583 Comments Posted by mike

Nice work on the shot. Love that you got it and stayed out of the mirror.

That's not really decay on the plastic but years of use. How much fun must this have been back in the day!!

I was referencing the value as reusable projection equipment, but definitely understand about the collectable value. I have been bitten by that bug before as well. If this building were ever saved, one of these would be a nice addition to the lobby...

It's always a little strange how one part like this of a building could be fine with a little cleaning and the rest looks abandoned for 50 years.

Is that a curved hardwood floor too!? Cool if it is.

You can see the transom light socket clearly in this one... Can't say I have noticed that in other locations before.

It to keep a giant door from hitting the wall when being opened. :)

More creepy hospitals are great, but I love the old theatres! Thanks as always.

Interesting they didn't use the original holes for the replacement neon.

As to why the place likely went under, it's all but impossible for a single screen theatre to survive these days. Actually, it was almost impossible even 30 years ago when so many were closing. It's hard to get film. The investment for modern projection/sound is high (even the move from carbon to xenon lamps which didn't happen here and forget about the move to digital).
You also saw a lot of cases where the owners got old and retired/passed and there was no one who wanted to take it over. It was a lot of work and after the 50's - 60's it wasn't easy to even break even. You saw a lot of older couples running local theatres as their retirement hobby...

The cardboard must have been put there after it closed or when some final maintenance (like oiling) was done. Cardboard there when the lamp is running would have been burned within seconds.

I know we all hate to see this kind of equipment rotting away. While old theatre seats and similar customer facing items have value, old projection equipment is essentially worthless. There isn't a single item here that would be of any use to a modern (or even less than modern) theatre. Most of that equipment is so heavy it isn't even worth hauling out for scrap prices.

The round numbered column in the center is where the bottles would be filled. The capper doesn't look to be present. The filler would spin as the same speed as the line so everything was always moving even while being filled. The capper would likely have been stand alone a few feet away from the end of the filler section and would have had a large hopper on top to hold the caps being fed down into the machine. After the bottles are filled and capped, they would go through a label machine which would grab a label and apply it. The bottle would usually go through a brush to ensure the edges of the label are pushed down. From there the bottles are dropped into 6 pack holders and then into cases. It's like watching a symphony.

Those are lights on the arms so it probably looked pretty nice at night.

It's actually surprising that they got any rides out. All of the electronics would have been destroyed by the water and if there was any chance of corrosion or other damage to the ride structure, the future liability would have been too great.

Hopefully no morgue though. :)