I don't take enough pictures of such places but one of the places I try to locate in a city is an old theater, especially if it is in a downtown setting. It's even more interesting to me if it is a small town place.
There is something about the ornate architecture of the front, or the marquee and the bright paint on the sign, or the wooden doors, or the flashing lights, or some combination of all of them that harkens us back to a simpler time.
Once upon a time, perhaps an old western would have been shown there, or a classic film from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Or, maybe, the setting lent itself to a music group on a stage. Perhaps, if the building were old enough, a Wurlitzer organ would have filled the hall with sounds never before heard.
The theatre is a place that gives the promise of something magical that will happen inside to stir the soul and take us to a world that is fresh and inviting to us. It's a place where the people come together to put cares behind for a couple of hours and build a shared and communal experience there.
Some places have closed now with only ghosts occupying the innards of the build. Other communities have worked to preserve them, and in a sense, preserve their history. For a place without arts is a place that will lose its soul.
Here are some of the archive photos I have from my travels over the past few years
Paramount Center for the Arts, Bristol, TN
Buchanan Theatre, Buchanan, VA
Earle Theatre, Mt. Airy, NC
Carter Family Fold, Hiltons, VA
The Alamo, Newnan, GA
New Daisy Theatre, Memphis, TN
Pearis, Pearisburg, VA
The Grandin Theatre, Roanoke, VA
The James F. Dean Community Theater, Summerville, SC
Orpheum Theatre, Memphis, TN
Indiana Theater Event Center, Terre Haute, IN
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