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Gsmagacz
Gsmagacz commented about Regent Theatre on Mar 18, 2017 at 12:38 am

The Regent theater, which had been used for storage, was recently cleaned out and sent to auction. March 14th I attended the RCS auction in Dunkirk on Lake Shore drive and purchased the Simplex theater speakers as well as the Kni-Tron rectifiers used to spark the ark lamps in the projectors. There were two cast iron projector bases with reel case, several bell shaped wall lamps and a few other items that also sold. Everything went cheap. I just resold the 1940’s era speaker cabinets to a collector in South Korea. I personally visited the theater many times all through my youth as well as the Capitol, Van Buran and Enterprise drive in’s, Cine 1 & 2 and the Jamestown cinema which is also gone. Saw many great movies in these places. Sad they’re all gone now.

I witnessed urban renewal which destroyed the tax base causing the remaining buildings to see their taxes sky rocket. High taxes are a business killer. Urban renewal also forced the carpenters unions of Jamestown and Dunkirk to combine in order to survive. I remember Ludlums toy store where my mother bought me my first Lego and then across the street to Kresge’s for ice cream and to pop the balloon for the discount. I happened to buy at auction a few years ago 8mm movies and Kodachrome slides of Dunkirk, the air show, the train wreck, parade, ice skating, etc. I remember all the mom and pop grocery stores and the good times at the point. Not much left of Dunkirk these days.