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The Roxy auditorium...then and now |
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This picture was taken very early in the Roxy's history -- maybe even on opening day in 1930. The theatre originally held 500 people. The concession stand was not installed until 1953. The walls were painted dark green with gold swirl trim, and the ceiling was gold with dark accents. The ten front rows of seats were taken from the old Lincoln Theatre and they featured no cushions -- just solid wood. To see a larger version of this picture, and some other early photos of the Roxy, click here. |
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We don't yet know when it happened, but at some point the theatre walls were painted red, the chandeliers were removed, and the carpet was replaced with plain brown carpet. This picture was taken in 1979. |
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In 1982, we remodeled the auditorium, reducing the number of chairs to 255 and installing acoustic wall coverings for the first time. The stereo sound system was added in 1992. When we put new seats into the main auditorium in 1982, we decided to save money by delaying putting new seats in the balcony. This resulted in people avoiding the balcony so they could sit in the new seats downstairs. We finally closed the balcony altogether. Almost immediately, requests to reopen it began to come in, so in 1992 we removed two front rows and one back row of chairs from downstairs, and moved those chairs to the balcony (shown here). This picture was taken in 2001. |
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In March 2002 we replaced our auditorium seats with high-back models. This is our auditorium as it appeared from the stage after that remodel. The seats were rearranged in a modern "continental" style which provides better stereo sound quality. These seats proved to be problematic due to their high backs and the fact that a suitable "offset" from one row to the next hadn't been included in the design of the seating plan. People were having trouble seeing around the heads of the people in front of them, and shorter patrons and kids couldn't see over the high backs, even though the seating company had assured us that all would be 'just fine.' In late 2002 we had one seat removed from every other row to create a "makeshift offset." This improved the view from the middle, but now the problems were moved to the sides. So in 2004 we made the unprecedented move of replacing the seats again. |
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In August 2004 the Roxy received its fifth set of new seats. We solved a ton of problems with these seats, in addition to the sight-lines problem described above. These seats are higher quality, more heavy-duty and more comfortable than the previous seats; the cupholders are larger and deeper; we added "lounger backs" and five inches more legroom per row; we doubled the amount of aisle lighting; and we replaced the grayish-green color with a darker green that's more to our liking. We also added the new feature of "Tempur-Pedic" cushioning, which allows the seat to conform to the shape of its occupant, giving more comfort. We outfitted the balcony with new seats during this project as well. |
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