architecture

Artists Sunday – November 29, 2020

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Orchestra level, Colonial Theatre Laconia, NH.

Colonial Theatre – Laconia, NH.

I’ll be taking part in the first-ever Artists Sunday on November 29, 2020. It’s similar to Black Friday or Small Business Saturday but encourages people to buy art! 

Between now and November 29 I’ll be uploading a lot of new and never before seen work to my print store at http://www.mlambrosphotography.com/store. If you want a sneak peek of the new work be sure to follow my Instagram and Twitter pages. 

The sale will go live at 12:01 AM on November 29, 2020, and end at 11:59 PM.  

Visit http://www.mlambrosphotography.com/store and use the coupon code “Artistssunday” at checkout to get 20% off your order. The first 13 people to spend over $100 will get a free matted 8×12 print.

Lobby, Adams Theatre – Newark, NJ

Here’s a short interview I did with the Boston Globe about the event:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/11/20/lifestyle/thousands-artists-crafters-organizations-encourage-customers-shop-artists-sunday/?outputType=amp

 

Here’s a bit about Artists Sunday from their website:

“Artists Sunday is the nationwide movement dedicated to supporting artists and recognizing the impact they have in enriching our lives, communities, and the economy. The powerful new effort is designed to make the Sunday after Thanksgiving the most profitable day of the year for artists. Consumers are encouraged to shop with artists and purchase creative, handcrafted gifts for the holidays. Artists Sunday follows Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, prior to Cyber Monday. Supporters include individual artists, economic development agencies, and non-profit organizations across the country. To learn more about Artists Sunday artists, partners, sponsors, or involvement in promoting commerce with artists, please visit http://ArtistsSunday.com/“

Artist Sunday Flyer

Uptown Theatre – Philadelphia, PA

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The Uptown is one of the theaters that was exclusive to my first book, After the Final Curtain: The Fall of the American Movie Theater. However, due to the events of today (11.6.20) I think it’s fitting I post a theater from the city of Brotherly Love.

View of the auditorium from the orchestra level.

Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, The Temptations, Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, and the Supremes all have one thing in common, besides being renowned musical artists; they all performed at the Uptown Theatre in Philadelphia, PA. The Uptown originally opened on February 16, 1929 in the North Central neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 2,040-seat theater was designed by the architectural firm of Magaziner, Eberhard and Harris. It was built by Samuel Shapiro (who owned several theaters in the Philadelphia area) and operated by the Warner-Stanley (Warner Bros) Theatre Circuit.

The auditorium ceiling was painted a flat grey during a remodel of the theater.

Opening day at the Uptown consisted of a showing of “On Trial” starring Pauline Frederick and Bert Lytell and a Movietone address by Dr. Charles Beury, the president of nearby Temple University. The Movietone sound system allowed the Uptown to show talking motion pictures as soon as it opened. Vaudeville acts were also part of the regular bill and unlike many of its contemporaries the Uptown held vaudeville performances until 1950.

In 1957 Philadelphia radio personality Georgie Woods began producing shows at the theater. Woods was responsible for turning the Uptown into Philadelphia’s answer to Harlem’s Apollo Theatre by booking many famous African American acts. He referred to the Uptown as “the grand jewel of entertainment for Black America.” The theater became part of the “Chitlin’ Circuit”, which was the informal name given to performance venues across the United States that were safe for African- American entertainers to perform in during the period of segregation. According to R&B singer Ruth Brown, the Uptown was one of the four major theaters on the circuit that you had to play to prove that you had made it as an entertainer. The others were: the Howard in Washington DC, the Regal in Chicago, IL and the Apollo in New York City.

View of the auditorium from the center of the balcony.

Like the Apollo, the Uptown became known for amateur nights where local artists could compete for prizes. Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates got his start at one of the Uptown amateur nights. Hall attended Temple University and won a record deal at an amateur talent show at the theater. The Uptown was also famous for booking acts at a very low price. Allegedly, Woods was able to get the Supremes for a 10-day engagement for just $400. Woods was also very active in the American civil rights movement and often used the theater to promote it. He would hold “freedom shows” to promote civil rights at the Uptown, giving the profits to charities of his choice, regardless of race or creed. Woods was honored for his involvement in the civil rights movement by the Philadelphia branch of the NAACP in a ceremony held at the Uptown. By 1971 the shows were grossing $250,000 a year and films were only shown during the times when no live performances were booked. However, in 1972 Woods stopped producing shows at the Uptown. By 1978 the theater’s audience grew too small for even the minor acts and it was forced to close.

Since this photo was taken much of the detail work on this wall has been destroyed.

The Uptown reopened as a church in the 1980s. Services were held at the theater until the roof was damaged by a storm in 1991 and the church was forced to vacate the property. The Uptown Entertainment and Development Corporation (UEDC), a nonprofit whose mission is to develop revitalization projects in downtrodden neighborhoods, bought the theater in 2002. UEDC raised enough money to stabilize the roof, restore the building’s exterior and renovate the attached office space. They plan to use the funds raised from renting out the office building to fully repair the roof and restore the auditorium so that the Uptown can be reopened as a performing arts center. UEDC estimates it will cost $8 million dollars to fully restore the building.

Looking back at the auditorium from the stage area.

Digital Theater Reconstructions

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Mark Jabara, an artist from Australia, has been taking some of my theater images and restoring them in Photoshop. The Boyd Theatre, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s only art deco movie palace, opened on Christmas day in 1928.  It closed in 2002, and the auditorium was demolished in the spring of 2015.

Auditorium of the Boyd Theatre in Philadelphia, PA

Digital Restoration of the Boyd with original colors.

The Madison in Peoria, IL was originally designed in the Adamesque style and was remodeled in 1936 in the simpler art deco style to ease the maintenance of the building. Mark restored some of the lost adamesque details near the stage.

Auditorium, Madison Theatre – Peoria, IL

A digital restoration of the madison theater in Peoria IL

Digital Restoration of the Madison Theatre with some original details restored.

The United Artists Theatre in Detroit, Michigan opened on February 3, 1928 and closed in August 1972. It’s one of the most dangerous and deteriorated theaters I’ve ever photographed.

Decaying auditorium of the United Artists Theatre in Detroit

Auditorium, United Artists Theatre – Detroit, MI

Digital Restoration of the United Artists Theatre with original colors.

The Boyd Theatre is featured in my first book, After the Final Curtain: The Fall of the American Movie Theater. The Madison and United Artists are featured in my latest book, After the Final Curtain: America’s Abandoned Theaters. Both are available on my site, Bookshop.org, and bookstores everywhere.

United Artists Theatre – Detroit, MI

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An expanded version of this post on the United Artists Theatre in Detroit, MI is in my new book “After the Final Curtain: America’s Abandoned Theaters.” For more information visit: http://www.afterthefinalcurtainbook.com

View of the auditorium from the balcony.

Designed by famed theater architect C. Howard Crane, the United Artists Theatre in Detroit, Michigan opened on February 3, 1928. It cost $5 million ($77.8 million when adjusted for inflation) to build the 2,070-seat theater and 18-story office building. Crane was hired by the founders of United Artist Pictures — D.W. Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin — to design the theater based on castles that Pickford and Fairbanks saw while on honeymoon in Spain. The theater’s Spanish Gothic interior was very similar in design to the United Artists Theatre in Los Angeles, California, which was also designed by Crane and had opened a little over a month earlier. An opening day advertisement in the Detroit Free Press called the theater “Old World Luxury combined with New World Comfort.” The feature presentation on opening day was “Sadie Thompson” a silent film starring Gloria Swanson and Lionel Barrymore. Swanson made an “appearance” via phone and spoke to the audience about the film. The United Artists was designed for feature films, though it did feature the occasional live show, and had a house orchestra as well as a Wurlitzer Opus 1824 theater organ.

The fire curtain can be seen in this close up of the proscenium arch.

The theater was closed for modernization in 1950; new projectors, a new screen and a sound system were installed in the auditorium, and a snack bar was installed in the lobby.  In January 1970, the United Artists switched to showing X-rated films. The first X-rated film shown was “Camille 2000”, an Italian movie starring Danièle Gaubert. The format change only lasted around three months and the theater returned to showing regular films on March 25, 1970. The United Artists changed formats a few times before closing on September 14, 1971 after a showing of “Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song” starring Melvin Van Peebles. It reopened a few times over the next year — once as the Downtown Theatre —but closed for good in August 1972.

Decorative plasterwork covering one of the organ chambers.

Artifacts from the theater were auctioned off through DuMochelle Galleries on February 15, 1975; auctioned items included the lobby furniture, chandeliers, fountains, seats, and marble statues. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra began to use the theater as a recording studio in April 1978, but was forced to stop in 1983 due to the deterioration of the building. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places that same year. A number of plans, including demolishing the building to build a baseball stadium, were proposed over the years, but none came to fruition.

View of the auditorium from the stage area.

In May 2017, it was announced that the office portion of the building would be turned into 148 residential units with retail on the first floor. The developer intends to demolish the theater because according to Gershman Mortgage, who is providing $34.5 million for the project, a dilapidated theater or a restored one put the financing in jeopardy. Adam Hendin, a vice president at Gershman is quoted as saying “the theater building is dilapidated and not an attractive building to live next to” and “If the theater building gets renovated and becomes operational again, Gershman has concerns that this adjoining commercial, public use would disrupt the residential tenants and therefore make the project less attractive and less marketable as a going concern.”

Much of the first floor, as well as the stairs were covered in a thick layer of ice.

View of the auditorium from the side of the balcony.

A close up of some of the decorative plasterwork in the auditorium dome.

If you enjoy After the Final Curtain consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/afterthefinalcurtain?fan_landing=true There are some exclusive benefits, and you’ll be among the first to listen to my podcast when it launches very soon.

Help With a New Project

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Building 51, Hudson River State Hospital – Poughkeepsie, NY.

Hi Everyone,

I’ve been working on a new project and could use some help from you guys. I’ve traveled across the country photographing abandoned buildings and have told some of their stories on this site. The project I’m working on is kind of a continuation of that.

I grew up in Dutchess County, NY which is the home of quite a few interesting abandoned locations, including the Hudson River State Hospital. I heard quite a few stories about that place over the years. One that has always stuck in my head was about a patient going missing from the hospital only to be found a day later with a shovel at the grave of FDR in nearby Hyde Park, NY. When asked what he was doing the patient replied, “I needed to ask President Roosevelt a question.”

Did that actually happen? I don’t know, and that’s a large part of what this new project will be about.

So, here’s how you can help – Tell me the stories you heard about the abandoned buildings in your area. It doesn’t have to be an old hospital. It could be a creepy looking forgotten house, or an old industrial building. Either reply to this post, or send me an e-mail at matt@mlambrosphotography.com. I’ll reach out for more information if your story is picked, and you may be featured in the new project.

(Don’t worry – AtFC isn’t going anywhere, and there will be another theater post on here shortly.)

Norwich State Hospital Theater

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I don’t talk about this very often, but for a long time I wanted to be a Director, and make movies. When I first started exploring abandoned buildings I had a video camera in hand the whole time. Those tapes have been packed away in a box for years, but I recently transferred the footage to my computer. This is a short walkthrough of the Norwich State Hospital Theater from 2004. The building (along with many others on the campus) has since been demolished.

I’ll be posting some more videos from back then on the After the Final Curtain Youtube page in the coming months.

Colonial Theatre – Laconia, NH

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The Colonial Theatre in Laconia, NH is one of the 20 theaters featured in my new book “After the Final Curtain: America’s Abandoned Theaters.” For more information visit: http://www.afterthefinalcurtainbook.com

View of the auditorium from the balcony.

Advertised in the Laconia Democrat as “One of the handsomest play-houses to be found in New England and far ahead of anything which the average city of Laconia can boast”, the Colonial Theatre in Laconia, New Hampshire opened in April 1914. It was designed by George. L. Griffin, a local architect, in the Neocolonial style for owner Benjamin Piscopo. Piscopo was from Venice, Italy and commissioned a fire curtain with a mural depicting the city of Venice as seen from the water.

Fire Curtain, Colonial Theatre Laconia, NH

According to an account in the Laconia Daily Sun, the fire curtain dropped on its own during the renovation. It had been stuck up, and no one wanted to move it out of fear of damaging it.

When the 1,400-seat Colonial opened, it showed a mixture of stage shows, photoplays, and vaudeville. The opera “Il Trovatore” was performed at the theater by the Boston English Opera Company on April 6, 1915. In September 1916, the theater joined Charles H. Waldron’s Amusement Enterprises circuit, and was known as Waldron’s Colonial Theatre. Waldron advertised it as “Playing only First Class Attractions.” Vaudeville and silent film star Willie Collier Jr. performed at the Colonial on February 28, 1918. With the decline of vaudeville in the late 1920s/early 1930s, the theater switched to primarily showing motion pictures.

Ticket Booth, Colonial Theatre Laconia, NH

The theater’s ticket booth.

The world premiere of “Return to Peyton Place”, a film set in a fictional New Hampshire town starring Carol Lynley and Jeff Chandler, was held at the Colonial in 1961. In 1983, the auditorium was multiplexed with the balcony and orchestra sections divided into four separate screens with a fifth screen in the former stage area. Fortunately, much of the original architecture, as well as the fire curtain, were preserved behind the new dividing walls. In August 2002 the Colonial closed after 87 years. It was last used as a combination pizza place and movie theater.

Projection Booth, Colonial Theatre Laconia, NH

This projection booth was added during the multiplexing in 1983. The door on the left leads to the original projection booth.

On June 15, 2015, the City of Laconia announced they had partnered the Belknap Economic Development Council (BEDC) on a $15 million package to purchase, restore and reopen the Colonial Theatre as well as redevelop the retail space and the 14 apartments in the building. BEDC created a limited liability corporation, 609 Main Street, LLC, to run a capital campaign to cover some of the cost of restoring the building. The first part of rehabilitation began in March 2016 when the partitions that divided the auditorium into four screens was removed. When the restoration is complete, the theater will be a multi-use performing arts center with 750 seats, with 450 in the orchestra level and 300 in the balcony.

Orchestra level, Colonial Theatre Laconia, NH.

View of the auditorium from the side of the orchestra level.

Lobby, Colonial Theatre Laconia, NH

The lobby of the theater remained largely unchanged throughout its various incarnations.

Box Seats, Colonial Theatre Laconia, NH

View of the auditorium from the boxed seats.

Proscenium arch, Colonial Theatre Laconia, NH

The strip of metal in the center of the mural is from when the balcony was divided in two in 1983.

After the Final Curtain: America’s Abandoned Theatres is here!

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After the Final Curtain: America’s Abandoned Theatres

I received my copies of my new book After the Final Curtain: America’s Abandoned Theaters,  yesterday and it looks amazing! I’ll be shipping out the pre-orders starting today.  Each pre-ordered copy comes with a 5×7 print, ticket from Proctor’s Palace Theatre, and a USB drive with the After the Final Curtain logo courtesy of USB Memory Direct.  Here’s some more information from their website:

“USB Memory Direct specializes in custom-printed and custom shape USB flash drives. Being in business for over 15 years, UMD has gained a reputation for being one of the premiere providers of wholesale USB flash drives across the country. With a wide variety of drive styles to choose from, you’ll be sure to find a drive that you can customize to perfectly represent you and your brand. You can also rest assured knowing that they offer a lifetime guarantee on any and all drives you purchase from them. Check them out today and request a quote from one of their friendly and knowledgeable account executives.”

The pre-order package will be available until I run out of tickets, prints and USB drives. You can order a signed copy at my site: http://www.mlambrosphotography.com/store/after-the-final-curtain-americas-abandoned-theaters

Or a non-signed copy at:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/33bjLKl

Barnes and Noble: https://tinyurl.com/y3cxxb8j

Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9782361953485

Waterstones: https://tinyurl.com/yym686rf

 

Queens Theatre – Queens Village, NY

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View of the auditorium from the balcony.

The Queens Theatre opened on December 29, 1927 opened in the Queens Village neighborhood of Queens, NY. It was designed by architect R. Thomas Short, who also designed the nearby Prospect Theatre in Flushing, for the Century Theatre Circuit. Morris Rosenthal, who managed the Majestic Theatre in Bridgeport, CT, was brought on as the theater’s manager. The 2,500 seat theater opened with a performance by The Happiness Boys, a popular radio act, and for the first year showed a combination of vaudeville and silent pictures. 

View of the auditorium ceiling from the stage.

In January 1929 Vitaphone, an early form of talking movies, was installed. The switch from vaudeville and silent films did not go over well with the regular patrons, and they threatened to go to another theater. Rosenthal, the manager of the Queens, got a permit to hang a banner in front of the theater that said “Sound Talkies – See and hear!” along with a catchy phrase about the upcoming film to help drive traffic into the theater. On September 13, 1938 projectionist Solomon Schulman killed Nat Klein in the Queen’s projection booth during a screening of “The Devil’s Party.” Klein was a former projectionist’s assistant. Schulman claimed that Klein failed to get a job at a different theater, blamed Schulman, and attacked him with a fire extinguisher. Schulman was convicted of second degree manslaughter and sentenced to 5-10 years at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, NY.

The main floor of the lobby was almost completely gutted during the late 2000s.

The Queens closed on March 1, 1974 after a showing of “Last Tango in Paris” starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider. According to Joseph Wickman of Century Theatres, the Queens had been losing money for years, and only filled 150 of the 2000 seats during the final showing.  Later that year, Louis Diaz reopened the theater as an independent house. He started showing first run films, then switched to Spanish language films, then Spanish language XXX films, and by 1976 English language XXX films. A Queens based group called the “Coalition for Decency” began to picket the theater, and eventually sat down with Diaz and asked him to stop showing XXX films. He declined, but did stop putting up posters for films outside the theater. In July 1976 Diaz was charged with promoting obscenity for showing the pornographic films “The Taking of Christina” and “Little Sisters.” He plead guilty and was fined $1,500. He was charged again the following year, and this time the films and the projector’s lenses were seized. The case was eventually dismissed, and the theater continued showing XXX films until it closed February 1989. 

The interior of the theater was very similar to the now demolished Prospect Theatre in Flushing, NY.

In July 1990, the Queens was renovated and reopened as a performing arts center. Marty Oser, who was behind the renovation, hoped that the lack of venues between Manhattan and Long Island would give the Queens a chance. Kool and the Gang, The Marshall Tucker Band, David Brenner, Waylon Jennings, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Ace Frehley, and Jerry Lee Lewis all performed at the theater during this time. However, it wasn’t very successful and it closed again in late December 1990.

A 3 manual 11 rank Opus 1569 Austin Theatre Organ was installed in the theater when it opened. It was later moved to Chaminade High School in Mineola, NY.

On October 2, 1993, the New York Deliverance Gospel Temple began holding services at the theater before purchasing it in January 1995. They sold it to the All Nations Apostolic Tabernacle (ANAT) in September 2006. ANAT closed the building and began to renovate it into a 2,500 seat second location for their rapidly growing congregation . They completed work on the building’s facade, but the interior work stalled out. Despite a few attempts to complete construction, the building was put on the market in early 2019. 

 

State Theatre – South Bend, Indiana

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Auditorium, State Theatre in South Bend, Indiana
The seats were removed from the auditorium when it was converted into a nightclub.

Billed in early newspaper advertisements as “The Pride of South Bend,” the 2,500 seat State Theatre in South Bend, Indiana opened on January 29, 1921 as the Blackstone Theatre. Construction lasted for 16 months and cost $500,000 ($6.7 million when adjusted for inflation). Henry L. Newhouse — an architect known for many theaters in the Chicago area — designed the building with a neoclassical exterior and a beaux-arts interior. Unlike many other theaters built during this time, the State did not have one traditional balcony; instead, it had tiered seating in the rear of the auditorium, and two small balconies on either side, beginning at the organ chamber and ending over the third tier seating section. Designed for silent motion pictures and vaudeville shows, the opening day feature was the silent film “Once to Every Woman,” starring Dorothy Phillips and a then-unknown Rudolph Valentino.

Auditorium as seen from the stage of the State Theatre in South Bend, Indiana
View of the auditorium from the stage.

The Blackstone began to fall behind the times after the Colfax and Granda Theatres opened in 1927 and 1928, which both offered talking pictures. Rather than also show talking pictures and compete with the new theaters, the Blackstone Theatre stopped showing films and changed to burlesque. This was likely due to the cost of purchasing and installing the equipment required to show talking pictures. However, the City Government didn’t approve of burlesque shows, and Chester P. Montgomery, the Mayor of South Bend at the time, ordered the theater closed in early October 1929. It was taken over by the Publix (Paramount) chain who repainted the interior, reupholstered the seats, and reopened it on Christmas Day 1929 as the State Theatre. 

Exterior of the State Theatre in South Bend, Indiana
The exterior of the State was designed in the neoclassical architecture style. A shootout between the police and John Dillinger in 1934 allegedly left bullet holes on the theater’s marquee and terra cotta facade.

Like many other theaters, the State was used for a range of events other than showing films including; school graduations, closed circuit telecasts and beauty pageants. The State closed again on November 3, 1977 due to declining attendance. In 1980, a crew from the Victorian Supply Company of Little Rock, Arkansas removed the 17-panel stained glass dome from the auditorium. The stained glass was taken back to Arkansas and refurbished for a prospective buyer — a restaurant owner from Dallas, Texas.

Auditorium as seen from one of the small balconies.
View of the auditorium from one of the small balconies.

The building passed through a number of owners in the 1980s and 1990s before it was purchased for $20,000 by the Watseka Theatre Corp. Watseka made $500,000 in repairs to the building, and reopened it as a second run movie theater on March 25, 1993. However, it couldn’t compete with local multiplexes and in October 1996, it changed formats and became a live music venue and nightclub. It closed again in 2005. The State was purchased by Banko Capitol, a real estate investment firm, and reopened as a performing arts center and cultural center in the Spring of 2013. After operating infrequently it closed again in September 2016 after the theater was sold at a county auction due to unpaid taxes. A grassroots organization called “Save the State Theatre SB” was formed by an Indiana University South Bend student in early 2019 to try and raise the funds to purchase and reopen the theater.

The Projection room of the State Theatre in South Bend, Indiana
The projection room is full of equipment that was likely installed during the theaters stint as a second run movie theater in the 1990s. The film on the platform was 1997’s Starship Troopers.
The lobby of the State Theatre in South Bend, Indiana
Like many large theaters of the era, the State had its own orchestra, the 17-piece Blackstone Symphony Orchestra, which was led by 21-year-old Angelo Vitale, one of the youngest band leaders in America at the time.
Organ Chamber in the auditorium of the State Theatre in South Bend, Indiana
The organ chamber, which once held pipes for the theater’s Kimball organ, is now filled with a large speaker.
View from the rear of the auditorium.
View of the stage from one of the small balconies.