Friday’s New York Times Weekend Section did a piece on Stuart and the Lyric was mentioned many times including the year it was built, the manager’s name and how many seats.
Joe’s comment may sound bad, but I must say, I just saw it yesterday for the first time by accident and geez, it was beautiful. Sure they really transformed it, it looks like some high-end European modern architect had a field day, but at least they didn’t tear it down. It is quite unique!
I was cycling yesterday from the west and came up a long hill to Summit center and saw the Strand. The stagehouse is a Japanese restaurant with yes, a side entrance. The lobby and auditorium looks like a glass/steel shell that’s modern and I believe it was retail and a gallery? I only had a few minutes to look before I caught the train. But there’s a gap between the glass/steel and brick stagehouse of about maybe 12-15 feet and it’s a pedestrian promenade more than it is a mall.
The only other reuse I liked about this was the Darien, CT Playhouse in that stores were on the lower level and the theatre was still there, but with another entrance since the front lobby was a clothing store.
I went in yesterday as I saw the auditorium from 2 streets away and thinking it was that or a warehouse, I decided to press on and yes it was built in 1925 as the stone says on the top. I asked the young usher outside if I could have a small tour and he asked if “I was one of those.” I replied yes, I’m a human being. He looked puzzled and then showed me the basement. From the lobby, the hall down to the theatres is long and sloping and ends at a small wall. There are 2 stadiums, one on either side and he let me in to show me the stage that’s still intact. It goes to the right and ends at the wall and continues into the other theater. The other theatres are smaller and are before the stadium ones. He said the decorative elements are still untouched and there’s a drop ceiling protecting them. The auditorium ceiling from outside is quite huge.
Ah! I was in Madison cycling yesterday and was checking out the downtown. I went right by this building and made a note to come on here and see if it indeed was a theatre. It sure looked like one and is still standing as a NAPA store, however it’s just the lobby of the building with no auditorium. Must have sat only 200 or so.
I had an idea I posted to a theatre some weeks ago about building from scratch a brand spanking new movie palace. Since building one with the usual material from the roaring 20s would cost so many tens of millions (and the owners' bottom line would not likely be making a profit to cover costs), I propose somewhere in Las Vegas where there is an abundance of money, to build a brand new movie palace using faux but strong material, with fiberglass, etc. Build it like they would’ve done in the past and introduce this to a newer generation of theatergoers.
I was biking in Windsor last week and saw it for the first time. The marquee is oool and quite wooden from the underside, it has one lightbulb left in and the rest are not. The marquee now reads from both sides, “Welcome to Windsor and the Art Center in RR Freight House.”
There are 2 stores still open on the ground level and the rest are either closed or under construction. The alley on the left side had a door open to the back of the salon and up the stairs, the door was closed. For some reason, I didn’t go down the other flight to open the door.
Around to the other end was a sign that had Plaza in the name and I went upstairs. They were apartments, and it felt like a rooming house and the hallway was quite stuffy. If you went out front and looked up at the second floor, you’d see curtains and ACs.
I’ve been meaning to post this for a few weeks, from the NYTimes.
The historic Wellmont Theater in Montclair, N.J., is to reopen in the fall, a newly formed independent concert-promotion company has announced. The promoter, Montclair Entertainment, comprises principals of the independent promotion company the Bowery Presents â€"owners of the Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge as well as the recently opened Terminal 5 and Music Hall of Williamsburg â€" along with Andy Feltz, who brought shows to the Beacon Theater in Manhattan for two decades and recently to the United Palace, also in Manhattan. This will be Bowery Presents’ first major foray into New Jersey, according to The Star-Ledger of Newark. The theater, which originally opened in 1922 in downtown Montclair, will undergo a roughly $3 million makeover.
Okay, the CT Film Fest is now officially in downtown Danbury from May 20-25. Venues for films and presentations will be in the Heirloom Arts Theatre (formerly Empress Ballroom), Library Plaza, the Grassy Alley between Family Dollar and that other building, Danbury Music Centre and just announced, The Palace! No details on where in the theater at this time.
Thanks. Just contact them thru the contact page. Updates are made in the first few posts when all the important info is added in these comments. But to watch 500 comments for little tidbits is no doubt daunting to anyone.
I met Joe DaSilva for the first time on Friday night at the CT Film Fest in Norwalk at the Regent 8 and the gala afterwards at the Palace Digital Studios. He was with his new partners in crime/renaissance, Andrea Gartner from City Center and Carter Boyajian of the Sculpture Barn. He’s quite attentive and friendly, the opposite of all the rumors. We had some good conversation about the Palace and he said I’m welcome to come by when they’re working to get a behind the scenes tour.
Apparently, his friends and himself have heard of this guy called “Shoeshoe14” and only recently put my name to my face. Small world.
The theatre had a grand reopening this past weekend with a ribbon cutting of scrap film. The seats are the same but the marquee and expanded lobby and concessions are done. Apparently, Paul Schyler, former manager/owner of Bethel Cinema was in the article and is the new manager. Great.
I was here again as were 100 others. The CT Film Fest was showing movies last Friday to Sunday across the street at the Sono Regent 8 (Bow Tie Cinemas) in theatre 3. The Palace Digital Studios held a benefit at sliding scale for the Make-a-Wish Foundation of CT and it was very nice. Everything was black and food was plentiful.
Corrections from above. Back to the stage, the balcony is intact as are the two round and decorative boxes at either end. There’s a wall about 10 feet in from the front of the balcony that goes to the ceiling because there are offices in there.
Saw a few docs on Friday night here as part of the CT Film Fest. It ended here on Sunday. It was in theatre 3 and I had never been here before, but it was nice. The screen was small and the film still had a few feet on either side of blank screen.
Well, whenever you are presented with a theatre, go to imdb to confirm with the shooting locations. For August Rush…http://imdb.com/title/tt0426931/locations
I passed it back in January while cycling from Hartford to Old Saybrook. It didn’t look like a theater to me but that part of town is really serene and inviting.
This theatre was in the movie “Tommy Boy.” The vertical marquee was shown twice. Upon checking IMDB, I saw all the shooting locations and cross referenced the other main location besides Canada; Sandusky, Ohio. It was this one.
Friday’s New York Times Weekend Section did a piece on Stuart and the Lyric was mentioned many times including the year it was built, the manager’s name and how many seats.
Joe’s comment may sound bad, but I must say, I just saw it yesterday for the first time by accident and geez, it was beautiful. Sure they really transformed it, it looks like some high-end European modern architect had a field day, but at least they didn’t tear it down. It is quite unique!
I was cycling yesterday from the west and came up a long hill to Summit center and saw the Strand. The stagehouse is a Japanese restaurant with yes, a side entrance. The lobby and auditorium looks like a glass/steel shell that’s modern and I believe it was retail and a gallery? I only had a few minutes to look before I caught the train. But there’s a gap between the glass/steel and brick stagehouse of about maybe 12-15 feet and it’s a pedestrian promenade more than it is a mall.
The only other reuse I liked about this was the Darien, CT Playhouse in that stores were on the lower level and the theatre was still there, but with another entrance since the front lobby was a clothing store.
I went in yesterday as I saw the auditorium from 2 streets away and thinking it was that or a warehouse, I decided to press on and yes it was built in 1925 as the stone says on the top. I asked the young usher outside if I could have a small tour and he asked if “I was one of those.” I replied yes, I’m a human being. He looked puzzled and then showed me the basement. From the lobby, the hall down to the theatres is long and sloping and ends at a small wall. There are 2 stadiums, one on either side and he let me in to show me the stage that’s still intact. It goes to the right and ends at the wall and continues into the other theater. The other theatres are smaller and are before the stadium ones. He said the decorative elements are still untouched and there’s a drop ceiling protecting them. The auditorium ceiling from outside is quite huge.
Ah! I was in Madison cycling yesterday and was checking out the downtown. I went right by this building and made a note to come on here and see if it indeed was a theatre. It sure looked like one and is still standing as a NAPA store, however it’s just the lobby of the building with no auditorium. Must have sat only 200 or so.
I had an idea I posted to a theatre some weeks ago about building from scratch a brand spanking new movie palace. Since building one with the usual material from the roaring 20s would cost so many tens of millions (and the owners' bottom line would not likely be making a profit to cover costs), I propose somewhere in Las Vegas where there is an abundance of money, to build a brand new movie palace using faux but strong material, with fiberglass, etc. Build it like they would’ve done in the past and introduce this to a newer generation of theatergoers.
I was biking in Windsor last week and saw it for the first time. The marquee is oool and quite wooden from the underside, it has one lightbulb left in and the rest are not. The marquee now reads from both sides, “Welcome to Windsor and the Art Center in RR Freight House.”
There are 2 stores still open on the ground level and the rest are either closed or under construction. The alley on the left side had a door open to the back of the salon and up the stairs, the door was closed. For some reason, I didn’t go down the other flight to open the door.
Around to the other end was a sign that had Plaza in the name and I went upstairs. They were apartments, and it felt like a rooming house and the hallway was quite stuffy. If you went out front and looked up at the second floor, you’d see curtains and ACs.
FYI Justin, cut and paste extremely long links into www.tinyurl.com for the sake of bandwidth.
Yes.
Maybe you could post a link to that because when I type it with quotes and without I don’t get what you talk about.
Wow. Thanks. It’s virtually impossible to find elements of the theatre other than a column here or there.
I’ve been meaning to post this for a few weeks, from the NYTimes.
The historic Wellmont Theater in Montclair, N.J., is to reopen in the fall, a newly formed independent concert-promotion company has announced. The promoter, Montclair Entertainment, comprises principals of the independent promotion company the Bowery Presents â€"owners of the Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge as well as the recently opened Terminal 5 and Music Hall of Williamsburg â€" along with Andy Feltz, who brought shows to the Beacon Theater in Manhattan for two decades and recently to the United Palace, also in Manhattan. This will be Bowery Presents’ first major foray into New Jersey, according to The Star-Ledger of Newark. The theater, which originally opened in 1922 in downtown Montclair, will undergo a roughly $3 million makeover.
Okay, the CT Film Fest is now officially in downtown Danbury from May 20-25. Venues for films and presentations will be in the Heirloom Arts Theatre (formerly Empress Ballroom), Library Plaza, the Grassy Alley between Family Dollar and that other building, Danbury Music Centre and just announced, The Palace! No details on where in the theater at this time.
Thanks. Just contact them thru the contact page. Updates are made in the first few posts when all the important info is added in these comments. But to watch 500 comments for little tidbits is no doubt daunting to anyone.
While I love hearing about this nostalgia, somehow it’s detracted from the matters of hand on this page and site.
Well, duh! hehe.
I met Joe DaSilva for the first time on Friday night at the CT Film Fest in Norwalk at the Regent 8 and the gala afterwards at the Palace Digital Studios. He was with his new partners in crime/renaissance, Andrea Gartner from City Center and Carter Boyajian of the Sculpture Barn. He’s quite attentive and friendly, the opposite of all the rumors. We had some good conversation about the Palace and he said I’m welcome to come by when they’re working to get a behind the scenes tour.
Apparently, his friends and himself have heard of this guy called “Shoeshoe14” and only recently put my name to my face. Small world.
The theatre had a grand reopening this past weekend with a ribbon cutting of scrap film. The seats are the same but the marquee and expanded lobby and concessions are done. Apparently, Paul Schyler, former manager/owner of Bethel Cinema was in the article and is the new manager. Great.
I was here again as were 100 others. The CT Film Fest was showing movies last Friday to Sunday across the street at the Sono Regent 8 (Bow Tie Cinemas) in theatre 3. The Palace Digital Studios held a benefit at sliding scale for the Make-a-Wish Foundation of CT and it was very nice. Everything was black and food was plentiful.
Corrections from above. Back to the stage, the balcony is intact as are the two round and decorative boxes at either end. There’s a wall about 10 feet in from the front of the balcony that goes to the ceiling because there are offices in there.
Saw a few docs on Friday night here as part of the CT Film Fest. It ended here on Sunday. It was in theatre 3 and I had never been here before, but it was nice. The screen was small and the film still had a few feet on either side of blank screen.
Well, whenever you are presented with a theatre, go to imdb to confirm with the shooting locations. For August Rush…http://imdb.com/title/tt0426931/locations
View link
I passed it back in January while cycling from Hartford to Old Saybrook. It didn’t look like a theater to me but that part of town is really serene and inviting.
It’s easier this way. http://spiritmag.com/2008_03/clickthis/03movie.php
This theatre was in the movie “Tommy Boy.” The vertical marquee was shown twice. Upon checking IMDB, I saw all the shooting locations and cross referenced the other main location besides Canada; Sandusky, Ohio. It was this one.