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lazypadawanLast year I posted about the landmark The Senator theater in Baltimore being in trouble. Now it's in HUGE trouble. The bank is going to foreclose on the 70-year-old movie house (one of the few theaters that has shown all 6 SW films in their first run) and put it up for auction on April 20 unless someone coughs up the $900K the theater owes the bank.
There's more about it here:
http://www.senator.com/
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/bal-senator-theatre-0323,0,6548157.story
With the economy being what it is, the weaker businesses go belly-up first. The Senator might be one of those things everybody in Baltimore holds near and dear but not enough people see movies there. It's a massive single screen theater. I'm not 100% certain, but The Uptown in Washington, D.C. is smaller, and unlike The Senator, it has been owned by a national theater chain for years. The Uptown is right off of a Metro stop and it's in a neighborhood with a mix of stores, offices, and residences. The Senator is kind of out of the way in an aging neighborhood, unless some gentrification happened since my last sojourn there in 2002.
I liked the mom and pop indie feel of the theater. It was fun to see its unique SW posters, tickets, and t-shirts. But it's not a business model than can survive over the long term. And I don't think it's up to the City of Baltimore to save it. Let the theater go up for auction and find somebody who can turn the place into something usable, like a multi-use venue where they can show classic movies and feature live music. There's an old time theater down the street from where I live that is a Barnes and Noble bookstore. Beats tearing it down or keeping it an abandoned condo for rats.
There's more about it here:
http://www.senator.com/
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/bal-senator-theatre-0323,0,6548157.story
With the economy being what it is, the weaker businesses go belly-up first. The Senator might be one of those things everybody in Baltimore holds near and dear but not enough people see movies there. It's a massive single screen theater. I'm not 100% certain, but The Uptown in Washington, D.C. is smaller, and unlike The Senator, it has been owned by a national theater chain for years. The Uptown is right off of a Metro stop and it's in a neighborhood with a mix of stores, offices, and residences. The Senator is kind of out of the way in an aging neighborhood, unless some gentrification happened since my last sojourn there in 2002.
I liked the mom and pop indie feel of the theater. It was fun to see its unique SW posters, tickets, and t-shirts. But it's not a business model than can survive over the long term. And I don't think it's up to the City of Baltimore to save it. Let the theater go up for auction and find somebody who can turn the place into something usable, like a multi-use venue where they can show classic movies and feature live music. There's an old time theater down the street from where I live that is a Barnes and Noble bookstore. Beats tearing it down or keeping it an abandoned condo for rats.
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Oh no....
Date: 2009-04-03 03:28 pm (UTC)It's almost MORE painful to see a glorious showpiece turned into a box store...
Here's hoping the owner loosens up to the idea of Landmark status and someone with a bit of ready and a love for the classic theartres can save it.
Re: Oh no....
Date: 2009-04-04 01:31 am (UTC)