Neighborhood theaters and Drive-in Movies

BlueTrain said:

I just glanced at the theater issue. "The last picture show" is not a happy description.

As I see it, the problem of all of those small towns, and I'm from one of them, is simply that the main employer has gone away. It doesn't have to go to China, but merely 75 miles away. That's all it takes. It's more than that, of course, and there's no way the clock is going to be turned back. Once upon a time the train station was an important place in almost every town, even tiny ones. Then one day the train didn't stop there anymore. Nobody noticed because they were all out for a Sunday drive. But Main Street was still busy. So busy, in fact, that you had trouble finding a parking spot, and it took for ever just to drive from one side of town to the other, where you knew of a store that was open on Sunday. Then someone built a big store outside of town--or outside of the next town over, the big town where the television station was. It was great! They had everything and the prices were lower than the stores back home.

But when you got back home, you noticed the old stores were starting to close. But you never like them anyway. And before you knew it, things were really different in your hometown. You couldn't quite put your finger on when it happened, either. It might have been when the 4th of July came and went and there was no fireworks display at the local swimming pool. Or when you realized there had been no Christmas parade. What happened?

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BlueTrain said:

Most buildings and homes don't make it into architechtual or decorating magazines. That narrows it down a bit. The neighbors quickly cease to be important. Ultimately the one paying the bills has to be pleased, mostly.

I mentioned Philip Johnson's Glass House, which I have not visited. The house is hard describe but it clearly isn't a blank canvas. I does come close to being a stage, however. One review did report the cabinets in the kitchen and elsewhere showed heavy use. So do most stage floors.

One family back in West Virginia that were not related to me but I had known since childhood had a sort of vacation place in the country near where I lived. It was basically an oversized garage. It even had garage doors. When they retired, they built a very nice ranch-style house attached to the old building, which they retained. The house had an all-white, sunken living room and this was in the country. I don't think it was ever used but at least nothing was covered in plastic.

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LizzieMaine said:

Our theatre was actually *in* Architectural Digest eleven years ago -- February 2006 issue, for those keeping score at home -- and in terms of sheer looks, the designers of the renovation did a fine job. But they designed the place specifically to get it into AD, and having accomplished that purpose, we who were left with the responsibility of actually running the building were left hanging.

I've lost track of the problems -- an HVAC system that was designed for a factory environment, not a small theatre, and which has been nothing but trouble since the day it was turned on, poor airflow that results in negative pressure at the door that's so strong patrons can't pull the doors open at certain times of year, a complete lack of grease vents at the concession stand so that the popcorn oil condenses on the ceiling and has to be manually scoured away, plumbing that runs upward thru an outside wall and is prone to freezing and rupturing when there's an extended cold spell, and a projection booth with no means for venting the heat from auxiliary equipment outside without removing the porthole glass. And absolutely inexplicably, no access to the roof from inside the building. Every day that goes by some new thing appears that causes me to shake my fist and curse the people who designed the renovation. Bah.

They didn't interview me for the AD article.

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Haversack said:

The post-war demand for housing led to a lot of innovation and experimentation in construction. One of the more interesting technologies was the Tournalayer. This was a giant concrete form on wheels that could cast a reinforced concrete house in 24 hours. See here for one in action.

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LizzieMaine said:

Our theatre was actually *in* Architectural Digest eleven years ago -- February 2006 issue, for those keeping score at home -- and in terms of sheer looks, the designers of the renovation did a fine job. But they designed the place specifically to get it into AD, and having accomplished that purpose, we who were left with the responsibility of actually running the building were left hanging.

I've lost track of the problems -- an HVAC system that was designed for a factory environment, not a small theatre, and which has been nothing but trouble since the day it was turned on, poor airflow that results in negative pressure at the door that's so strong patrons can't pull the doors open at certain times of year, a complete lack of grease vents at the concession stand so that the popcorn oil condenses on the ceiling and has to be manually scoured away, plumbing that runs upward thru an outside wall and is prone to freezing and rupturing when there's an extended cold spell, and a projection booth with no means for venting the heat from auxiliary equipment outside without removing the porthole glass. And absolutely inexplicably, no access to the roof from inside the building. Every day that goes by some new thing appears that causes me to shake my fist and curse the people who designed the renovation. Bah.

They didn't interview me for the AD article.

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Inkstainedwretch said:

Up north of me in Santa Fe an old friend, George R.R. Martin, bought an old, abandoned theater and spiffed it up as the "Jean Cocteau." Like Lizzie's it runs classic and art films, usually with guests like directors and actors or film scholars to run a whole program for a single film. It's been a huge success. Of course, it's nice to have George's sort of wealth to be able to support such a hobby.

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