New York Theatre Guide: On Hyatt Street in St. George, Staten Island, a few blocks from the ferry terminal and just behind the borough courthouse, stands an impressive monument to New York theatre history. The St. George Theatre first opened its doors in December of 1929; it was originally envisioned to be part of the RKO vaudeville circuit, but became an opulent movie palace instead. Built by famed theatre architect Eugene De Rosa with Spanish and Italian baroque revival style interior design by Nestor Castro, it remained in operation as a movie theatre through the 1970s, until it started to change hands every few years, becoming at various turns a restaurant, a nightclub and an antiques showroom.
2 comments:
It’s always amazed me, the lengths people will go to save a community staple they love. It’s not just sweet and nostalgic, it’s also very important, especially when it comes to the arts. When it comes to the St. George, it seems like this was really one of the only artistic community centers in the area. To lose that, or have it fall into disrepair, would be a shame. It was a very brave undertaking for the Cappozalo family to try and restore the theatre, and I’m glad it was ultimately successful. I was a little bit concerned when the article mentioned a ‘revitalization’ of the area around the theatre, which was currently perceived as ‘unsafe’. 9 times out of 10, that’s white people talk for ‘we’re gonna gentrify this whole area’ which is obviously generally a bad thing. I’m still not convinced that’s not what’s happening here. But the fact that the St. George has multiple programs in place for low income residents does make me feel better.
It’s funny, because when you think of New York theatre, you just think of the theaters in Manhattan, and all of the warehouses and shops in New Jersey and right outside the city. If one spends some time in the city, then Brooklyn comes into play when one thinks about new theatre and very experimental works. Brooklyn becomes similar to a theatre scene in most other cities. What one does not think about is the other parts of New York and what theatre there is there. I defiantly don’t think of theatre in Queens, but now we have an article about Statan Island, maybe the most irrelevant part of the city coming into the theatre news about an old theatre, which is interesting and new and really really cool. There is no sense that saving this theatre wad a thing at any point and it is cool that it is in the news.
Post a Comment