The cover of the new issue of Portland Monthly features a time-split juxtaposition of The State Theater (pictured above, as seen by myself last year on a trip before moving to Portland) in its last heyday as a functioning venue and in its current dormant state. The article, titled “Who Kidnapped the State Theater” doesn’t answer too many questions – in fact it closes with an almost humorous pointing of fingers between concerned local parties – but it does attempt to shed some light on what happened in the past and what might be happening these days behind those doors. Some of the information is actually conflicting (Dave Marshall indicates that there may be some progress being made to improve the structure, while the same entity who is supposedly making the repairs claims no current activity, so who knows?) but it’s always interesting to hear the various opinions and speculation on both sides of this one.
the finger pointing was definitely pretty damn funny, but man, the rest of the article was fucking heartbreaking, pretty much killed all the hope i had been hanging onto for years that the place would someday soon return. fuck i wish i was a millionaire.
Any chance Brown Bird is on the bill Sat at the Apo?
not that I know of
There is work going on behind the scenes!!! I have personally worked on the building in the past year. Did anyone happen to notice the scaffolding that was up for the entire summer of 2008 fixing the brick and sandstone outside the building? Or the frequent deliveries of wood, drywall, plumbing supplies, etc. to the theater through the front doors?!? Or how about the 2 weeks of cutting down the old fire escape followed by 1 month of installing the new one?!? Or the truck loads of scaffolding that have been dropped over the past few weeks?!?! And none of this had anything to do with article that was recently written.
Every owner or person who leased this space left their “mark” in the form of damages and neglect. Once they moved on, the next grouped moved in, and caused more damages without ever making any substantial improvements to keep the theater up to code. The current owners have a budget during a tough economical period and have been making improvements to the entire building, including the theater, for the past three years and it has not come cheap!
To the people who complain that the rent is too expensive and unrealistic, they need to realize that cheap rents and no real expectations is what led to this situation in the first place. The next group to takeover the theater will have to have a serious game plan and a decent budget to INVEST into the theater and into the community. The more they have on the line the more likely they will be to maintain The State Theater.
FYI
You had nothing to do with the activity at the State Theater!!
….
Portland Magazine on FB: “Mmmmmmm… Did anyone notice improvements were made to the State Theatre facade almost immediately after research calls were made writing “Who Kidnapped the State Theatre?””
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