did have some fun run-ins with real commies at the college theater during some public events.We Americans in dark suits were suspected of being FBI agents hunting draft dodgers.
The “style"of this theater can best be described as post-WW II concrete block.I got a Vandermeide record as part of a white elephant gift at a HP Christmas party a few years ago.I’m too frightened to play it.
This was one of the most beautiful small theaters I ever saw.They managed to stuff a lot of features into a small house.