As I recall from my childhood, there were two movie theaters in Batavia – The Dipson and Mancuso’s (both on Main Street). The Dipson was far superior, with a grand marquee illuminated by bright lights and seemingly emanating the perpetual and irresistible aroma of freshly popped popcorn you could smell from blocks away. At Christmas, Sylvania would hold a special event for the families of its employees at the Dipson, which had a stage and full proscenium with curtain. Cartoons, and usually a Disney film were screened, and then Santa made an appearance on stage and proceeded to give a really nice gift to every child in attendance. This theater maintained and exuded “movie magic” in its design and decoration. It wasn’t quite a movie palace, but it was close. When urban renewal came along, The Dipson was razed to make room for the mall (and we’ve all observed what a success the mall has turned out to be!). Mancuso converted their Main Street facility to two screens, placing the projection booths off-axis to the screens due to limited space, ensuring that all films projected from that point forward would be partially out of focus. Then they opened the mall theaters, and I think converted the Main Street facility back to one screen, running both the mall and Main Street theaters for a while. The original Mancuso Main street theater is the one that’s now used as a church. The mall in Batavia is a monument to the knuckleheads who managed to turn a vibrant, small-city downtown into a ghost town. It’s like the rotting carcass of an architectural dinosaur…and it actually does smell a bit. I’m glad Dipson Theaters are back in Batavia, though.
As I recall from my childhood, there were two movie theaters in Batavia – The Dipson and Mancuso’s (both on Main Street). The Dipson was far superior, with a grand marquee illuminated by bright lights and seemingly emanating the perpetual and irresistible aroma of freshly popped popcorn you could smell from blocks away. At Christmas, Sylvania would hold a special event for the families of its employees at the Dipson, which had a stage and full proscenium with curtain. Cartoons, and usually a Disney film were screened, and then Santa made an appearance on stage and proceeded to give a really nice gift to every child in attendance. This theater maintained and exuded “movie magic” in its design and decoration. It wasn’t quite a movie palace, but it was close. When urban renewal came along, The Dipson was razed to make room for the mall (and we’ve all observed what a success the mall has turned out to be!). Mancuso converted their Main Street facility to two screens, placing the projection booths off-axis to the screens due to limited space, ensuring that all films projected from that point forward would be partially out of focus. Then they opened the mall theaters, and I think converted the Main Street facility back to one screen, running both the mall and Main Street theaters for a while. The original Mancuso Main street theater is the one that’s now used as a church. The mall in Batavia is a monument to the knuckleheads who managed to turn a vibrant, small-city downtown into a ghost town. It’s like the rotting carcass of an architectural dinosaur…and it actually does smell a bit. I’m glad Dipson Theaters are back in Batavia, though.