It was clear to us that the building had a long history in Lake Placid, and that the conversion to four small movie theaters was relatively recent. The empty alcove for an organ and the wall that was obviously built at least 30 years later than the rest of the building clued me in to the fact that the Palace was once one large theater for live shows, and had since been coopted to four little screens for modern audiences. While part of me would love to see what the Palace looked like in its original glory, I am glad that it has transitioned to a new use rather than having been completely rebuilt. The entire experience still felt somewhat timeless (despite the futuristic theme of our movie choice, "The Martian") and less artificial than other storefronts on Lake Placid's Main Street.
I looked up the Palace Theatre when I got home that night and found that there have been a few cases where the institution almost closed down, but was saved by a public outcry and movement for the preservation of the theater. Namely, when the production companies forced theaters to upgrade their projectors from 35mm to digital, the Palace Theatre had to buy four new $65,000 projectors just to keep its doors open. The public outcry and movement to collect enough money to "Save the Palace" was large enough to capture the attention of the New York Times and Smithsonian Magazine. Today, two years after the theater almost shut down, the Palace is still up and running. While I still feel a pang of guilt about paying money to stare at a screen in a room for two hours (though I admit--I love movies and will not going to theaters anytime soon), the victory of a small town, old fashioned theater over expensive modernization trends is somehow inspiring, and reminiscent of the countless stories we have heard about the strength of Adirondack communities. This brightly lit theater on Main Street is token of the community rather than yet another tourist attraction, and I am now a little less guilty about spending my time in the Adirondacks in a movie theater.
Interesting post, Annie. There are a surprising number of small movie theaters in the park, and my understanding is that all of them continue to exist not as entrepreneurial ventures, but as the result of community based charity. That is, people in the community band together when they have been threatened with closer, and raise the money to keep them going. What this says, among other things, is that people see these theaters as somehow important, vital even, to the life of the community. It's worth thinking more about why this is.
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