Abandoned theaters provide economic development to citiesDate: 6/27/2022 The Calvin, The Rivoli, The Bing, The Garden, The Amherst, The Paramount, The Casino – all theaters that were once operated by Western Massachusetts’ Theaters, a local company whose decision to walk away from properties continues to affect communities to this day.
I was thinking about the history and effect the changes in the movie industry had on businesses such as this one and in the communities they served while I was standing in The Victory in Holyoke last week waiting for gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Maura Healey.
In 1979, the company that owned The Victory shuttered the building and walked away. The company essentially did the same with many of its other properties.
The problem was the single-screen movie theater was a dinosaur. It was designed to have bills that changed as many as twice or three times a week. In the 1970s the film industry was adopting theater complexes that could have multiple screens to show several films at the same time. The industry’s business model was changing as well, as there was a shift to bigger, more expensive films that offered a greater chance to compete against TV.
Going downtown to watch a double feature or a kiddie matinee was a thing of the past.
All of these theaters by the 1970s and 1980s were second-run theaters, showing films once they had left larger cinemas. They offered quality films at a less expensive ticket price. They were battered into extinction by the rise of home video, though.
Now you’re wondering why you’re getting a lesson about film history. It’s simple. The closing of these theaters affected every downtown area in which they were located. The closings threw people out of work, eliminated a reason for people to come into a downtown area, and since the company simply walked away, there were now problems with abandoned buildings and loss of property taxes.
It was a huge economic development challenge faced by all the cities where these theaters were located.
When I worked at the Wistariahurst Museum in the 1980s, I went through The Victory. It was filled with leftover posters, handbills, etc. There were water leaks that had filled dressing rooms. Pigeon feces caked the staircases. Homeless people had broken in. It was a very sad mess.
There have been talks since that time to restore the theater and in 2009 MIFA bought the theater to reopen it as both a legitimate theater and movie house.
The problem has been money. Yes, progress has been made in sealing the building from water damage and cleaning it up inside, but millions of dollars must be allocated to finish the project.
People in Holyoke see how the renovated and re-designed Amherst Cinemas has become an integral part of downtown Amherst. The renovated Calvin has helped Northampton. The Garden in Greenfield is still running but has been converted into multiple screens.
That’s the good news. The valiant effort to re-purpose The Bing into an arts center in Springfield was killed not just by the coronavirus pandemic but by a lack of public funding. The Rivoli in Chicopee is just sitting there with a proposed development stalled. The Casino in Ware was demolished. The Paramount in Springfield could be and is supposed to be redeveloped, but that project is apparently at a standstill.
Healey was at The Victory last week as part of her campaign for governor. Now, she seemed interested in the effort to bring theater back to life, but she didn’t promise anything.
Don Sanders the executive director of MIFA, said The Victory’s restoration back to a Broadway-style theater could mean the theater would be a stop for touring shows and draw a potential 70,000 people to the Paper City. That’s economic development for sure.
I am hoping this visit by Healey calls attention to the burden the abandonment of these properties has had on municipalities and the untapped potential they still have. And, if she is elected, I hope she will help those communities struggling with these buildings.
|
