It was more of an intermission than a closure. The Spectrum 8 Theatre in Albany's Delaware Avenue neighborhood is back in business.
"Well, well, well, it appears the tails the demise of the Spectrum Theatre have been greatly exaggerated," said Albany City Treasurer Darius Shahinfar, the first of several officials welcoming the movie house back from a short hiatus on Wednesday. The neighborhood staple shut down in February after Landmark, the national chain operating it, pulled out.
Scene One Entertainment owner and CEO Joe Masher says last November, when he got the call about the theater's plight, he jumped at the chance to take over.
“We found out that the Spectrum theatre may be closing," said Masher. "So I decided to come over here because this is the place where I saw most of the movies that I enjoyed as a young adult before I'd moved away for work. I had an opportunity to make sure that people have that same experience that I did. So I came here to the movies I saw was going on I you know still loved the theater, but it seemed to have lost its soul. There were no more calendars. There was no art gallery. There were three things in the candy case. Still real butter on the popcorn, that was great.”
Masher has restored all of those traditional amenities. Albany County Executive Dan McCoy's first job was at the Spectrum… “…when it was the Delaware theater. So I used to work that concession stand right behind me, and all the neighborhood kids. And it was about giving kids an opportunity in the neighborhood to experience what it's like in different fields. And I got to see a lot of free movies," McCoy said.
Masher says patrons can expect a full slate of snacks and refreshments along with special events. He pledges to continue the mix of arthouse and foreign films and Hollywood blockbusters that the Spectrum became known and loved for.
“Please come back to the movies," implored Masher. " We are here. We're open every day, bargain matinees every day. We are again fiercely independent, going to be showing mostly independent films with some upscale Hollywood product thrown in. And you know, we really just need people to support the theater to make sure it stays here for a long time and what I can do for that I can guarantee that you will have the same experience that I did coming here in the 80s and 90s.”
Albany County District Attorney David Soares says people long for places to go to like the Spectrum. “There's a lot of places like this that are no longer available to people who don't want to travel to larger, more crowded places. They want to come to a theater in their neighborhood. This is very important for two reasons. A, those of us who have that sense of nostalgia who've watched kung fu movies in places like this, where the voices and the boom mics all maintain that memory when we come back, but also, and for me personally, it's the fact that this place represents a fixture in the community and it communicates to the public in the world out there that it is safe to walk to and from the theater,” said Soares.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony made the reopening official with cheap tickets to benefit YouthFX, which works with Albany’s young people of color from underserved communities who are interested in new digital media technology.
Scene One also just reopened the movie theater in Wilton Mall in Saratoga County under Masher’s direction.
