I know full well you can’t save every old theater. But this was such a nice room that it’s a shame they couldn’t have done better. I suppose if it had to be this or the Majestic they probably picked the better of the two. But I wish they had finished the job. They should have either torn the facade down or disassembled it and put it back up where it didn’t look like a stuffed deer head on someone’s trophy wall.
I’d have to say in this case the new development is better for the neighborhood. The Mode wasn’t much to begin with, it was never going to be a theater again, and it was run down when they demolished it. The condos aren’t anything special. But they are bright and new and seem to be reasonably occupied. Now if only Thorek Hospital would stop buying property and land-banking it the neighborhood might completely fill in.
Wow. A picture of the Doors at the Fillmore. Quite a piece of history. Their music was pretty good. It’s a shame those guys all burned out so young. The Rolling Stones managed not to kill themselves and made a lot more good music. Led Zeppelin managed a fair stretch too before finally meeting tragedy.
Look at those guys. Sitting on a filthy sidewalk against a boarded up store and loving every minute of it. It’s funny to look back with more experienced eyes on what you thought was cool when you were eighteen years old.
I wonder how much success that recruiter had selling people from inside a dilapidated old theater. Knowing those guys I suppose it probably didn’t matter too much.
It really is dumb. Having a showplace civic auditorium is a big plus for city image. Here in Chicago we have several beautiful auditoriums, including the Chicago Theater which is pretty much a full-fledged symbol of the city. They are seen on TV, in movies, by tourists, theater-goers, private parties, etc. If they had a bunch left in Philly I wouldn’t have much to say. But this is their last shot and apparently they blew it. Even Detroit, where God knows errors have been made, got this one right. You know it is pretty bad when you finish behind the Motor City.
I think there are two keys to future success: 1) support of the government and 2) creative and intelligent management.
Obviously they have number 1 or the project never would have gotten done. Hopefully number 2 will materialize.
There are so many ways a building of this size and grandeur can be used. One example is for weddings. Several old theaters I am aware of seem to be benefiting from that. My hope is that they will hire a manager who understands and has the hustle to go out and form business relationships.
If they just sit there and wait for big bookings to roll in I’m not sure things will work out very well. Nationwide it seems like there is competition for business and I doubt New York City is an exception.
I’m also not sure they can expect it to be strictly profitable all the time. It may be. But if it isn’t every year and still adds to the community that really isn’t a bad thing. Tax dollars are supposed to be spent on projects that make taxpayer’s lives better.
I can see the residents wanting something more upscale than McDonald’s there. But I don’t understand why the Jeffrey makes any preservation lists. Since they tore the auditorium down there isn’t much left to work with. There must be more important properties than this to focus resources on.
They are putting in stadium seating? That’s really first-class. I hope the community rallies around the Kings and makes of good use of it. Not every city is lucky enough to have a facility of this caliber.
You’re being a snot atb. There’s no reason you need to come to a preservation-related web site and make comments directly against what many here believe. What is to be accomplished besides riling people up?
If you have further comments along these lines I suggest setting up your own thread on Blogspot or Wordpress.
For my two cents I think it’s a shame Philadelphia isn’t saving the last movie palace as a civic showplace. It isn’t all about the bottom line, and I know very well there are worse things a municipality could spend money on.
First off I don’t understand why they are spending the money to build a new cinema complex. Every year it seems that film exhibition becomes a tougher business, with more and more direct to video, etc.
Second off I think it’s a shame the City of Philadelphia didn’t save one classic palace as a civic showplace. The Boyd is the last one. Once it is gone there is no coming back.
Here in Chicago plenty of old theaters have been torn down, make no mistake about it. But some nice ones were retained in various parts of the city and they definitely add something.
Discussion continues. This has been tossed around for enough years now that I think they’ll eventually make something happen. As long as I’ve been alive Evanston has had a large arts contingent.
These old Chicago hotels have been rapidly going away over the last fifteen years. My guess is the Covent building will soon either be renovated or demolished.
Shore Bank, which ran it’s headquarters out of the old Jeffrey Building, collapsed during the financial crisis and I believe the remains were brokered through FDIC. I saw an article in Crain’s the other day stating that the new owners plan to sell the Jeffrey Building. Shore Bank was a nice idea that was probably never going to work. Their whole business proposition was based on writing mortgages for people in distressed neighborhoods. You’d have to show me a lot of numbers before I would ever put any stock in that idea.
Carranza seems like the type of guy who thinks he can do what he wants and always smooth it over when opposition arises. The world doesn’t really work that way however. There is always a day of reckoning and it seems like his may now have arrived.
Here is a report prepared for the city by some consulting firm in July, 2011. In it they discuss reactivating the balcony space for theater use while keeping stores in the ground floor:
Best photo I’ve ever seen of the front. It was nicer than I thought.
Man. It looks more like a marina than a theater parking lot.
I know full well you can’t save every old theater. But this was such a nice room that it’s a shame they couldn’t have done better. I suppose if it had to be this or the Majestic they probably picked the better of the two. But I wish they had finished the job. They should have either torn the facade down or disassembled it and put it back up where it didn’t look like a stuffed deer head on someone’s trophy wall.
I’d have to say in this case the new development is better for the neighborhood. The Mode wasn’t much to begin with, it was never going to be a theater again, and it was run down when they demolished it. The condos aren’t anything special. But they are bright and new and seem to be reasonably occupied. Now if only Thorek Hospital would stop buying property and land-banking it the neighborhood might completely fill in.
Wow. A picture of the Doors at the Fillmore. Quite a piece of history. Their music was pretty good. It’s a shame those guys all burned out so young. The Rolling Stones managed not to kill themselves and made a lot more good music. Led Zeppelin managed a fair stretch too before finally meeting tragedy.
Look at those guys. Sitting on a filthy sidewalk against a boarded up store and loving every minute of it. It’s funny to look back with more experienced eyes on what you thought was cool when you were eighteen years old.
I wonder how much success that recruiter had selling people from inside a dilapidated old theater. Knowing those guys I suppose it probably didn’t matter too much.
It really is dumb. Having a showplace civic auditorium is a big plus for city image. Here in Chicago we have several beautiful auditoriums, including the Chicago Theater which is pretty much a full-fledged symbol of the city. They are seen on TV, in movies, by tourists, theater-goers, private parties, etc. If they had a bunch left in Philly I wouldn’t have much to say. But this is their last shot and apparently they blew it. Even Detroit, where God knows errors have been made, got this one right. You know it is pretty bad when you finish behind the Motor City.
The guy running the church looks like a real piece of work:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/06/megachurch-pastor-creflo-dollar-charged-with-attacking-his-daughter/1#.UypGD4XYXQo
I think there are two keys to future success: 1) support of the government and 2) creative and intelligent management.
Obviously they have number 1 or the project never would have gotten done. Hopefully number 2 will materialize.
There are so many ways a building of this size and grandeur can be used. One example is for weddings. Several old theaters I am aware of seem to be benefiting from that. My hope is that they will hire a manager who understands and has the hustle to go out and form business relationships.
If they just sit there and wait for big bookings to roll in I’m not sure things will work out very well. Nationwide it seems like there is competition for business and I doubt New York City is an exception.
I’m also not sure they can expect it to be strictly profitable all the time. It may be. But if it isn’t every year and still adds to the community that really isn’t a bad thing. Tax dollars are supposed to be spent on projects that make taxpayer’s lives better.
I can see the residents wanting something more upscale than McDonald’s there. But I don’t understand why the Jeffrey makes any preservation lists. Since they tore the auditorium down there isn’t much left to work with. There must be more important properties than this to focus resources on.
They are putting in stadium seating? That’s really first-class. I hope the community rallies around the Kings and makes of good use of it. Not every city is lucky enough to have a facility of this caliber.
You’re being a snot atb. There’s no reason you need to come to a preservation-related web site and make comments directly against what many here believe. What is to be accomplished besides riling people up?
If you have further comments along these lines I suggest setting up your own thread on Blogspot or Wordpress.
For my two cents I think it’s a shame Philadelphia isn’t saving the last movie palace as a civic showplace. It isn’t all about the bottom line, and I know very well there are worse things a municipality could spend money on.
First off I don’t understand why they are spending the money to build a new cinema complex. Every year it seems that film exhibition becomes a tougher business, with more and more direct to video, etc.
Second off I think it’s a shame the City of Philadelphia didn’t save one classic palace as a civic showplace. The Boyd is the last one. Once it is gone there is no coming back.
Here in Chicago plenty of old theaters have been torn down, make no mistake about it. But some nice ones were retained in various parts of the city and they definitely add something.
Discussion continues. This has been tossed around for enough years now that I think they’ll eventually make something happen. As long as I’ve been alive Evanston has had a large arts contingent.
http://evanston.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/could-northlight-theater-return-to-evanston
These old Chicago hotels have been rapidly going away over the last fifteen years. My guess is the Covent building will soon either be renovated or demolished.
Wow. It was so nice. By the time I attended in the 90’s it was split in half and kind of dumpy.
Goldman Sachs is involved? Nobody is happier than I am to see this happening. But it still isn’t clear to me how the deal came together.
Shore Bank, which ran it’s headquarters out of the old Jeffrey Building, collapsed during the financial crisis and I believe the remains were brokered through FDIC. I saw an article in Crain’s the other day stating that the new owners plan to sell the Jeffrey Building. Shore Bank was a nice idea that was probably never going to work. Their whole business proposition was based on writing mortgages for people in distressed neighborhoods. You’d have to show me a lot of numbers before I would ever put any stock in that idea.
Apparently now being used as a nightclub three nights a week:
http://newyork.backpage.com/Bars/paradise-theater-will-now-also-be-paradise-super-club/28498344
I wish they hadn’t done that. I was hoping one day someone might come up with a solid reuse idea for the lobby.
Restaurants also fail as often as they succeed. So hopefully the ornamentation doesn’t end up in a dumpster next year.
That video is great. It shows exactly where the theater was on the block.
I can’t believe this is actually happening. I just hope it doesn’t end up being another church.
However things turn out this is fantastic news.
Carranza seems like the type of guy who thinks he can do what he wants and always smooth it over when opposition arises. The world doesn’t really work that way however. There is always a day of reckoning and it seems like his may now have arrived.
Here is a report prepared for the city by some consulting firm in July, 2011. In it they discuss reactivating the balcony space for theater use while keeping stores in the ground floor:
http://www.evanston1stward.org/sites/default/files/IL_Evanston–Evaluation_of_the_Varsity_Theatres_potential_use_as_a_performing_arts_center–final_report.pdf