Page 30 - CR

Strand - Key West

he roadside sign said “Blythe” and Like here in Australia, there are many Unlike Australia and New Zealand,
Tlisted the population as 21,000. theatres that have been put to other it seems that very few theatres
After negotiating the freeways of uses. The beautiful Strand Theatre have been taken over by religious
Los Angeles and driving the 350kms (1925) in the main street of Key West, groups. The only one we saw was
to within 5kms of the California – now houses a Walgreen’s Pharmacy. the former Wilson Theatre (1925) in
Arizona border, this seemed to be a Many aspects of the old cinema have Fresno, California.
good-sized town in which to spend been retained and the restored facade is
the first night of our road trip from quite striking on Duval Street. Interestingly, the Wilson has a link with
LA to Florida. Australia, as its (1925) Wurlitzer organ
In New Orleans, the corner of Canal was relocated to the Hayden Orpheum
Of course the possibility of a cinema had and Rampart Streets houses three large in Cremorne, Sydney in 1987.
to be checked – it was there, but all closed theatres - all currently vacant. The
up and for sale. This became a common 4000-seat Saenger Theater (1927) was
theme throughout our trip. in the process of being refurbished for
reopening in late 2011. On the opposite
The first large city we ventured into side of street is Loews State Theatre
was Phoenix, to see the magnificent (1926) and the Joy Theatre (1947).
Orpheum Theatre (1929). Its Spanish Both looked poorly and were for sale.
Baroque styling was restored and the
theatre was reopened in 1997. Although We were fortunate that the Joy’s
relatively small for a large city theatre, manager was on hand and happy to
the 1300-seat auditorium is now mainly turn on the lights and let us inspect the Wilson - Fresno
used for live performances. auditorium. Needless to say, he was
looking for a couple of rich Aussies to All up we managed to inspect and
Orpheum - Phoenix buy the place – unfortunately we had photograph over 40 cinemas, without
to decline! The Joy is now showing spending too much time chasing them –
the effects of the eight years it has been after all it was meant to be a holiday! +
closed, which was prior to Hurricane
Katrina devastating the area. Report & Photographs by Mike Trickett.

The magnificent Capitan (1949) in the
Houston suburb of Pasadena stands there
in a nearly empty shopping centre looking
for a new owner. The exterior has been
restored, but internally from what we could
see through the dirty glass doors, is in pretty
poor condition.

Capitan - Pasedena

Joy - New Orleans

30 2011 CINEMAREC ORD