Comments from kencmcintyre

There is a photo of the old signage here:
http://tinyurl.com/nnah99

I remember when the Hughes Center location was a big vacant lot, seen on the right as you go down the 405 south near Marina del Rey. There is one parcel left that was supposed to be developed a while ago, but may have been a victim of the recession.

The LA Times has an article about the theater and the fire in today’s edition. You should be able to find it on www.latimes.com

There are a couple of Tiki photos on this site:
http://tinyurl.com/nnlrxd

Here is part of a July 1976 article in the Danville Register:

In 1946 here’s what one would have seen on a stroll down Main St. The Alice Burton Home, the W.W. Williamson residence and the residence and offices of Dr. C.T. Carter stood where now stands First Federal Savings and Loan and the bus station. The Greyhound bus station, the Danville YMCA and the residence and offices of Dr. C.W. Pritchett â€" once headquarters for the Danville Chamber of Commerce â€" all gave way for the American National Bank headquarters at the corner of N. Ridge and Main Streets.

The Clark Terrace apartments stood at the present site of Lockerman Optical Co. and Wyatt Buick Co. was based in the building now occupied by Byrd Business forms. The offices of Dr. Luther Robertson and Dr. John Tyree were in a pre-Civil War building now razed and presently the site of Rippe’s and a Virginia ABC Store.

The Virginia Theater and the Virginia Inn, a structure with a long history, occupied the building now housing Beaver Optical Co., the News Center, The Children’s Shoppe and a beauty salon. There now is one motion picture theater downtown.

Across the street the Stonewall Hotel, the GSK restaurant and the Security Bank and Trust Co. occupied land now the site of the Bank of Virginia-Danville.

Here is a March 1963 poster:
http://tinyurl.com/lmzkpy

Here is a 2009 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/lo5wvq

That was the only mention of the Crescent on that site.

This is the site today:
http://tinyurl.com/ldv5kh

Here is a 1984 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/kmu3s4

Some photos of the Lux in its burlesque days are on this site:
http://tinyurl.com/lhy25t

Here is an account of a premiere at the Pulaski in July 1936, from the Hope (AR) Star:

LITTLE ROCK -Bob Burns, whose old friends and ex-neighbors at Van Buren call him Robin, stood on the stage at the Pulaski theater Monday night and gabbed cheerfully about ancient times in Van Buren, his fictitious kinfolks there, the wonders of Arkansas and virtually everything else under the sun while his audience hugged its sides in delight.

The occasion was the crowning event of Bob Burns' day in Little Rock, the gala world premiere first night of the motion picture, “Rhythm on the Range,” Paramount production in which Bob is featured with Bing Crosby. The day began with a parade through the business section of Little Rock. The first showing of the “Rhythm” picture was given in the afternoon, with Bob Burns entertaining on the stage. Monday night’s program was put on with all the Hollywood trimmings. A section was roped off in front of the theater and a cordon of police kept the onlookers in check. The crowd filled the street in front of the theater. A radio station had a microphone just outside the ticket booth and as celebrities approached to enter the theater they were inveigled into broadcasting something in honor of the occasion.

Burns and his inseparable companion, that notorious bazooka, arrived with Centennial Chairman Couch after the theater audience had assembled. Bob got a big hand from the watchers outside and stopped to give them a speech. When he started inside they set up such a yell for the bazooka that he halted, unsheathed the instrument and blew them a collection of notes from a song that Bing Crosby made famous a few years agoâ€"“When the Blue of the Night, etc.”.

Always good to brush up on my Mongolian every once in a while. I get rusty.