You can listen to a March 10, 2008 interview with preservationist Josh Geidel, owner Eli Mizrachi, and State Historic Preservation Officer Ron James at KNPR.org.
According to the ChiTown Daily News, the owner of the strip mall plans on renovating and reopening the theater himself. Perhaps this should be listed as “Closed/Renovating/Restoring”?
Work continues! The entire building is now two stories, including over the former storefronts, and it’s four stories over the stage. It appears that interior work is going on now, as there was a truck making deliveries to a loading dock at the rear of the building. If things continue at this pace, a 2009 opening is likely.
The RKO Keith’s can be seen in the background of this 1950s photo, featured in this year’s Syracuse Post-Standard’s “Memories of Christmas Past” feature.
If you want to get down to semantics, the photographer “shares” the photo with the Flickr community, not us. Lost Memory “shares” the link to that photo with us. There is nothing inappropriate with thanking him for sharing a link here.
How is loading at the Riviera and Aragon? I’m sure those venues have hosted concert tours with elaborate sets, and both face similar loading constraints to the Uptown.
The Castle is featured in the Providence Preservation Society’s Most Engangered Properties photo exhibit at Butterfield, 232 Westminster Street. According to the exhibit, the building was purchased by the RISPCA, who in turn plans on leasing it to Rhode Island College to use for drug treatment programs. The marquee was removed per orders of the buildings department. There was talk of donating the building to AS220 about nine months ago, which apparently fell through.
LuisV – the Portage in Chicago is in a mostly residential/low-end retail neighborhood eight miles from downtown, has very little parking, is more than a mile away from the nearest train station, and is a resounding success. It didn’t take millions to get it into operating condition, either – including de-twinning, replacing light fixtures, electrical work, remodeling the lobby, removing and rebuilding the stage, adding dressing rooms, repairing the marquee, etc. If there’s community support and a person interested in making it happen, I think the Keith’s could continue as a theater.
Only $312K. Wow.
Archived versions of the theater’s website can be found by searching for it at http://www.archive.org
I just came across this video of the Commodore during demolition.
Here is Gina’s photo of the building as Andersen Mercantile Co.
Gina – you can e-mail it to me at and I’ll post it.
Overton is a lovely town. I passed through there a couple of weeks ago and had an excellent lunch at the Inside Scoop.
For what it’s worth, the liquor store is now known as Mendon Wines & More. They still use the marquee to advertise.
You can listen to a March 10, 2008 interview with preservationist Josh Geidel, owner Eli Mizrachi, and State Historic Preservation Officer Ron James at KNPR.org.
The small concrete block wall to the right of the entrance has been demolished, and there is a Bobcat parked between the fence and the front doors.
Here is a current photo of the Pioneer Theatre.
According to the ChiTown Daily News, the owner of the strip mall plans on renovating and reopening the theater himself. Perhaps this should be listed as “Closed/Renovating/Restoring”?
Work continues! The entire building is now two stories, including over the former storefronts, and it’s four stories over the stage. It appears that interior work is going on now, as there was a truck making deliveries to a loading dock at the rear of the building. If things continue at this pace, a 2009 opening is likely.
There is a 1947 aerial photo of downtown Pawtucket that includes the Leroy on the wall inside the Pawtucket Public Library.
The Palace is visible in the background of this 1979 photo (indicating that the building was not torn down in 1978).
The marquee of the Valencia can be seen in this photo and this photo, circa 1970.
The Gateway was B&K’s flagship?? Wrong end of Lawrence Avenue…
The RKO Keith’s can be seen in the background of this 1950s photo, featured in this year’s Syracuse Post-Standard’s “Memories of Christmas Past” feature.
There was a public hearing on October 28. See page 4 of View link.
If you want to get down to semantics, the photographer “shares” the photo with the Flickr community, not us. Lost Memory “shares” the link to that photo with us. There is nothing inappropriate with thanking him for sharing a link here.
Borders is in a new building, not the theater building.
The Savoy is still standing. Today it functions at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, and it was formerly Holy Raiders Revivals Church. The address is 4344 West Madison. A brick façade added in the 1980s conceals the original. The 2005 book How The Other Half Worships by Camilo José Vergara features photographs of this building from 1981, 1989, and 2003.
How is loading at the Riviera and Aragon? I’m sure those venues have hosted concert tours with elaborate sets, and both face similar loading constraints to the Uptown.
The Pioneer Theater opened in February 2000. The first film shown was the documentary The Blank Generation.
Tour the Portage Theater on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsYJ8vBH4pw
The Castle is featured in the Providence Preservation Society’s Most Engangered Properties photo exhibit at Butterfield, 232 Westminster Street. According to the exhibit, the building was purchased by the RISPCA, who in turn plans on leasing it to Rhode Island College to use for drug treatment programs. The marquee was removed per orders of the buildings department. There was talk of donating the building to AS220 about nine months ago, which apparently fell through.
LuisV – the Portage in Chicago is in a mostly residential/low-end retail neighborhood eight miles from downtown, has very little parking, is more than a mile away from the nearest train station, and is a resounding success. It didn’t take millions to get it into operating condition, either – including de-twinning, replacing light fixtures, electrical work, remodeling the lobby, removing and rebuilding the stage, adding dressing rooms, repairing the marquee, etc. If there’s community support and a person interested in making it happen, I think the Keith’s could continue as a theater.