For my dollar, or at least my 75-cent box seat ticket, the Colonial was one of the most bewitchingly beautiful theatres ever built. Although I’ve not updated the site in quite a while I posted a description on my theatre website some time back:
Quote from above:
a shame the theatre isn’t here in New York City, where it could serve a more discerning population and wouldn’t more or less go to waste
What an absolutely insulting thing to say! Richmond is a beautiful old city with a fine history. Although nowhere near New York’s size, it has a well-educated, lively and interesting population. Although a Baltimore native I lived for two delightful years in Richmond and, frankly, have never seen anything in Babylon-on-the-Hudson that could match Richmond for elegance and graciousness. If New York is so discerning, why are the Paramount and the Roxy gone? Of course New York is more metropolitan, but please, Camden, don’t write off Richmond just because it isn’t New York. The Byrd is not wasted on Richmond; nor is the Loew’s or the Mosque. It does seem, though, that the Paramount WAS wasted on New York.
RE: Tom’s June 7 posting, I believe that “My Fair Lady” played at the New. I’d have to do some extra research (darn, I just HATE doing that stuff! hehe) to give you the exact dates.
The 19th Street is a ‘20s, not a '50s, suburban theatre. It still features its original Moller organ and shows art and revival films while also housing the Civic Theatre.
Hey all—anyone have any photos of the Loew’s Lexington, or information about its organ? I have a record of Marsh McCurdy playing my favorite song, “Valencia”, on the Loew’s Lexington organ. (To be honest, it’s a pretty dull version of the song.)
It was quite common, years ago, for local Baltimore businesses to use the name of a landmark in their own names. Near the giant Hippodrome were the Hippodrome Cleaners and the Hippodrome Hatters. The Rex lives on in the form of its next-door neighbor, the New Rex Liquors. Not too many remember that the hulking building next door was once the Rex Theatre, which gave the booze shop its name.
Well, at least it’s not a parking lot. Unfortunately, the rather interesting facade has been covered up in Formstone (well, what do you expect in Baltimore? We love our Formstone!) and otherwise mangled. Still, the theatre seems to be well-preserved; I’d like to get a look at the interior.
I do hate to be cranky about such things, since this site really is all about our great picture palaces, but I would rather like to get some credit for my work: Mr. VanBibber’s post of 12/21/03 is taken from my (admittedly outdated) website. View link
That said, I’d like to applaud Mr. Van Bibber for his contributions to this site regarding Baltimore movie theatres.
Sadly, about 1/1000th of the Paramount still remains…there’s a sad little course of terra cotta still stuck to the building next door (which, years ago, was “Paramount Florist”) to the north. A sad end for one of Virginia’s great theatres.
The Barton organ still exists, though. When the Paramount closed it was moved to the Virginia Theatre in Alexandria, and when that closed in the early ‘80s it was moved to the Granada in Kansas City, Kansas. It was the last theatre organ that the Barton company built.
The Naro (built as the Colley—it’s on Colley Avenue) is a great theatre, but it’s far from being one of the oldest on the East Coast. It opened in ‘35 or '36; Norfolk itself has several theatres that are much older.
Actually, the Capitol originally advertised itself as being decorated in the Italian style. The organ was NOT a Wurlitzer—it was a Robert Morton. The Capitol remained one of the city’s premiere theatres despite its small size long after the big downtown theatres had become grind houses and was still showing first run pictures in the early ‘80s. However, it finally closed in '85 or '86. It was torn down because McDonald’s wanted to build a new store in the area. They then decided that the site wasn’t adequate after all, and tore down a '20s gas station. That wasn’t sufficient either and they built on an empty lot. Thanks, McDonald’s, for screwing Richmond out of two historic and beautiful buildings for no reason at all!
oh—from your friendly neighborhood English teacher:
“Capital” refers to a city which is the seat of government; e.g., Washington, London, Berlin, etc.
“Capitol” is the building that houses said government. The city of Washington is the capital of the U.S., the big domed white building in the (almost) center of Washington is the U.S. Capitol.
While I’m glad to see that something remains of the spectacular Capitol Theatre (NYC), it will look idiotic in the VERY moderne Uptown. The Capitol was a baroque gilt-and-crystal palace of 1919; the Uptown is decorated in a completely different and much more simple fashion. Imagine putting a moderne fixture in a Georgian mansion—it just wouldn’t work. Perhaps, if Loew’s hadn’t closed all of their older palace theatres, they’d be able to find a more appropriate home…
Poor old Grand—my favorite of all Baltimore’s neighborhood houses; the crown jewel of East Baltimore. Torn down to provide space for a library that the city will probably never get around to building.
I was in the Paramount for the first time about two years ago, and was pleasantly surprised to see how much remains of the theatre itself. It would surely take some work to get it back to its ‘28 appearance, but to make it usable as a theatre space probably wouldn’t be as tough—which could be a good interim prospect. Hopefully LIU realizes the importance of the place in Brooklyn’s life and won’t let it go to ruin. I’d love to get to see a show there and eat at Junior’s afterwards…
Hopefully, the renovation will be a little bit more sensitive than the ‘83 fix-up job. About the best that I can say for that is “at least it didn’t end up as a parking lot.” The Brenograph Juniors that projected the clouds were moved to allow for racks of lighting, so the clouds ran in panicked circles over the organ chambers rather than drifting lazily across the “sky.” The colors were more or less right, but too brightly lit, just looked garish. When I once complained about the overdone lighting, I was told by a pompous factotum of the Carpenter Center that I was obnoxious.
This said, the Loew’s (it was never really called “Loew’s Richmond”) is one of my favorite theatres. I’m thankful to the Carpenter Foundation for having made its preservation possible—but I do hope that this renovation does more to restore, and doesn’t do anything to destroy.
For my dollar, or at least my 75-cent box seat ticket, the Colonial was one of the most bewitchingly beautiful theatres ever built. Although I’ve not updated the site in quite a while I posted a description on my theatre website some time back:
www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/4836/colonial.html
Quote from above:
a shame the theatre isn’t here in New York City, where it could serve a more discerning population and wouldn’t more or less go to waste
What an absolutely insulting thing to say! Richmond is a beautiful old city with a fine history. Although nowhere near New York’s size, it has a well-educated, lively and interesting population. Although a Baltimore native I lived for two delightful years in Richmond and, frankly, have never seen anything in Babylon-on-the-Hudson that could match Richmond for elegance and graciousness. If New York is so discerning, why are the Paramount and the Roxy gone? Of course New York is more metropolitan, but please, Camden, don’t write off Richmond just because it isn’t New York. The Byrd is not wasted on Richmond; nor is the Loew’s or the Mosque. It does seem, though, that the Paramount WAS wasted on New York.
RE: Tom’s June 7 posting, I believe that “My Fair Lady” played at the New. I’d have to do some extra research (darn, I just HATE doing that stuff! hehe) to give you the exact dates.
The 19th Street is a ‘20s, not a '50s, suburban theatre. It still features its original Moller organ and shows art and revival films while also housing the Civic Theatre.
Hey all—anyone have any photos of the Loew’s Lexington, or information about its organ? I have a record of Marsh McCurdy playing my favorite song, “Valencia”, on the Loew’s Lexington organ. (To be honest, it’s a pretty dull version of the song.)
It was quite common, years ago, for local Baltimore businesses to use the name of a landmark in their own names. Near the giant Hippodrome were the Hippodrome Cleaners and the Hippodrome Hatters. The Rex lives on in the form of its next-door neighbor, the New Rex Liquors. Not too many remember that the hulking building next door was once the Rex Theatre, which gave the booze shop its name.
Well, at least it’s not a parking lot. Unfortunately, the rather interesting facade has been covered up in Formstone (well, what do you expect in Baltimore? We love our Formstone!) and otherwise mangled. Still, the theatre seems to be well-preserved; I’d like to get a look at the interior.
I do hate to be cranky about such things, since this site really is all about our great picture palaces, but I would rather like to get some credit for my work: Mr. VanBibber’s post of 12/21/03 is taken from my (admittedly outdated) website. View link
That said, I’d like to applaud Mr. Van Bibber for his contributions to this site regarding Baltimore movie theatres.
Sadly, about 1/1000th of the Paramount still remains…there’s a sad little course of terra cotta still stuck to the building next door (which, years ago, was “Paramount Florist”) to the north. A sad end for one of Virginia’s great theatres.
The Barton organ still exists, though. When the Paramount closed it was moved to the Virginia Theatre in Alexandria, and when that closed in the early ‘80s it was moved to the Granada in Kansas City, Kansas. It was the last theatre organ that the Barton company built.
The Naro (built as the Colley—it’s on Colley Avenue) is a great theatre, but it’s far from being one of the oldest on the East Coast. It opened in ‘35 or '36; Norfolk itself has several theatres that are much older.
Actually, the Capitol originally advertised itself as being decorated in the Italian style. The organ was NOT a Wurlitzer—it was a Robert Morton. The Capitol remained one of the city’s premiere theatres despite its small size long after the big downtown theatres had become grind houses and was still showing first run pictures in the early ‘80s. However, it finally closed in '85 or '86. It was torn down because McDonald’s wanted to build a new store in the area. They then decided that the site wasn’t adequate after all, and tore down a '20s gas station. That wasn’t sufficient either and they built on an empty lot. Thanks, McDonald’s, for screwing Richmond out of two historic and beautiful buildings for no reason at all!
oh—from your friendly neighborhood English teacher:
“Capital” refers to a city which is the seat of government; e.g., Washington, London, Berlin, etc.
“Capitol” is the building that houses said government. The city of Washington is the capital of the U.S., the big domed white building in the (almost) center of Washington is the U.S. Capitol.
While I’m glad to see that something remains of the spectacular Capitol Theatre (NYC), it will look idiotic in the VERY moderne Uptown. The Capitol was a baroque gilt-and-crystal palace of 1919; the Uptown is decorated in a completely different and much more simple fashion. Imagine putting a moderne fixture in a Georgian mansion—it just wouldn’t work. Perhaps, if Loew’s hadn’t closed all of their older palace theatres, they’d be able to find a more appropriate home…
Poor old Grand—my favorite of all Baltimore’s neighborhood houses; the crown jewel of East Baltimore. Torn down to provide space for a library that the city will probably never get around to building.
I was in the Paramount for the first time about two years ago, and was pleasantly surprised to see how much remains of the theatre itself. It would surely take some work to get it back to its ‘28 appearance, but to make it usable as a theatre space probably wouldn’t be as tough—which could be a good interim prospect. Hopefully LIU realizes the importance of the place in Brooklyn’s life and won’t let it go to ruin. I’d love to get to see a show there and eat at Junior’s afterwards…
Hopefully, the renovation will be a little bit more sensitive than the ‘83 fix-up job. About the best that I can say for that is “at least it didn’t end up as a parking lot.” The Brenograph Juniors that projected the clouds were moved to allow for racks of lighting, so the clouds ran in panicked circles over the organ chambers rather than drifting lazily across the “sky.” The colors were more or less right, but too brightly lit, just looked garish. When I once complained about the overdone lighting, I was told by a pompous factotum of the Carpenter Center that I was obnoxious.
This said, the Loew’s (it was never really called “Loew’s Richmond”) is one of my favorite theatres. I’m thankful to the Carpenter Foundation for having made its preservation possible—but I do hope that this renovation does more to restore, and doesn’t do anything to destroy.