Thursday, September 8, 2011

Cinema Redux: Putting on the Ritz

I have a passion for finding and photographing old and abandoned movie theaters.  It is a subject I've been intending to feature here at Boom Pop! for quite some time. I have only recently started to actively pursue the matter, due in large part to the recent advances in technology as represented by Google Maps and its ever so resourceful street-view function.

I live just outside of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a city almost completely bereft of its historical theaters.  Even the Stevens Center for the Arts bears little resemblance to the Carolina Theatre, its original incarnation.  But in the course of my research I did stumble upon a still standing vintage theater quite photogenic in its currently decaying state.
The Ritz is located in the northeast section of the city, near the intersection of Patterson Avenue and Greenway Avenue.  It opened in 1968 and was likely a second-run, B-movie house; it debuted with a double feature of Duel at Diablo and Goliath and the Vampires.

Inset photo from Digital Forsyth collection.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful site. It really takes me back.