WEST POINT — A once “vacant, run-down” piece of Clay County history now serves as an image of West Point as it existed more than 75 years ago.
The cream-colored exterior, decorative carvings and shining brass canopy mark the exterior of the Ritz Theater, a once-forgotten city icon recently restored to a near mirror image of its original state.
The theater, built at 121 Commerce St. in 1931, once served as an entertainment hot spot for the city during America”s original obsession with the silver screen.
“This theater just brings memories back to so many people,” said Lonnie Peeples, owner of Lonnie Peeples Contracting, who recently completed a two-year restoration of the theater.
“When we were kids, we would all come up here on Saturdays and watch cartoons, Westerns and, my personal favorite, ”Rocket Man,”” Peeples added, drawing laughter from the West Point Rotary Club gathered to celebrate the theater”s reopening. “It was a lot of fun, and this place holds many memories for me and many people in West Point.”
West Point businessman Milton Sundbeck purchased the theater more than two years ago and began a quest to restore the West Point icon to its original luster.
“This is just a project I had a strong desire to do,” Sundbeck said, passing praise on to others involved in the project. “But I”ll let the guys who actually did the work explain the project.”
Though the theater has been standing for more than three quarters of a century, it has not always looked as it currently does, Peeples explained as he projected several images of the restoration project onto the theater”s new retractable movie screen.
When the project began in early 2007, crews first had to remove dozens of rows of water-damaged theater seats in the building”s main auditorium and repair years of mildew damage.
“This auditorium used to slope down about 4 feet from the back of the room to the stage,” Peeples said, noting the floor is now level and carpeted. “We had to drain about two or three feet of water from the front of the room before we could even begin working on the building.”
After crews discovered the water had been entering the building for years from a poorly sealed back door, they pumped the water out of the theater and began to survey the damage.
Upon further inspection, the construction workers discovered nearly all the theater seats in the auditorium were damaged beyond repair.
“As you can see, the seats rusted pretty bad as the building sat vacant for many years,” said Peeples. “This whole building was just in a state of disrepair.
“Some people have asked me why I didn”t save the seats that were in here when we started working on the project,” Peeples added. “But the truth of the matter was that the seats were in no condition to be saved.”
After removing the seats and cleaning ceiling tiles and mildew from the large auditorium, crews moved on to the rest of the building, where they removed years of bird droppings from the projection room and renovated the theater”s backstage.
“The projection room had been used as a pigeon roost for many years before we got here,” Peeples explained. “Needless to say, that was a lot to clean up.”
In addition to repainting much of the inside of the theater pastel green and pink and installing new carpet in the auditorium, crews restored several pieces originally in the building.
Inside the auditorium, original pieces include a wooden “shelf” designed to mimic a film reel and a large metal sculpture of a pair of dragons flanking the Ritz”s crown-like symbol hanging above one of the doors in the front of the room.
Because the theater can serve as a conference center, performing venue, movie screening room and several other capacities, the building also received a heavy dose of 21st-century technology.
In addition to the retractable movie screen and digital high-definition projector, the theater was outfitted with a Dolby 7.1 surround sound system and an easy-interface control system allowing theater employees to control the lights, sound and projector from a single touch screen.
The neighboring Cafe Ritz, also owned by Sundbeck, is connected to the theater and will allow groups to cater meals from the restaurant to the auditorium. The cafe soon will open for lunch and may one day offer dinner, Peeples said.
“This theater was set up to handle many different types of events for pretty much anyone who would want to rent it,” said Peeples. “We”ve already had a wedding reception, the Oak Hill (Academy) junior-senior prom and a surprise birthday party.
“Even though it just reopened, there are already many events booked,” Peeples added.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
