{"id":566,"date":"2010-08-12T21:56:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T21:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/?p=566"},"modified":"2010-08-12T22:02:38","modified_gmt":"2010-08-12T22:02:38","slug":"forgotten-americana-a-familiar-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/2010\/08\/12\/forgotten-americana-a-familiar-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgotten Americana: A Familiar Story"},"content":{"rendered":"
Today’s photos\u00a0are a departure from\u00a0our usual Orange County centric content, but retain a personal link for this writer. The pictures, from the Library of Congress collection,\u00a0depict Pittsfield, Massachusetts’s Capital Theatre (circa 1997), shortly before the venue’s demolition.<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 .\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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The Capital’s history is\u00a0typical of countless grand single screens of the “golden era”. Opened in the 1920’s, when every\u00a0downtown of note featured\u00a0at least one impressive cinema (usually several), the Capital was one of five major theatres that once lined Pittsfield’s “main drag”, North Street. A former MGM house, the theatre remained a highly popular and successful movie going destination for\u00a0nearly fifty years. However, by the\u00a0close of the\u00a01970’s,\u00a0a struggling\u00a0local economy and declining main street saw the Capital fall from it’s\u00a0once prestigious perch;\u00a0a problematic scenario\u00a0made\u00a0all the worse with the arrival of a multiplex.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
By the time I\u00a0crossed paths with the Capital, in the early 80’s, the venue was nearing it’s final\u00a0years and existed as more of a symbol of what once was in the\u00a0city. No longer a\u00a0top draw, the theatre had been reduced to showing\u00a0near second run faire, to consistently sparse audiences. However, even in heavy decline, the theatre retained a certain charm which was sorely lacking\u00a0at the bustling multiplex.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
While I surely spent most of my movie going youth\u00a0at the multiplex, utilizing the Capital’s marquee as a rain cover far more\u00a0than entryway to entertainment, this was the theatre\u00a0which spurred my earliest interest in cinemas. Be it the cavernous 1,338 seat auditorium, heavy velvet drapery, or\u00a0bi gone luxury, there was\u00a0something about the place\u00a0that\u00a0fascinated me. Even the\u00a0wear and disrepair, which turned away your average movie goer, seemed to draw my attention. Unfortunately, my burgeoning\u00a0interest was never explored to\u00a0any great extent and I never truly appreciated this dimming bit of Americana; taking for granted that the Capital would always be there.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
The Capital Theatre went dark\u00a0in the mid 80’s and sat,\u00a0silently decaying, for another\u00a0ten years. By the time anyone\u00a0even thought of saving\u00a0one of the city’s crown jewels, neglect and\u00a0too many New England winters had taken far too great a toll.\u00a0 In 1997, the auditorium was razed and much of the\u00a0street side structure was gutted; making way for a new community senior center.\u00a0Today, the marquee and facade remain\u00a0intact, but lead to little more than office space and a parking lot.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
The Capital Theatre may have existed on the other side of the country, within a vastly differing community, but it’s story is somewhat universal. Be it Orange County, California\u00a0or Pittsfield, Massachusetts, we rarely appreciate our\u00a0living history until it has passed.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s photos\u00a0are a departure from\u00a0our usual Orange County centric content, but retain a personal link for this writer. The pictures, from the Library of Congress collection,\u00a0depict Pittsfield, Massachusetts’s Capital Theatre (circa 1997), shortly before the venue’s demolition. . \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 . \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 .\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 The Capital’s history is\u00a0typical of countless grand single […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cinema-memories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":577,"href":"https:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566\/revisions\/577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinelog.org\/cinelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}