(All photos courtesy of Renee Rosensteel)

This is the way the theatre looked on the day that it was purchased on November 9, 2007. There’s nothing to show that it was ever a grand movie house.

When the marquee was removed a couple of years ago, most of the debris was simply thrown into the front lobby. We’ve cleared it to one side, but it still stands as a stark reminder of the state of the building.

 The front lobby area is very spacious (shown here looking toward the street entrance), although is it cluttered with debris.

This is the view, looking down from the projection booth, of one of the first floor “twin” theatres.

The Balcony Theatre remains relatively intact, although the seats are outdated and sightlines are poor.

The Encore Theatre was considered state-of-the-art when it opened in the 60’s. Patrons remember standing in lines that extended all the way down the street and around the corner, waiting to see “The Graduate” and other box office hits there.

Sometime in the past three years, vandals entered the building and discharged a fire extinguisher in one of the screening rooms. This left an ashy-like substance on all of the surfaces, creating an effect eerily like that of a volcanic eruption.

The basement is filled with the castoffs of 70 years of operation, including parts of seats, old popcorn and ice machines, empty boxes, cleaning supplies and much more.

Virtually all of the furnishings and equipment in the theatre need to be replaced, including this old cash drawer and the ticket dispensing machine next to it.

In addition to furnishings and equipments, there are dozens of strips and reels of film scattered throughout the theatre.

The Denis Theatre was one of the early adopters of air conditioning in the late 1930’s. Although the system was later replaced, some of the HVAC contractors who have been in the building had never even seen equipment from that era.

All of the old plastic letters that were used on the marquee are still stored in the building. A large wall rack with dividers held the letters, making it easy for the sign-monkey to switch movie titles in and out as needed.