WDET News
- Reviving the Alger Theater
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Jan 5, 2009Metro Desk - Link to Audio
In the world of multiplex theaters, a group of eastside Detroiters is working to restore a neighborhood movie theater that has laid dormant for over 20-years. WDET’s Rob St. Mary reports.
(Click above for audio of story)
In 1935, people were introduced to a new porcine pal… (sound of porky pig “that’s all folks”)
as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers starred in their third film together… (music and dance from “Top Hat” plays and fades).
That same year the Alger Theater opened.
At the height of the Great Depression, it was a beautiful modern art deco beacon at the corner of East Warren and East Outer Drive in Detroit. But today the eastside movie house is closed.
Inside the lobby… the sound of popcorn is only a memory.
Scanning the ceiling you can see the layered installation of the plaster. Some spots look fine, clean and sharp… but in other areas the plaster is crumbling… showing the metal girdering underneath. Through the main doors… past where the usher would take your ticket… vacant seats… still in excellent condition but dusty… await the patrons. The theater’s proscenium curtain hangs intact but tattered.
Geoff Gowman is with the Friends of the Alger Theater.
“They sent an architect out who told us that it’s built like the Rock of Gibraltar. He said it would cost more to tear it down than it would to fix it up.”
The friends group says restoring the 73-year-old eastside movie house to its original glory will be made easier due to some recent moves. Earlier this year, the Detroit City Council followed Washington and Lansing’s lead by approving a historic designation for the theater.
Deborah Goldstein is with Detroit’s Historic Designation Advisory Board. She says those commendations allow for tax credits of up to 45% in order to help rehab the building.
“But for a non-profit, that tax credit wouldn’t be available since the non-profit generally doesn’t pay income tax. So, often times they will spin the development part off to a for profit entity for the historic tax credits. So, there is that possibility for the Alger.”
Dennis Costello is President of the Friends of the Alger Theater. He sees the theater restoration project as not only about entertainment... arts and culture… but neighborhood business development.
“Maybe being a catalyst for further economic development along East Warren Avenue. There’s definitely a void of cultural and arts opportunities here on the eastside of Detroit. I think it’s a shame that we fail the people that live here that we have to leave the neighborhood to go either downtown or out to some of the suburban multiplexes for some of our entertainment choices. So, I feel there’s a real need and really demand to do it here but I think we have to figure out how to best do it economically and financially so that we can make it work and it can sustain itself.”
On the opposite side of town, another of Detroit’s few remaining old theaters is sustaining itself. The Redford is owned by a non-profit, has a large volunteer base of about 200 people and has struck upon something.
Mary Ellen DuCharm is a returning patron from Livonia.
“This is kind of fun. Everything is so modernized now… and this is like a little bit of the past… and this kind of fun.”
For example, publicity director Janice McNeil says the Redford recently showed the comedy film “Airplane!” and got into the spirit of the production.
“We transformed the lobby into an airport. There was a departure sign, there was an arrival sign. They got a boarding pass. So, as they come in they know they are coming into a special environment. An hour before the show, there’s a pianist in the lobby. A half hour before the show, we start the organ.”
And it’s the 1928 Barton organ… built into the theater with the brick and mortar… that caused the Motor City Theater Organ Society to set up, fundraise, purchase and ultimately restore the Redford. Over the last three decades, the group has focused on family films, community events and rentals to keep the unique space alive. As for the Alger’s efforts… the Redford’s Janice McNeil says she understands how hard it can be to bring a theater back from the dead but she urges the volunteers NOT to give up.
“The end result will be well worth it. It’s going to take hours. It’s going to take volunteers. But organize, get the community involved and just start. Have your goal in mind; get a plan… even if it’s starting one step at a time because it will come together.”
Back on the eastside… at least one community group sees a refurbished Alger as a possible economic beacon.
“If there’s one single thing in the district that if it was completed would change the nature of the district it would be the Alger Theater.”
Bill Swanson is with the East Warren Avenue Business Association. He says the theater would bring an identity to the Morningside, East English Village and Cornerstone Village neighborhoods it’s near.
“It’s going to need to draw from the Metro Detroit area but a think a big part of its base will be from the community. The community is extremely involved, extremely active and when it’s up and running they’ll be very protective of… this is their theater, their area. They are going to want to make sure that it a success. And just having a restored historic theater in your area is a great thing… especially when you can walk to it.”
Swanson says with $86 million in spending from the area’s households leaving his section of East Warren… the new car and foot traffic the Alger Theater could bring in could strengthen current businesses and help grow new ones in the district. The Friends of the Alger Theater President Dennis Costello agrees with Swanson’s sentiments.
“An open and thriving Alger would certainly be a big boon to the commercial district here and we see vice versa too, you know, a strong business community so we kind of interact and are very supportive of one another.”
And one way the theater group and the business community currently interacts is through the marquee. Messages can be purchased to advertize local events, sales or something even a bit more personal. Geoff Gowman says once he got a call for a man in Germany.
“And he said can you just put up there so-and-so I love you I miss you and my name he said I would appreciate it. I said that will be $42.50. So, he said I’ll send it to you and I said as soon as I get it I’ll put it up. So, it was just fun to help with the romantic relationship for the two.”
Gowman says the marquee rental is one of the group’s revenue generators… bringing in around seven-thousand dollars a year. With a $1.5 million being the cost for a full restoration… it’s going to take a lot of signs to get to the goal.
And while money continues to be the biggest issue, Geoff Gowman says people should never lose sight of what the Alger Theater restoration effort is truly about – building a stronger community through a neighborhood gathering place… just like when he was young.
“You knew the neighborhood by the theater. Like six mile and Gratiot would be the Ramona Theater. Over in my neighborhood it was the Harper Theater. Over here it was the Alger.”
While the collective vision of the Friends of the Alger Theater is strong… the leaders must sell the renovation idea outside the neighborhood. That effort will decide if the curtain will rise again.
For more information log on to www.algertheater.org