The Bay Theatre in Baytown, TX was built in 1942. It housed a church for many years. The building was demolished in 2019 when the local court deemed it “too dangerous for occupation”:

The State Theatre in Culpeper, VA had been closed since 1993 – my photo from 2010:

The theatre was built in 1938 as the Pitts Theatre:

After extensive renovation work and recreation of the original blade sign and marquee, the theatre reopened in 2013. It closed just three years later. Here it is vacant in 2018:

In 2019, the interior was gutted and adapted for State Climb, an indoor rock climbing facility, which opened in January 2020. From their FB page:

The Fox Theatre in Centralia, WA has gone through a lot but it’s now getting serious renovation. Here’s one of my photos from 2008 with its 1958 sign. Um, obviously not those colors originally:

And when I shot it in 2015 with the new sign and canopy based on the 1930 originals:

Soooo pretty at night (the Fox’s FB page):

The theatre closed in 2019 for interior renovations. The new doors and replica ticket booth were installed in 2020 (the Fox’s FB page) and more serious work going on inside:

The Crescent Pitcher Show (originally the Crescent Theatre) in Shawano, WI in 2011. It was already missing the freestanding Crescent letters on both sides of the round readerboard marquee:

The theatre closed in 2013. In 2020, it reopened as the Stubborn Brothers Brewery. Google map from 2019 showed work going on. The upstairs is used as the Crescent Ballroom for weddings and such:

The current look from the brewery’s FB page:

The Rialto Theatre in Casper, WY:

… got a marquee and sign makeover in 2018. The neon was all removed. Note how nice and plentiful it was in the photo above, stacked up on all the edges of the triangulated tower AND the letters. The new LED rope (photo below) is really sloppy, with rounded corners on each of the letters. The new color scheme is, in my opinion, really crappy. The channel letters on the lower right are gone as well:

So, there you have it with the theatres. I’ll be venturing off in the next posts from the Eateries section (restaurants — fast food, special cafes, all that). Four sections left and they are the huge ones. After Eateries will be Gas Stations, Signs, and Mid-Century Modern Buildings. I don’t think there’s any way I can finish this project before the big June trip but I will try!

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs