Character Town Community Theaters, “Edu-tainment” Emporiums.

Historical Role of Main Street….Theaters in Small Cities and Towns.

Character towns with city planners promote community theaters. They attract people downtown to main street to achieve the city’s socialization goals. Movies begat movie theaters. Sound sprung forth in 1927. Movies and movie theaters were like novelties. The Nickelodeons inhabited thousands of storefronts. The first single theater opened in Pittsburgh in 1905. Many other theaters opened across America by the 1920s. Sound boomed forth in 1927. With it emerged “Hollywood”. We still love Golden Age movies.

Theaters are Development Assets.

Small cities and towns across America have re- discovered the old one-screen theaters. Cities have grasped the importance of their rescue. These venues offer the opportunity to provide entertainment on main street where most of these gems were located.