10 stunning movie palaces that are now legit tourist attractions

Just as film buffs lament that they don’t make movies like they used to, so, too, do film-going buffs mourn that they don’t build theaters like they used to. Between the 1920s and the 1950s, the movie theater was often as big a draw as the film itself. Showmen took their cue from the world’s most opulent opera houses, concert halls and even royal courts to construct luxurious movie palaces. They had flashing neon bulb marquees, lobby entrances affixed with posters and ornate interiors where excess made the heart grow fonder. Many of these magnificent showplaces still exist and you owe it to yourself to experience a movie in a theater that is the stuff dreams are made of.  As William Schopf, owner of Chicago’s 90-year-old Music Box Theatre says, “The contagious excitement of anticipation ripples through the crowd as they fill the theater.” Here are 10 that are just the ticket.

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Byrd Theatre: Richmond, VA

Byrd Theater | PHOTO: Ariel Skelley

An official Virginia Historic Landmark, the 90-year-old Byrd Theatre in Richmond seats just over 900 on the main floor and almost 500 in its balconies. Perhaps its star attractions are the 18-foot, more than two-ton chandelier comprising thousands of Czechoslovakian crystals that hangs over the auditorium as if it’s auditioning for Phantom of the Opera, and a Wurlitzer organ that hits just the right retro note when played before the movie.

Opened: Dec. 24, 1928, with the film Waterfront

Capitol Theatre: Rome, NY

The Capitol Theater when it was still new in 1931

In addition to its art house fare, silents are golden at the Capitol Theatre in Rome, thanks to its theatre organ that accompanies “the flickers.” After its first decade, the Capitol got a post-art deco modernist facelift, but much of its original décor remains, and the auditorium itself is still in its original 1928 configuration. Each year, the theater hosts a themed festival of films from the 1910s, ‘20s and ‘30s.

Opened: Dec. 10, 1928, with the film Lilac Time

The Castro Theatre: San Francisco

Castro Theatre interior by Hans Kwiotek

A real San Francisco treat identified by its iconic neon vertical sign. The Castro’s swellegant mezzanine and balcony can be reached by grand staircases just aching for Norman Desmond from Sunset Boulevard to dramatically descend them. The interior was designed with Spanish, Oriental and Italian influences. The auditorium’s art deco chandelier is just over 80-years old. The mezzanine’s rare movie posters are nirvana for classic movie buffs.

Opened: June 22, 1922, with the film Across the Continent 

El Capitan Theatre: Los Angeles

Photo | Jason Heidemann

The house that Disney restored. The El Capitan in LA got its start as a theatrical venue, but earned its place in film history as the theater Orson Welles chose to premiere Citizen Kane in 1941. The outside façade is Spanish-Colonial while the interior has an East Indian influence, as represented in the lobby by a breathtaking replica of a mural that originally hung in the theater. The single-screen auditorium seats 1,000 and dazzles with its gold metal leaf proscenium ceiling.

Opened: May 3, 1926, with the film Charlot’s Revue

Kentucky Theatre: Lexington, KY

Kentucky Theatre

The Kentucky Theatre in Lexington has benefited from the efforts of the non-profit Friends of the Kentucky Theatre to keep this neo-classical and art deco-kissed showplace in operation. There is a new concession stand and digital projection, but the front lobby still contains the theater’s original marble. The auditorium’s iconic stained glass domes have also survived the decades, as have the ornamental moldings and columns.

Opened: October 4, 1922, with the film The Eternal Flame

The Music Box: Chicago

Music Box Theatre

To watch a movie at Chicago‘s Music Box is to feel like you are sitting in an open-air Italian courtyard with its twinkling stars and moving cloud formations against a dark blue ceiling above. The theater began its life playing only sound films, but one of its most popular attractions is the theater organ, which accompanies silent films and livens up intermissions or holiday sing-alongs. Ninety years after it opened, “there is a sense of purpose, tradition, and family connecting (patrons) to the millions of audience members who came before,” says Schopf.

Opened: August 22, 1929, with the film Mother’s Boy

The Senator Theatre: Baltimore, MD

Senator Theatre

If you’re looking for art deco architecture in Baltimore, this is your best bet. The 40-foot silver screen in the main auditorium remains undimmed. The city itself saved the Senator from destruction; in 2012, the theater underwent a massive remodeling and expansion. Treasures restored include the rotunda lobby’s original mural painted by local artist Paul Roche. Also in the lobby is a replica of the theater’s original lighting fixture. The main auditorium was also restored to resemble the way it looked when the first audiences took their seats.

Opened: Oct. 5, 1939, with the film Stanley and Livingstone

Somerville Theatre: Somerville, MA

Somerville Theatre

The Somerville was originally designed for stage shows, vaudeville, opera, and those upstart moving pictures, according to the theater’s website. Virtually everything decorative in the main auditorium and much of the lobby dates from 1914, including half of the building exterior’s original marquee sign, which now hangs in the lobby. Like Chicago’s Music Box Theatre it is at once a movie palace and your friendly neighborhood movie house.

Opened: May 11, 1914, with the film The Inventor’s Wife

State Theatre: Traverse City, MI

The State Theatre

Traverse City‘s State Theatre has had a fraught existence. It was twice destroyed by fire and was closed in 1996. Enter Oscar®-winner Michael Moore, who spearheaded the theatre’s revival and remodeling. It is now home to the Traverse City Film Festival. USA Today included it among its list of the “10 greatest places to see a movie in splendor.” The auditorium’s signature feature is the auditorium’s “starry” sky, which is comprised by more than 2,000 fiber optic lights authentically mapped out by a college professor to replicate an actual Northern Michigan August night sky.

Opened: July 4, 1916, with the film The Iron Strain

Uptown Theatre: Minneapolis, MN

Uptown Auditorium

The first thing you might notice about Minneapolis’ Uptown is its marquee; not for its unique design, but because of the often clever commentary, such as this to promote the offbeat Swedish soccer movie, Britt-Marie Was Here: “It’s Like The Big Green with subtitles.” The Uptown is Minnesota’s only single screen theater with a balcony. Another distinctive feature is the iconic 50-foot Uptown Tower on top of the theater. The Streamline Moderne style remains, though the theater has gone through renovations and remodeling.

Opened: April 11, 1929, with the film The Dummy

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