Capitol Twin Theatre
45 E. Main Street,
Bloomsburg,
PA
17815
45 E. Main Street,
Bloomsburg,
PA
17815
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 42 comments
2 screens on May 12th, 1978. Another ad posted.
Opened as Capitol on March 5th, 1928
Capitol Theatre opening 05 Mar 1928, Mon The Morning Press (Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com
and
Capitol theatre opening ad 05 Mar 1928, Mon The Morning Press (Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com
The Victoria theatre opened in the First Quarter of 1914. Ad for the New Victoria posted.
I suspect this was built on the site of the Victoria Theatre. The architect here was Leon Lempert, Jr., who designed many of the other Comerfords. The sign on the front of the building is similar to early designs for Lempert’s Capitol in Rome, NY, also partly a Comerford house.
The 1929 date may be when this theatre became the Capitol. A Victoria Theatre is listed at 47 E Main St. in the 1922-23 city directory.
It looks like someone purchased the building and reopened it as a restaurant and bar. The website is http://www.capitolrestaurantandbar.com/ There are a few photos!
Listed in in the 1945-46 International Motion Picture Almanac as a Comerford-Publix Theater. I suspect the architect was Leon Lempert, Jr. Does anyone have any clear interior photographs?
NIce marquee shot ken mc.
Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y5cpw8c
By the way, does anybody know what happened to the 2/5 Wurlitzer in the Capital. It was opus # 1797, I found a stoplist and it had a whole load of toys on it!
If anybody knows it’s fate please tell me!
I live in Bloomsburg and several people have told me they are KEEPING the Marque! I hope this bit of good news is true. During the fall they had the neon and other lights on a few nights, go to this link and scroll pretty much to the bottom to see!
View link
the photos are from july of this year. i was at the theatre (just a peek through the front window, this time) yesterday and it has been emptied. i wonder what they did with all the old equipment. there are dumpsters sitting on main street if anyone wants to drive out and climb through them. i already got what i wanted.
Thanks to Mascarah, didn’t notice you were on here as well.
Sombody just posted a Youtube video with a collage of old photos on my photostream from within the theater (before the gutting).
View link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYynK3tg9Is
Its a sad though interesting look at the theater.
sorry to break your hearts but as of today, (sunday november 16 2008), the bloomsburg capitol theatre is being gutted and remodeled into student housing. what a waste. i guess you can all quit arguing about what you would and wouldn’t do with it.
a moment of silence…
I called Jag Housing and the theatre is for sale for $150,000 and the only stipulation for use is that it does not show first run movies. The town of Bloomsburg is also actively seeking a parking solution, so given the time frame of purchase and renovation, parking probably won’t be an issue anymore. Additionally, there is plenty of parking in the summer when most of the students are gone.
Hello Lost:
Hmmm, the marquee still looks pretty nice. Perhaps something could be made of this place if it wasn’t for the politics involved. The owner simply will NOT sell it if it is to be used as a theatre. I mean really, I for one am NOT interested in his movie business and wouldn’t interfere with it. I am interested in live theatre. This building is a theatre so it just seems like the owner wants to let this piece of history fade away until A) it will be converted to stores in which case he will have no problem selling it B) it will be in such bad shape the town will tear it down. That would be a shape. The building does have a very nice Deco marquee.
Geo
Hello Jaghousing.
If the town would consider a proposition for improving the parking in the downtown area AND the building’s owner can be convinced to sell the building unconditional to it’s use…then I would reconsider. As if you have read my posts above, there are just certain issues that are attached to this building that initially scared me away from it. However, I do believe with some time and money the building can be made into a beautiful live performing arts theatre that could benefit the town.
But I think the larger issue of parking in the area would have to be addressed first. Possibly the erection of a parking garage and/or bus service could assist tremendously. Not only would this benefit a theatre project, but it would help in the development in the downtown area. In order for any commercial operation to work…the people HAVE to find you AND getting to you has to be easy.
As I said above, I do have a few ideas on how to solve traffic/parking issues in a redevelopment project since there are so many theatres I looked at that have this same problem including the famous Uptown in Chicago. Granted the Capitol is not the Uptown (no where near it in fact). But it is still wonderful when a town can revitalize its old theatre.
Over where I live, they turned an old dilapidated movie house into a beautiful legit theatre that shows mainly live performances. The project was nothing short of amazing and the theatre is now one of the more popular places for something to do on the weekend here on Long Island. For those wanting to know, it is the Patchogue Theatre, Long Island NY. It should be listed here in CT.
Geo
There has been some positive developements on this building for anyone who would be interested in purchasing the property. Please contact me
There’s always eminent domain….
Hello Bloomingburg,
I have already looked into this theatre and there are several problems. You already mentioned the one…metered parking. It is from my past experience with doing surveys on prospective theatre locations that I found out, people DO NOT want to pay for parking. They also do not want to walk a great distance from their cars to the theatre.
This is a HUGE problem with many downtown theatres in that there is not enough parking. Of course this is not the downtown’s fault or the theatres fault for simple reason as most downtowns were built before the automobile was invented. The trouble that hereinlies that a theatre has to adapt to these changes and the only solution is to provide some kind of structure or field nearby that would allow patrons to park in.
I am right now working on a solution for parking that could help many a downtown theatre. Hopefully my ideas will work. But in the case of this theatre, there is another problem and that is the owner of the building. The owner closed this building to open up a multiplex. Naturally to avoid competition the new owner has to agree not to operate a theatre out of this location. Of course that sounds stupid considering the building IS a theatre. I mean what else can you use it for.
I did want to go in the promise of using the theatre for live applications ONLY and thus without showing movies, not to competing with the owner. However, that didn’t seem to fly.
I have contacted the C of C already and pretty much obtained the information I needed. I just think that with the problems I mentioned above AND the fact that theatre is in not a very good shape to begin with, I pretty much am going to pass this one up. It is really the owner that is to blame because of his stiff conditions on purchasing the property. Personally I think he is probably going to let the building deteriorate until it has to be torn down.
Sad yes, worse…this isn’t the first time I heard of something like this. I think if the town really wants to save the theatre, they really have to step in. Perhaps if they bought the theatre and restored it for their own purposes then perhaps it could be saved.
Geo
I just walked past the Capitol and came back home and did an internet search of its particular.
Geo, I think you need to visit Bloomsburg before you can make a 300 minimum parking requirement. It’s a college town (8,000 undergrads) with very few tract housing neighborhoods. Most people walk to the downtown area from where they live and most people live in town. BTE has no problem bringing in patrons. There is parking on street and in back alley parking lots, all metered. The downtown is thriving with several new restaurants and all buildings are either occupied or in the process of being renovated for a business save the Capitol. The town supports the largest fair in the state and parking is problematic for that week, but otherwise, I’ve never seen the whole of downtown w/o parking spaces free.
Lastly, Bloomsburg has a pretty strident architectural board and does not allow exterior alterations of buildings within the district. Getting vinyl siding put on a house can be problematic, for instance. That a building would be leveled for the sake of downtown parking is, frankly, ludicrous. That’s sooooo not Bloomsburg.
I can contact the CofC and see what the price is and see if I can get inside to check out the interior.
The clothing store is in the building next to it they use it for advertising, the other theatre is the Alvina Krause Theatre, home to the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, it was formerly the Columbia Theater, (at that time it showed movies) and before that it was the Bloomsburg Opera House.
Hello John, Lost…
I have contacted the Chamber already, no response to email. I may have to call. But I am finding out much information and believe it or not I do have you guys to thank for it.
Iit has been established there is a parking problem…so that has to be addressed. We know the building is for sale and outside of the twinning, it has not been converted or used for anything else.
From pictures and other descriptions, we know the building will need work.
So the questions remain about the overall condition, price, and how much the town will help…ie with the parking issue.
From what I gather Bloomsburg sounds like a divided town. Some want to move ahead and others want to preserve.
I also found out that there is another theatre in Bloomsburg that is open and running live performances. What more it is around the corner from the Capitol. This could be a bad thing, or a good thing.
For myself…I would network with the other theatre and work with them in terms of programming. Do different shows. Having two good live theatres in town COULD bring in a good draw and entice people to stay in town overnight if they wish to catch both shows.
However it could also be this other theatre that may be pushing for the parking lot project at the Capitol site. For one, with the Capitol out of the way, they would eliminate competition. If this is the other theatre’s thinking…then that could be a problem. Looking at the facts…the other theatre only has about 300 to 400 seats. The Capitol holds 911 and is twinned. Using the Capitol as a dual event building could potentially put the other theatre out to pasture. So the very presence of the building could be perceived as a threat to them. One would never know. But I would never go into the theatre business with the intention of pummeling another theatre company especially if they are dedicated to preserving a historic building as well. But a mutual existance of two good theatres in the town could definately boost entertainment numbers in the town. Of course I would have to check the stats on the town to further see if there is a large enough market to support a theatre as large as the Capitol.
Lost—I missed that part about the 96 cars. That is peanuts and definately isn’t worth the destruction of the theatre. But on the same token you are probably right. The town would have to level a good amount of property to sufficiently support a municipal lot that could serve the commercial needs of the town. Another solution to this problem is to perhaps locate a parking facility on the outskirts of the town where there would be more room and offer a bus service to and from the parking garage. The downside of this is that more than likely parking would have to have a charge attached to it pay for the services more over it probably will be located some distance from the theatre. Paid parking doesn’t sit well with most people. I don’t like it myself, but if all else fails it is a viable solution. I guess it would boil down to town support for a project like this.
Well, I will try again with the town chamber or even the county chamber.
So we will see what turns up. For the most part I just want to know if the building is in reasonable condition for a project like this. It wouldn’t be the first time where I came across a building with a great facade, but needed massive work on the interior.
Geo
and yet here is 2007 and the Capitol still stands