Powering Up an Abandoned 1920s Theater
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- Опубликовано: 2 дек 2021
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In this episode we're exploring an abandoned theater built in 1926. Upon opening it was considered the greatest playhouse in the region.
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Развлечения
Urban Explorers - specifically, those such as yourselves - are a vital part to preserving history. Far too often, developers don't care enough to preserve any footage or photographs of what a building looked like before demolishing or "remodeling" it. Please, don't stop doing what you do. It's vital. Buildings like these are only becoming rarer.
They are but only because less people are caring.
Fr. We need to take notes Bc these buildings last so long. Plus just architectural history
Yes!
Wow. It deserves a full restoration & resurrection.
These places should be cherished, not destroyed.
Unfortunately, the fwits with all the money often have zero imagination or desire to do interesting, creative things. The only thing they know how to create is wealth for themselves.
Yes bc all they build now is crap
@@StubbyPhillips What if we can change all that for good?
@@texicanamerican9346 Not if the Retro Decade Revival Project is gonna turn the tables around for good.
Which is why the Retro Decade Revival Project is gonna bring full restoration and resurrection into full swing.
Theory, but I would say the chandeliers are mounted on winches so they can be lowered for cleaning. If the mounts failed, the shock load would have overloaded the wires, they wouldn't be hanging anymore.🤔
Every theatre I have worked in that has chandeliers has them on winches. Otherwise it would be a pain in the butt to replace dead lamps in them. Usually if you close the theatre down they will go ahead and lower them.
Agreed, I have a school amp theater I do maintenance in, and those have winches to lower them to change the bulbs.
When he said the chandeliers were falling I thought exactly what you are saying they can be lowered to clean and change bulbs. They either lowered them before closing or explorers did it later. If they were mounted in ceiling and wires fails they would of been smashed on the floor
100%
Hopefully they research for themselves or confirm other viewers, such as your, comments. Their videos are quite enjoyable to view but a little less ridiculous conclusions voiced aloud would increase the value.😜👍
It’s like you completed a video game side quest . . . But the game is living.
Tay I am pretty sure we have the same taste in youtube videos I see your comments everywhere! Youve got good taste
I see his comments on a surprising number of RUclips channels I've liked or subbed to for quite a while now. Tay knows quality!
chocolate game
a side quest, during the main story is always great.
"Sings " Chocolate Rain!
The theater fire you're talking about is the Iroquois Theater Fire, which occurred on December 30th, 1903. Killed 602 people, many women and children. Pretty horrific.
Damn, horrific for sure.
Horrible. Thanks for the info. Isn’t that the now so called Theater District?
Oh man, that’s a tragic read… en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois_Theatre_fire
Yeah, I was an event technician for an equipment rental/staging company before the world ended last year. They specifically taught us about this and the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in Cincinnati during our training.
The info about the stage curtains having asbestos reminded me of an old cartoon I watched as a child(I'm 33 now). It had toys performing on a small stage and I remember the curtain saying "ASBESTOS" and had often wondered why. Thanks Michael for solving a nearly 20 year mystery for me.
I saw a similar cartoon around the time that mesothelioma lawsuit ads were making the rounds on cable TV. So I see a theater curtain drop with the word “ASBESTOS” plastered on it, and me not knowing the historical context, I was like “wtf?”
Asbestos was magical back in the day. It was cheap, easy to mine, and had all sorts of uses, including insulation and fireproofing. It was even used as fake snow in Hollywood movies before cheaper plastic materials were made.
@@rupe53 That bit about it being used for fake snow made me cringe. Oh my god if only they knew....
It has that on it because the asbestos is used to fireproof the curtain, I recently had the same question but it was answered by some abandoned building website
This made me feel sad. The fact that it survived Katrina and had already been brought back to life once… really a cool building - thank you for sharing it with us!
They NEED to start preserving history not demolishing it. These older buildings are built to last.
What they need to do is step off with their modern codes. I can't stand seeing old historical places with modern industrial fire suppression stuff plastered all around. If anything, they need to allow exceptions for historical places to maybe custom make modern things that are code-legal, but styled of the applicable time period. Signs such as fire routes. OSHA needs to chill that emergency signs and whatnot need to all be some literal modern format with a certain font, etc. Those red things on walls you pull to start fire alarms, and the alarms and flashers their selves, why can't they be styled in an old-fashioned manner as long as they work? And they need to make exceptions for things that would involve totally altering the structure and appearance to meet modern BS. Put a damn sign on the front door that says something like "This place cannot possibly meet all modern building and fire codes while also keeping to its historical nature. We hold no liability should you be injured or die from a result of a lack of modern safety amenities. By entering this building, you agree that you hold full liability for your person and life."
@@timramich likely won't after notra dame.
@@czzuehlke No one was so much as injured from that.
@@timramich You had me in the first half until the whole sign thing “if a fire were to start that is your fault because we removed fire alarms made to warn you to exit the building and to alert fire fighters before the fire begins to get worse and spread, we removed the fire extinguisher specifically made to put out small fires before they can do bigger damage and because we removed the exit sign placed there to help you navigate where the exit is through the thick smoke. Whats that? A shooter got in because we lacked the security equipment to prevent them from entering and now they’ll never be caught to bring justice for the dead families because there was no security cameras? Your disabled and wheel chair bound and can’t experience the beauty of this place because there are no ramps and only miles of stairs? Too bad.” Do you ever think why the *safety* stuff is there? For your safety, shocker. I like the idea of making them more old fashioned themed but saying that they should be removed entirely puts you on the “we shouldn’t need vaccines” level of stupidity.
Indeed
My mother grew up here and remembers visiting this place. She says she remembers when the schools used to take kids there, and is sad that it is now abandoned
Late 90s - mid 00s this was one of the greatest rave venues in the world… Djs in the main room, the upstairs jungle room and the roof.. if you’ve never experienced a night in there, you could never imagine what this place looked and felt like on a Saturday night.
I love when people turn on power in abandoned buildings, it’s weirdly nostalgic.
Hey it would be dope if they bring their own generator to light up an abandoned places without getting caught
Ramping up their climate changing carbon footprint is NOT “nostalgic” it’s horrific!!!
@@HonorableBeniah-A shut up
@@djcraigg69 I salute you sir, for that succinct rebuttal to all those SJW gargoyles.
@@djcraigg69
This is why I love your channel....
"Well, it was shut down due to fire code issues, but by God we're gonna get this place fired back up and running again". You guys rock. 👍
I worked as a tech crew in an old theatre a lot like this one. Most of the time chandeliers in old theatres are on a chain and crank system so they can be lowered to change the bulbs. That’s how we did it at least and the theatre I worked in was built in the early 1900s. It’s still operating today.
Man the whole time those other kids were in there I was like “uhhh come on guys pack it up and get out of there, those kids are making too much noise they’re going to give you away….” Then I remember there’s a giant generator running on the roof 😂
Their presence and yammering was a total buzzkill.
I was a theater projectionist for 31 years. I was put out of business in 2012 by digital. You were essentially correct about how the platter system worked. It came into being in 1962 and, in conjunction with xenon lamps which replaced carbon arc, had put most union projectionists completely out of business by 1974. The third projector was for showing 3D, but later it could be shown by 2 projectors using special lenses which combined split images on each frame of 35mm film.
I also was a projectionist and then a theater manager for over a decade. The film would come on reels in large cans. We would take the film and splice it together using a special tape before using the auto wind machine to load the film onto the platters. The larger platters looked like a large pizza pie tray and we would thread the film thru the brain before threading it thru the projector and back to another auto wind platter. I actually miss the old days and 5he sound of the projectors. Digital projectors just can’t replicate the crisp picture that those old century projectors produced.
@@Darius25 I'm with you, my friend! Those were the days...
I worked at a theater in the late 90s. On Thursday afternoon or evening, the new releases would come in those cans with 3-4 smaller reels, ready to be spliced (or built in proj terms).
I got out before it went digital, but how are the movies received now? Are disks or some type of portable media sent to the theaters or is it downloaded?
@@johngilbanni6385 John, I'm not sure how they do it digitally. I only know that my theater got some kind of digital subscription service. Then they put two digital projectors on a table behind the projectionist's view port and synchronized them to project on the screen. We had a 3,000 watt Zenon lamp for projecting film. These two projectors, together, can't light-up half of that. I saw one movie there after they transitioned, and I will never go back. The picture was dark and crummy...
Xenon
I went to a show at this place in 2002. It is so crazy I remember so much of what you guys are walking through.
I remember going to raves there in 2000 the whole place would be packed with wierdos and glow sticks
311?
@@chronic2001n Rabbit in the Moon.
@@Deeznuts84356 yeah I might have been there too. They also had boxing matches....
Oh damn, the State Palace. I saw loads of bands there. And the raves that went on there were incredible. That was the place to go in the 90's.
It was the best raves i ever been to.
Freebass Society FTW
It's all fun and games until you hear
"FETCH ME THEIR SOULS."
Underrated comment
@@IRLZeni agreed bo2 was boss
So funny
That shot of the Hard Rock Hotel at the end there certainly was eerie. Remember reading up about it. Quite surreal how close this theater is to it.
Theater tech here: Those chandeliers are probably held up by wire ropes and winches or counterweights above the ceiling. Those can drop down so the bulbs could be changed, but the brakes on the winch drums have probably failed and the lights got dropped down to their lowest possible point.
High-Suspension Lighting monkey here: Its not their lowest point, but they are low. They have a central steel suspension cable interlaced with the electrical wire, and there is most likely a place along the lower walls where the winch system is located for cranking the lights up and down on. Usually some sort of medium to large-scaled drill-driver is used to raise or lower the chandeliers for both cleaning and lightbulb replacement purposes; a lot easier than looking for REALLY L-O-N-G step-ladders or genie-zoom-boom equipment to drag into place, set-up and use for the same purpose. They use a similar set-up for those high-reach centralize lighting pole systems you see on highways near cities with ring-roads around them or for major overpass/underpass interchanges. Hospitals and institutions also use them for park and lot lighting for large areas.
yep this. I have a old building with the same set up, still working to this day
(22:23) That is called a fly gallery! The "rigging" were set up so you could "fly" sets in and out of the view of the stage and bring in sets, walls, etc, to the floor of the stage.
1920s Art Deco is one of my favorite architectural types. I really hope it gets refurbished. I love modern architecture and I live in Philly and as were having a pretty big boom in development right now with the the Massive Schuylkill yards project and the bellwether district also the recent completion of the Comcast technology center is all ultra modern glass high rises but you still have things like the Art Museum and the Pennsylvania state house and it’s surrounding area which literally looks like a colonial village, it’s beautiful. Philly is so underrated as a city. It has expanded and grown so much to in my 27 years, it's basically a new city.
I bet this was absolutely beautiful in the beginning. A time when people dressed up and made an event of going to a theater
Hauntingly beautiful theater...especially with the lights turned on. It's sad that this place still got shut down after surviving Katrina. I was in New Orleans in 2007 and again in 2013, there are so many neat historical buildings there, I wonder if this place was still open when I was there the first time.
Hey 👋🏼
7:07 the Chandeliers are on winches so it’s easy to change the bulbs
Spent many late nights into early mornings in this place ( 98-05 ). I don't recall seats ever being on the ground level up front. I do remember ac running through vents in the floor to cool off ravers during the summer months though. For the few in here who got to experience this "Disco Donnie" era. We were very fortunate to party so hard in a venue like this. got some crazy good time stories to take with us from this place dont we? Salute my Plur family✌
Those were amazing days! You are right ... I don't recall those seats on the ground level ever being there.
I spent so much time in those walls and still have dreams that take place there. I would love to see it restored. Thanks for the visit.
I love the quality of these vids! It's so good that these buildings are documented before they're gone. You'll never see buildings with this much detail in modern times....
It looks absolutely mint! Especially for being abandoned for 15 years!
I just have to thank you both (and any collaborators you've had over time) for providing us with these films for as long as you have. They aren't just merely exploration shorts, they're very well shot and edited pieces of art. Few have come close to the very special vibe your channel has.
The effort to rig up the lights paid off - no other way to get these images and they are sublime! 👌
Also, that little suspense kick when those drunk blokes came in and it wasnt clear who it was. I liked that! 😬
The chandeliers arent hanging on by the electrical wire, though. They must be lowerable to change bulbs and thus always hang on a steel cable - somebody must have lowered them to this position. Would have been neat to find the mechanism for that.
What an absolute gem!! Top tier for sure!! The Hard Rock hotel collapse was very surreal to see. Thanks for sharing!!
The Dolby system you found was Type -A. Dolby Type-A was the first commercial noise reduction system for magnetic tape. I think it was developed in the 1950's or 1960's, still pretty neat as that is the beginning of the Dolby brand we know today.
That caught my eye that it was Dolby A, I remember there was B and C from the cassette tape era. Wasn't sure what the origins of A were.
Wikipedia says it was introduced in 1965.
Yes. iirc, The "A" was a professional system as described; the "B" and later "C" and "HX pro" were actually somewhat simplified offshoots on consumer compact cassettes. And of course Dolby™ has done many, many great things since. When I have given my old tapes a new listen on Dolby™ - equipped decks I realize that the consumer-level offering on compact cassette really did more harm than good to the over all sound quality. Or maybe my ears are getting old....(!)
I used to be a projectionist in a similar type of cinema in the uk many years ago. It always saddens me to see these places fall into disrepair and abandonment. The details and architecture that went into these old buildings is something you honestly don’t see anymore.
On a side note, the first cinema I ever worked in had Dolby A type Cat 22 cards as well, it read the analogue audio track on the left of the picture frame and created a 2 front channel and approximated rear channel. The shape of the sound stage resembled an A hence the name.
Great video guys, I love the work that you do
Remember the scratch and pop some of those older projectors had on the audio portion of the film when the film had already been run through someone else's projector and the monster "pro-jerk-tionist"hadn't bothered cleaning the audio pick-ups very often, resulting in dirt scratches across the film? Ugghh. 😖😖😖
@@steadholderharrington9035 it’s not like it was hard to clean the rollers for the sound head, though the scratch / pop issues were lessened when they changed the printing process and projectors had to be updated from a white exciter bulb to a red laser for picking up the analogue track. My biggest bugbear was when other projectionists let the head / tail of a reel drag on a surface. The film looked like it was raining before the splice 😤
@@projiuk The projectionist at my theatre (all of two main screens. we were located in the basement and sub-basement just slightly under a two story tall mall), just loved to grab one of us concession monkey's every time a new set of reels came in (me in most cases because I was somehow the only person, out of a staff of some fifteen people, he could ever see when I was on duty), and he would have me carefully helping him splicing the film canisters together onto the film table by having me manually cleaning the film with special cloths and some type of mild, film grade solvent whose smelly name I can't remember anymore, just because he was such a "passionate" pro-jekyll-nist and was butt-f**kin' "Mr Hyde" anal about proper cleaning and maintenance of the projectors, and then keeping them as clean as possible by introducing no foreign contaminants, into his "pristine" projectors.
Don't get me wrong here, I loved the job, and when he wasn't splicing together or separating out the film back into their canister's, the projectionist guy was a hoot to hang with, but OMG when it came to those projectors. It almost literally gave the poor old guy a bleedin' heart attack when they switched out the guts of the projectors first, and then later, did away with them altogether. Damn near finished him when they snapped off the lenses on the front of one of the two projectors at one point. 🤯😭😭😵👻
That place needs to be cleaned out before it’s either torn down or is ruined by neglect. It’s such a shame this has to happen to a structural masterpiece. Great video and thanks for helping to preserve these extraordinary pieces of history!😎🇺🇸
Lots of old theatres like this in London often get turned into concert venues. I would often go to a show look up and see ornate ceiling with cherubs etc! This would be a lot to restore maybe they can save some of it and use it. Always a crying shame to see historical buildings knocked down.
I’m from Nola, we called this State Palace (in short). It’s one of the most beautiful theatres in the country, despite this state of decay now. Thank you guys for this.
I love these old movie palaces. Many are long gone, but some, like the one in my city, have been restored to their former glory. The popular interior motifs for most of these movie houses were Moorish, Egyptian, Beaux-Art, Art Deco, and a few others. This one escapes me. It appears as a mix of Renaissance styles. I'm looking for a good photo of the auditorium from it's heyday for a comparison to it's current state. Very interesting video guys, and many thanks.
I love these, but it also makes me so saaaaad. These old theaters are GORGEOUS, so much history, and the architecture is incredible. So depressing to see them just rotting, thank you for showing them and giving a brief run down of the history
You two are exactly right about the stairwell gates. Interestingly enough there was an incident where a fire broke out in a theater with gates to each level, and a lot of people died because they were locked. I believe it was the Iroquois Theater fire, though I may be wrong.
Correct, and that's why the allowance of gated balconies became a major fire code violation after that disaster
@@siamesesnow it's an easy problem to fix. Get rid of the gates. And have a staff member positioned there to guard people sneaking through
I live 2 1/2 hours from Nola and have always wanted to go in. Such a gorgeous theater, even in it’s current state
I once got a tour of an active theater:
The film re-winder that you saw would have been used where film would come in multiple canisters. The winder would be used to create one reel where the tech would tape them together.
The projector then takes the film from the outside of the reel and then put it back in the take-up reel from the outside in. This way the film is ready for the next showing without needing to rewind it.
Keep up the good work.
And they had three platters: supply, take up, and storage for a second movie.
My best friend worked at a movie theater just before they switched to digital and I visited him from time to time during his shift when he had to watch several cinema booths if the reels were still working and I think I remember the film was taken out from the inside of the reel and put back from the inside out.
I remember working in a theatre for a year after I graduated high school and it still had film that came in cans every Thursday, and watching the projectionist put them together up in the projector gallery (we had 4 screens) and the three tiered film platters feeding the projectors. The gallery was weirdly also where the employees would go to smoke on their breaks. Those cans of film were heavy too. Like each standard film came on about 3 or 4 of them, and they each weighed about 75lbs. If we got a good film on Thursdays and the projectionist got to it in time, we'd have a private showing just for the employees after we closed. That got canceled by management when they heard about it though, due to "showing rights" or some such BS. We just called it quality control.
@@mdemers767 Nothing against the "private" showings a day before the release, as a LOT of theatre's did that (at my theatre, we called the "private" viewing a "Quality Control Check and we used multiple employees spaced across the theatre to "dial-in" the sound balance), but the management had to kill the practice due to staff having open pie-holes about the films they just saw too much before even the official first showing of the film. It only took that happening for a year or two for the studio's to crack down on the theatre-chains about this practice. Its one of the big reasons why they went to digital when they could; more centralized control over all the branch theatre's / no more "private" pre-shows. 😞😞
22:39 Bryan's 'paranormal p-take' was high-larious! Thank you for putting in the effort to light and document that awesomely elegant interior.
23:56 1940s--'50s script !
25:33 and 25:37 and your Outro: the curvilinear rhythms here are top tier. Always a cinematic treat, Michael and Bryan.
Some family friends bought the local 4th run tiny 1 screen movie theatre to turn it into a tattoo parlor, and it still had all the old stuff in it. I got to see in the tiny projector booth, and there were about 400 of these things that looked like welding rod in there, and I asked what that was all about. Turns out those old projectors didn't have bulbs, but actually burned magnesium rods to create the illumination, and that's why all those old projectors have those chimneys on top.
Same with WW2-period spotlights. Often find fragments of the rods around former Anti-Aircraft installations in Australia.
I used to go to some of the best raves in this place. So beautiful and sad to see at the same time.
Raves here back in the late 90s were incredible. My friends and I drove from several states away to attend when possible. Absolutely nuts. So nuts that the Feds shut the promoter (Disco Donnie) down in 2000 after some overdoses and the events getting national attention. Plenty of articles out there if anyone wants to get into that history... Tough to imagine anyone ever recreating the vibe at those parties, especially post-Katrina. Unparalleled debauchery followed by late morning after-parties in above ground cemeteries, surrounded by mausoleums, spanish moss, and fueled by some guy handing out balloons from a van stuffed with nitrous tanks. I'll never forget those Zoolu parties, too bad so many missed out. Seeing this video is beyond crazy for me. Thanks guys
Nice to see someone in here who gets that feeling watching this aswell!
I was lucky enough to go to the last few parties there. Merry x mas was the name i believe
@@Deeznuts84356 i still a flyer for one I attended that was called a very porno disco Christmas.
This was absolutely phenomenal!! I loved what you did with creating power back there again for just a little while which gave an entirely new perspective to this beautiful place. I was initially irritated at the others who arrived and were a bit noisy but then I realised that this would have been a really surreal experience that they would be unlikely to forget. Thirty years ago my family and I were driving past Ripon Cathedral (UK) at 10pm at night. It was all lit up inside, and the BBC were working on lighting etc to film there the next day. We were Allowed in! 10pm, seeing this structure still standing and in full use dating from 1547, with the crypt beneath from 664AD. I've visited several times over the decades but finding it all lit up was an experience I never forgot ❤️
There was a theater in my town growing up which at one time held vaudeville shows. The decor was gaudy with red velvet curtains and gold columns. As a kid, it was a little scary. Places like this will be just a memory soon. Thanks for documenting them!
Enjoyed this on numerous levels. Felt like you had adjusted your format a little bit to freshen things up --- a bit of adventure and conflict added in.. noises! Young people! Been following you guys for so long that it was fun to see these young kids appear, almost like a vision of you two from years ago. Keep up the great work!
Haven’t watched in a while but really enjoyed this one. By far the greatest Urbex content out there. No clowning going on here. Keep it up!!
Was that an abandon cat house in the movie house lobby? Omg I so love the wood work and the lay out. They should turn this over to interior designers and construction students to work together as a project to graduate. It would be an awesome project and if they could clean it up so people in the future could enjoy it too.
I have wondered since I selected, and bought, four of the photos available at the Proper People merch store which video the "Chandelier Theatre" picture was from! I guess I never would have found it, until today that is. And now its the thumbnail for the video itself, nice :) Slowly working my way through all the videos so I don't feel like I've run out of new content haha
Beautiful idea to light it up. Might be the last time it can ever be seen that way. Sad to see where construction was, and where it is now in terms of style and vibe. Loved all the script logos and signage.
The rando cat tree in the beginning had me questioning a lot 😂👏🏼
Chandeliers are often on winches above the ceiling, so they can be lowered for cleaning and bulb replacement. It would be interesting to go above the ceiling.
There are cat walks above the ceiling for lowering the chandeliers and rigging up lights for the stage. It’s a long drop from up there, not for the faint of heart.
@@fanmanmathias Especially since those 1920s catwalks are probably made from steel or wood, both of which are not good friends with hurricane levels of water. Those catwalks and the grid are a suicide mission to walk on.
I wondered about that. It did not seem reasonable that the electrical wiring would stretch so far out or be able to support the chandelier alone. I wondered if there was a cable suspending it. Thanks for the info!
Unusual assumptions are one of the best things about urbex videos, when you know the truth. XD
@@fanmanmathias For the suspended lights, it was easier to run the winch and electrical wires to a crank point on the wall(s), usually hidden behind a type of false panel or wainscotting that allowed the personel to easily access the lowering & raising winch mechanism so it literally could take only one or two people at floor-level to do what-ever repair/cleaning or service work to the lights.... or even adjust the height for mood-lighting purposes. Accessing the catwalk system was always a last resort system emplaced more for repair or maintenance of the general suspended ceiling itself.
A shame to see such old glorious theatre in that state of decay. In Toronto the old Pantages and Wintergarden theatres were restored to their old glory helping to revive and strengthen live theatre in that city.
The 'Strong' spot light in the booth is a "Trouper" model carbon arc follow spot, use to run some when I first started working as a theatre tech.
the “projector shutter” is actually a dowser. it’s so you can kill the picture on the screen without turning off the lamp. film not moving through the gate would melt quickly otherwise. same for the liquid cooled skid plates which hold the film.
I always love seeing the older buildings you guys go to. It is a shame and so sad that the details aren’t done anymore in more modern buildings. I love how all the older building including power plants use to have such great detail and decorations. Wish that still happened. I also wish they would still keep some of the buildings intact to remind us of how it use to be and the history. Loved the video.
Excellent. What a Grand Old Building. I'm glad you lit it up. Thankyou for letting us see it. Your the best
You guys just made this a perfect Friday! Thank you!
you guys always amaze me every single time, i can never get enough of your videos!
I know this is a older video but I thought I would give you some chandelier info. They are not falling. They are on a winch so they can be lowered for service like cleaning and bulb replacement. Probably after years of not using them they have slowly wound themselves down.
I’m from New Orleans born and raised and currently live! I love the fact I get to see these types of videos makes me wanna walk in next time I pass
You guys put out special things every time, Totally wonderful. I love it all!
For anyone wondering about Hard Rock across the street that they showed towards the end, demolition was finally finished around this past October, two years after the initial collapse.
I've just google earth'd and streetviewed the HR Hotel. The imagery date says 10/2019, and it looks to be very similar in height when it collapsed. This streetview image may have been taken a week or maybe even days before its collapse, and eerily you can see workers, unknowing of what was then to come.
Good to know! We were in New Orleans in Nov 2020 and it still looked like it does in this video. Sad situation. Glad it's finally cleaned up.
That ancient spotlight you found was manufactured by Strong Lighting, which is very much still in existence today. They still make the “Super Trouper” [sic] spotlight, which ABBA famously named a song after.
The cat tree in the lobby is a nice touch. Also, the conundrum old theaters are facing is that cities won't let them get torn down due to preservation society, but, since more people are watching streaming movies and such at home, and pandemic has killed live venue entertainment, they're having a hard time keeping theaters open. Esp old ones that require more maintenance / reno to keep up to code. So, owning one of these properties is a money pit for the time being. You spend more maintaining it than earning from it, and city won't let you tear it down or reno it too much due to historic value.
A lot of them in my area have been turned into live music venues!
The Chandeliers are hanging that low is because they are hanging from cables so that they can be lowered for servicing. Copper wiring could not support that kind of weight.
I live in New Orleans and the theater is still there. No plans have been made to demolish it. I can tell that this video was made sometime last year because the Hard Rock hotel was demolished in March of 2021. The State Palace Theater is also known to be haunted. Did you guys experience anything?
i'm happy to hear that it hasn't been torn down, hopefully it will be repaired sometime
was demolished as of march 2021
ghosts don’t exist
@@urban_fox_cub_urbex no it hasn't
@@ianfrench1577 the news said it is demolished
What a gorgeous place! It needs to be preserved. Perfection such as this never should be taken down at any cost.
Been watching for years and you guys crushed it again. Thank you for the time and knowledge you put into your videos. Much respect 👊🏻
The gates to lock the 3rd floor have a Titanic feeling to them. I guess they lowered the chandeliers already. They are on winches to clean them or change bulbs. (Ah, I see some commenters already pointed that out). Flying a drone in these theaters would be awesome. Bummer that they are so loud. Waiting for nearly silent ones to be developed. Glad those teenagers didn't have spray cans with them.
Seeing that theater in that state of disrepair makes me sad. Someone needs to get those chandeliers to somewhere safe before it's too late. I hope it gets restored to its former glory again. We had a similar theater here that opened in the 1927 as a Vaudeville and movie palace. It slowly declined and eventually was twinned into two crappy movie theaters in the early 80s and finally closing in the early 90s. Thankfully after a multi year restoration it reopened in 2001. Amazing they found three ornate chandeliers intact above the drop ceilings. Sadly the grand chandelier was missing and a period appropriate reproduction was commissioned to replace it. The drop ceilings also inadvertently ended up saving almost all of the original plaster and ornate ceiling paint. Many other original fixtures, wallpapers, carpets, etc were discovered intact during the restoration allowing them to be either restored or exact replicas to be made.
I thought the same but after reading some comments it appears that the chandeliers are on cables that can be lowered to make it easier to change bulbs and clean them.
i found a chandelier about as big as those in a scrap yard once and could have bought it for 20 cents per pound but passed...it was missing most of the crystals but all sockets where there...the thing was huge !..i still kinda kick myself in the butt for not buying it and someone else did the next day...it may have been a hard sell to flip and i didnt have any idea where to put it, but now i think i could of hung it from a tree in my yard..that would have been cool lol
Awesome job. I have watched binged watched all your videos and I love your work. I watch them every time you have a new one out. I thought I was going to into withdrawals waiting for this one. Thanks so much for sharing what you do.
I was an Intern Architect documenting / measuring the State Palace for a reno ... it looks essentially the same since ~8 years ago when I was there (Im guessing the reno didn't happen, although this video itself was taken a while ago, since there was a mardi gras). They got up on the roof, but I see they didn't go down into the basement with the generators et all- that was the coolest [Creepiest] place, with moisture dripping from the ceilings, and miscl mechanical/electrical systems in disrepair. Lots of people break in , the building was used by vagrants for a while, lots of Piss smell here and there. Also maybe ~23 years ago, before it was generally abandoned, I went to a Stone Temple Piolet concert there: Absolutely packed, totally rocked.
14:00 that's a Christie 3 autowind film platter assembly although missing the platters themselves. You would splice all the reels together with trailers
Film would come out the center through an assembly called a brain, run through a series of rollers, through the projector and then back on an empty platter. There was no need to change reels
The chandeliers are actually on a wire/cable system designed to raise and lower them for different lighting effects. If you look close, you can see the cable and wire.
I would have thought that it could be raised and lowered to change the bulbs.
I absolutely LOVE you guys videos, because not only are they incredibly filmed, but very informative about the history of the places too!! Keep up the good work
Very glad to be here with you! Thanks for the trip! :0
I wanna know about the generator, whos was it? Was it up there already or did you guys bring it up there? If you brought it up there, how the hell did you do that? Wicked cool video, look forward to them every week!
anyone remembering this theatre from its rave days has likely never seen it so well and evenly lit before lmao
Always good to see the boys back in my favorite city. Those chandeliers are probably on cables made to raise and lower them for maintenance. Those dudes have no idea how to be somewhat quiet.
I've loved watching your videos for years. Thank you for your continued exploration.
Loved how y'all rigged up the generators to light the main theater area. Really clever idea. This must have been right after Ida when a lot of the power was out. I was pleasantly surprised that the whole thing wasn't completely trashed, knowing how bad Canal Street is anymore.
My last time in that old theater was December, 1997 when I saw Duran Duran. We were on the first balcony, and I remember the ceiling above us bouncing up and down from people dancing on the second balcony. Great show.
"Hypothetically" Rigged a generator and lights ;)
Those chandeliers haven't fallen, they can be lowered and raised by cables, that's how they change the bulbs. Great video nonetheless.
Amazing work, guys! Love all your vids. Your quality of work and background research is unmatched by anyone!
I love this place, worked many concerts and raves here. Saw lots of old movies too. I hope to see it restored some day like the Saenger and Orpheum Theaters were.
Are we not going to talk about the collapsed-in Hard Rock Cafe? WITH DEAD BODIES INSIDE?
I live here and had no clue, two of the three men who died were left in the rubble for almost an entire year before they were able to get them out. Honestly I'm glad I didn't know until now cause it makes me sick thinkin about it.
Yeah it was bad, one of the bodies legs were actually dangling out the side of the collapsed section for close to 10 months, practically visible by anyone on the street below, and then couldn't get the body out because of the dangerous structure, so they ended up just covering them with a tarp, which got blown off by the wind the very next day. Pictures of the legs surfaced online, I can only imagine being the family of the victim seeing their loved ones legs hanging out of a collapsed building but not being able to bury the body for that long.
Loving the video folks!
I doubt the chandeliers actually came down. No electrical engineer would leave THAT much wire left for it to fall down that much. I think they were intended this way. Also because you can definitely see a sturdy connection a little bit higher up from the 'original' mountpoints.
They could be lowered for cleaning and re-lamping on the cables from which they now hang.
@@StubbyPhillips That was my guess, as well. It is still common in large structures to lower chandeliers for cleaning. At least one of them is obviously down or it would block the balcony view.
I work at the Royal Theatre in Victoria BC Canada, built-in 1913, the Seat design is the same as ones in this theatre. Identical. The pillers you see to the left and right in the box seats at @7:41 are made of steel and are painted to look marble. The Curtain you see on stage is a Asbestos fire curtain, common place in venues of this period. Only 4 years ago did we replaced the Asbestos Fire curtain for a less toxic one at the Royal Theatre. This Venue is very similar in its design to my home theatre.
So happy to see this in my YT feed tonight!!! LOVE you guys and all you do, I hope you never stop! 🙂♥♥♥🦊
Someone needs a Jackery sponsor
So they can light up buildings and make no noise =)
Even a decent inverter generator would work well and blend in with the street noise. Those loud "construction" generators are annoying. I have both and 90% of the time I'll use the inverter unit.
@@abpsd73 Yeah hate those loud generators !
I was thinking the same thing. A couple Jackery's and some decent size LED panels could really light up the place
@@jseppa an explorer 1500 Would be all they need =)
Great video. As a party kid in the 90s it was like visiting an old friend. A few things. The downstairs open floor was not cleared out after Katrina because of moldy seats. That area was open as a dance floor section since the mid 80s. The upstairs area off the side was called the jungle room and housed some of the most prominent drum and bass DJs at the time. Finally that place is super haunted. I personally have seen multiple people die in that building and witnessed numerous “unexplained phenomena” over the years.
Thank you for taking us along and recording what won't be there for long.
The generated light was eerie but gave a highlight to its features more than expected. Though faded, forgotten and crumbling, the need for nostalgia and preservation drum in the heart. One that the old remember, and young wish to experience.
I would love to see a colorized old film of this place in its hay day..
Holy shit my friends dad owned this place, I had always thought she was just joking when she told me he hosted raves there
Was the last name brunet?
@@aftermathOG Yup, the family that owns the Pyrtania.
I went to school with one of the daughters, never had been to this theatre because he'd sold it by the time I'd met them but he'd hold little sleep over party's at the Pyrtania theatre for us where they'd project a wii on the screen and we'd play mario kart all huge and blurry, like the coolest childhood memory I have. He's an awesome guy
@@azrean1468 that's so cool, I have many great memories because of him and Donnie's friendship. Was so cool to experience that place full of people, lights, and music.
@@aftermathOG I would have loved to be able to see it!
You guys are GREAT !! I love how you lit this up this was AWESOME !! How could any one let this sit like this .....it should in my opinion be restored and used again before its to late this was built in a time when things were built with style and uniqueness. Such a shame to see this rot away like this .Thank you for filming this wonderful location.
I really enjoyed this one... I enjoy all your explorations, but this one was special! Thanks!