More Theater Success Stories In Charm City

Lately, in Baltimore, it seems like everything’s coming up roses for old theaters.

Last month, the Senator Theatre, Baltimore’s best-known and most beloved movie palace, reopened after a nearly-full restoration and expansion, with several smaller theaters added next to the main auditorium to give the building the programming flexibility of a multiplex.

Not long after that, the Parkway Theater was sold for one dollar, as part of a larger deal to make the theater the home of the Maryland Film Festival.  And the Apex Theater, long an X-rated movie palace, was sold at auction; the new owner has not announced his plans for the building, but has not ruled out the possibility of continuing its use as a theater.

And, most recently, the suburban Pikes Theater, which was converted into a restaurant several years ago, reopened part of the building as a two-screen film house showing first-run movies.  This is a welcome change from the misguided Baltimore County plan that turned the theater into a restaurant to “strengthen” a proposed Restaurant Row in the area that never really developed.  Apparently, the folks behind this concept never heard of the phrase “dinner and a movie.”  Perhaps now, the theater can become a magnet not only for restaurants but other businesses as well.

The proverbial jury is still out on all of these projects, but they are all welcome news to people like me, who believe that these old buildings have tremendous intrinsic value and equal potential as economic engines for their neighborhoods.  It is worth noting that all of these projects involve varying levels of partnership among public and private individuals and organizations.  Partnerships of this sort are the only way to address the complex issues involved in making these buildings function and thrive in an era with so many competing forms of entertainment.

All of us in Baltimore should do what we can to support these newly revived playhouses, and do what we can to save the ones that still await some form of rescue.  Together, all of us can make Charm City an example of the economic dynamism that historic theaters can—and do—create.