Here is the full article. Better late than never, as they say.
Carson, Iowa, Theater Closes after 52 Years in Showbiz.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)
Jan. 19—CARSON, Iowa—Metropolitan movie megaplexes, the cost of piecing together a broken 1938 projector and the realization that this town of 700 has become a bedroom community have led to the closing of Carson’s Dreamland Theatre.
“It was one of the oldest indoor theaters in Iowa for a long period of time,” said lifelong Carson resident Charles Hodges, who up until a few days ago was a projectionist at the theater. “I started going to the show there by myself when I was 10 years old.”
The 52-year-old Hodges remembers going to the Dreamland Theatre downtown to watch movies when popcorn cost a dime and the Dreamland would be packed every night. Hodges said some residents recall watching silent movies in the Dreamland, which is more than 70 years old.
Last week, the projector was shut down. The $2,500 estimate to fix it temporarily was too much. The theater closed last weekend.
Hodges is one of several volunteers from the Carson Business Club, which has owned and operated the Dreamland since the 1960s. Hodges said the theater, once was a moneymaker, had declined over time so that now the cost of leasing and shipping movies wasn’t being made up with $3 ticket prices. The theater was losing an average of $400 a week.
“The business club can’t run it at a loss, and that’s where they are at,” Hodges said. “It costs too much to rent the films.”
The losses, combined with competition from major theaters in Omaha, video rentals and now DVDs, just made it impossible to keep a theater going in a town the size of Carson, Hodges said.
Small theaters in southwest Iowa have struggled recently. The Grand Theaters in Red Oak closed in September, but now has tried to occasionally open for certain movies. The Royal Theatre in Glenwood also reopened earlier this winter under new ownership after shutting down a year ago.
The business club recently asked the Carson City Council to take over the theater for a $1 sale price, but the costs were too high for the city to bring the theater up to code for disabled patrons. Mayor Lyndon Taylor said it just isn’t feasible for the city to operate it, especially because the theater loses money annually.
“It’s a losing battle,” Taylor said. “They’ve kept it going more for community culture.”
Taylor said a variety of businesses in town have struggled to stay afloat in recent years. Farm-equipment dealers, grocery stores and taverns have closed even though some new homes have been built in the area. More often, people are doing their shopping and entertaining in areas such as Omaha, he said.
“It’s hard to be competitive with businesses when we are so close to Council Bluffs and Omaha,” Taylor said. “We are becoming more of a bedroom community.”
Joyce McClain said she became upset when she heard the theater had closed because it has been one of the few sources of local entertainment for people in Carson, as well as neighboring towns such as Oakland and Macedonia.
“I guess it just doesn’t make a lot of money,” McClain said.
Once a year, the town has a fund-raising dinner to help keep the theater going, McClain said. Now, she and others plan to meet with the City Council on Feb. 5 to ask council members to look at options for fixing the projector or applying for grants to revitalize the theater.
“They just decided they would close it rather than fix it up,” she said. “Some of us in the community are going to try to get it opened back up.”
To see more of the Omaha World-Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.omaha.com
The Mohawk shows up in papers from Jack Liebenberg and Seeman Kaplan, according to this architectural site. However, since the date of the drawings is given as 1948, they may have been involved in a remodel after the 1922 opening. http://tinyurl.com/2v7og9
East Harriman Boulevard doesn’t seem to exist in Edinburg. West Harriman runs into W. University. There are some law offices at 222 W. University, so it’s possible that the street address is incorrect or has been changed. If anyone is familiar with this area, let me know.
The grant was back in 2003. The local Main Street group states on their website that the Blair is under renovation and opening soon. No timetable, though. http://tinyurl.com/56rcax
The big hole in the ground that occupies the 4th and Main block is going to be a hole for some time. The oweners of the plot have suspended construction of the mixed use development due to the current soft real estate market in DT LA. To give you an example, the Tribune Company wants to unload the entire LA Times megaplex on Spring Street, but no one wants it.
It’s hard to read, but the photo on Google maps shows the marquee saying something about a performing arts center coming soon. I guess that’s been on there a while.
Here is the full article. Better late than never, as they say.
Carson, Iowa, Theater Closes after 52 Years in Showbiz.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)
Jan. 19—CARSON, Iowa—Metropolitan movie megaplexes, the cost of piecing together a broken 1938 projector and the realization that this town of 700 has become a bedroom community have led to the closing of Carson’s Dreamland Theatre.
“It was one of the oldest indoor theaters in Iowa for a long period of time,” said lifelong Carson resident Charles Hodges, who up until a few days ago was a projectionist at the theater. “I started going to the show there by myself when I was 10 years old.”
The 52-year-old Hodges remembers going to the Dreamland Theatre downtown to watch movies when popcorn cost a dime and the Dreamland would be packed every night. Hodges said some residents recall watching silent movies in the Dreamland, which is more than 70 years old.
Last week, the projector was shut down. The $2,500 estimate to fix it temporarily was too much. The theater closed last weekend.
Hodges is one of several volunteers from the Carson Business Club, which has owned and operated the Dreamland since the 1960s. Hodges said the theater, once was a moneymaker, had declined over time so that now the cost of leasing and shipping movies wasn’t being made up with $3 ticket prices. The theater was losing an average of $400 a week.
“The business club can’t run it at a loss, and that’s where they are at,” Hodges said. “It costs too much to rent the films.”
The losses, combined with competition from major theaters in Omaha, video rentals and now DVDs, just made it impossible to keep a theater going in a town the size of Carson, Hodges said.
Small theaters in southwest Iowa have struggled recently. The Grand Theaters in Red Oak closed in September, but now has tried to occasionally open for certain movies. The Royal Theatre in Glenwood also reopened earlier this winter under new ownership after shutting down a year ago.
The business club recently asked the Carson City Council to take over the theater for a $1 sale price, but the costs were too high for the city to bring the theater up to code for disabled patrons. Mayor Lyndon Taylor said it just isn’t feasible for the city to operate it, especially because the theater loses money annually.
“It’s a losing battle,” Taylor said. “They’ve kept it going more for community culture.”
Taylor said a variety of businesses in town have struggled to stay afloat in recent years. Farm-equipment dealers, grocery stores and taverns have closed even though some new homes have been built in the area. More often, people are doing their shopping and entertaining in areas such as Omaha, he said.
“It’s hard to be competitive with businesses when we are so close to Council Bluffs and Omaha,” Taylor said. “We are becoming more of a bedroom community.”
Joyce McClain said she became upset when she heard the theater had closed because it has been one of the few sources of local entertainment for people in Carson, as well as neighboring towns such as Oakland and Macedonia.
“I guess it just doesn’t make a lot of money,” McClain said.
Once a year, the town has a fund-raising dinner to help keep the theater going, McClain said. Now, she and others plan to meet with the City Council on Feb. 5 to ask council members to look at options for fixing the projector or applying for grants to revitalize the theater.
“They just decided they would close it rather than fix it up,” she said. “Some of us in the community are going to try to get it opened back up.”
To see more of the Omaha World-Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.omaha.com
© 2001, Omaha World-Herald, Neb. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
The photo that Chuck posted on 4/9/06 as been moved to a new site:
http://tinyurl.com/5amjaq
The blackjack movie “21” was shown in May, so status should be open.
The Mohawk shows up in papers from Jack Liebenberg and Seeman Kaplan, according to this architectural site. However, since the date of the drawings is given as 1948, they may have been involved in a remodel after the 1922 opening.
http://tinyurl.com/2v7og9
Here are some photos on a real estate site. I think the renovations are finished.
http://tinyurl.com/6l7kkz
Lots of photos here:
http://tinyurl.com/5amogf
It looks like most of the bookings are for private parties. The San Joaquin film festival will be held at the Stockton in May 2009.
The theater is open. Here is their site:
http://www.thetotah.com/
It’s open now, according to the website. There is a full schedule of events.
I thought about that. Cinematour and the Mike Rivest site have the theater as Juraz. I couldn’t find any info on a theater by either name.
East Harriman Boulevard doesn’t seem to exist in Edinburg. West Harriman runs into W. University. There are some law offices at 222 W. University, so it’s possible that the street address is incorrect or has been changed. If anyone is familiar with this area, let me know.
The Grand is slated to re-open in 2009 as a performing arts center.
http://www.downtownfrankfort.com/
The grant was back in 2003. The local Main Street group states on their website that the Blair is under renovation and opening soon. No timetable, though.
http://tinyurl.com/56rcax
Locals weigh in on yelp.com:
http://tinyurl.com/5du5u9
It looks like 1545 Fulton is the church offices, but not the theater. The theater address is closer to 1445, as seen in the photo posted on 11/6/05.
This site discusses revitalization of the Brookland neighborhood:
http://tinyurl.com/6gnl2o
The new Indiana Jones movie opened there today. Is it first run if the movie opens a month late?
http://gackle.communityblogs.us/
There is a bakery at the address now. No way to tell if the bakery is in the old theater building, though.
http://tinyurl.com/5jhnp3
The big hole in the ground that occupies the 4th and Main block is going to be a hole for some time. The oweners of the plot have suspended construction of the mixed use development due to the current soft real estate market in DT LA. To give you an example, the Tribune Company wants to unload the entire LA Times megaplex on Spring Street, but no one wants it.
I posted kind of a grainy photo on 3/23/07 that shows the booth, as far as i can tell.
That’s great. Hopefully more will follow.
Here are two recent photos:
http://tinyurl.com/65jpv6
http://tinyurl.com/5p7fcs
This appears to be the current occupant:
http://tinyurl.com/6exs93
Given that the marquee was sponsored by my alma mater, I now understand the sloth.
It’s hard to read, but the photo on Google maps shows the marquee saying something about a performing arts center coming soon. I guess that’s been on there a while.