Went to meet my wife for lunch today, and was about 40 minutes early. Drove around downtown for a bit and past the old theatre. Noticed a possible way in so parked across the street and hopped out.
There were a lot of people around, from construction workers, and pokemon hunters, add to the fact I was wearing a bright safety orange long sleeve shirt, I looked like a six foot pumpkin walking around. People finally cleared out and I slipped in. Then realized my flashlight was in my car.
So, back to car and repeat the whole process. Only had about 15 minutes to walk around, I intend to go back soon.
A little history, this building was built in two parts, the first part was built in the 1920s (another source says 1913), this was the area I was in. The other, shorter section was added on in 1940. I did not look for access to this area due to time. The property is currently tied up in an ownership dispute. The original owner passed away recently and the will in under contention.
The owner's parents are reported to have met at this theatre. He was well known in our town, I grew up a few blocks from his house, once a year he would have the city close the street and have a party for the neighborhood, this party still continues after his death. He would invite people into his house to watch movies in his personal theatre during these parties. He was quite the renaissance man, in 1957 he was a featured harpsichord player for on of the large city orchestras here in Texas. He also at one time designed serviced and installed pipe organs, this helps some of the photos make sense.
One more note of the building. When I was younger, around ten or so my family would come here to watch plays. It was converted from a movie theatre to a live play theatre around 1985 or so. The theatre company is still operating today but have moved to a more modern facility. Now I take my ten year old son to see plays there.
1. This is the front of the building. During research I have found that the two story building to the right was also owned by the same man and is possibly vacant currently. I will look into this!
1.TheatreFront by
Road Extx, on Flickr
2. A pic from the doorway prior to getting my flashlight. Note the writing on the boxes.
2.FromDoor by
Road Extx, on Flickr
3. The view from the stage to where the seating used to be.
4.AuditoriumFromStage by
Road Extx, on Flickr
4. Unexpected, an old pipe organ. A Wurlitzer Theatre Organ, according to Wikipedia these were made from 1914 to 1943. I plan to grab information from it on a future visit to see if I can track down more information on this particular organ.
5.Organ by
Road Extx, on Flickr
5. Organ stool
6.OrganStool by
Road Extx, on Flickr
6. Concession stand. I used to sell and deliver beer kegs during high school and college. We had several home accounts with similar refrigerator conversions.
7.Concession by
Road Extx, on Flickr
7. View from the concession stand. The box office is to the right, this is where the glare is coming from. The windows are not covered, and me in my pumpkin shirt did not linger.
8.FromConcession by
Road Extx, on Flickr
8. Hallway between the lobby and seating area, and another organ.
9.Hallway by
Road Extx, on Flickr
9. Seating area. I do not know what that thing was, some sort of drum? Another on the list for the next visit.
10.TowardsStage by
Road Extx, on Flickr
10. Yet another organ, just inside the exterior doors in the lobby.
11.SecondOrgan by
Road Extx, on Flickr
11. Stairs to balcony. Note that I am six feet tall about 260lbs. I had some concern going upstairs. lol
12.Stairs by
Road Extx, on Flickr
12. The view from the top of the stairs of the balcony.
13.TopOfStairs by
Road Extx, on Flickr
13. The old neon light tubes that used to be outside. Was amazed to find these in tact.
14.Neon by
Road Extx, on Flickr
14. Control booth.
15.ControlBooth by
Road Extx, on Flickr
15. View of the stage from the balcony area. Note all those boxes on the stage, they are storage/shipping boxes for the organ tubes. These tubes were EVERYWHERE, ranging in sizes from small to "crap thats big".
16FromBalcony by
Road Extx, on Flickr
Hope you enjoyed these pictures. As stated I plan to return with more time and some better equipment!