October 31, 2009

Rebirth of The Pines

pines theatre
Constructed in 1925, this is the way it was in July 2006.

first street in lufkin, morning
Looking down First Street, January 2007

And then suddenly, one morning in April 2007, Lufkin awoke to find it in this condition:
damaged pines theatre marquee
ouch
No one is really sure what happened, but it was theorized an 18-wheeler or delivery truck somehow crashed in to it. It is in this state it sat for a while.

By May 2008, I'd pretty much given up on it ever being repaired.
pines theater on cloudy day

I'd expected it to continue going down, but I was stunned to see it like this a year later, April 2009:
pines theater in morning on cloudy day
front on pines theater
I had heard rumors that a restoration was under way, but this looked like more of a dismantling, which it was. But instead of destroying, the removed neon and giant green glass, inlaid fleur-de-lis, it was all being refurbished:

the pines theater all shiny and new
Wow!!

the pines theater all shiny and new
What's old is new again. In fact, it's downright shiny.

the pines theater all shiny and new
Way to go Lufkin! Bravo. You restore some faith in mankind.

the pines theater

4 comments:

Werner Herzog's Bear said...

Wow! I will have to get down to Lufkin from the Nac to see this.

Chris said...

Definitely worth checking out. They did a really nice job on it.

Amy said...

Ohhh so lovely and so shiny! I would be there every weekend to get my classic movie fix if I was anywhere nearby.

Chris said...

That's a bit of a tease at this point, Amy. If you go to this link, there's a picture of the interior, which is an empty shell at this point.