CARLTON FLETCHER: Apathy was deciding factor in fate of Albany Theater

Where were you when I needed you?

— The Grass Roots

Heavy, as we’ve learned, lies the head that wears the crown.

And so it is as current city of Albany leaders bear the brunt of the anger that’s developed around the planned demolition of the downtown Albany Theater.

Talk with anyone who’s lived in this city for an extended period of time, and you’re likely to hear stories about the wonderful experience of going to movies at the Albany. It was a grand structure in its day, and its prominence in the city landed it on the National Register of Historic Places.

Of course, as radiant as the memories for many were, it must be pointed out that there is an equally large number of people who remember being shunted to the alleyway south of the Albany’s main entrance to enter the theater, their skin color relegating them to a balcony area so erected to separate movie viewers by race.

But with Albany Mayor James Gray’s dramatic redesign of downtown, from retail to government center, the Albany Theater, along with many other significant buildings, was abandoned. And despite a valiant but failed turn-of-the-century effort to resurrect the grand old movie hall from its inevitable fate, time — as it always does — had its way with the Albany.

Much of the earlier efforts to rebuild the theater focused on its adjacent arcade area, which is still in relatively good shape. But the Albany itself is pretty much a too-far-gone disaster. Lack of attention when the structure started its inexorable turn to decay hastened a devastating downturn that now has the theater so thoroughly diminished even the crackheads can’t find haven from the weather under its destroyed roof.

The grand design elements of the theater’s once glorious interior are all but unrecognizable, eaten away by the elements and complete lack of attention.

Now that the Albany has reached its point of no return, city officials have, as Planning Director Paul Forgey pointed out at a recent ADICA meeting, two options: Fix the Albany or tear it down. Because its greatest devastation — piles of rubble from decaying internal walls and ceilings — lies well in back of the more visible row of businesses along the 200 block of North Jackson Street, behind the arcade and the Cookie Shoppe, the public doesn’t readily view the mess that is the Albany.

But, as Forgey pointed out, the city would be derelect in its duty if it allowed the theater to continue sitting in its current state, ignoring the rapid decline and potential for danger. There really are only the two choices Forgey mentioned, which means there is actually only one choice.

Who, after all, is going to pay the millions it would take to restore the Albany? And what purpose would that restoration serve? Are patrons suddenly going to abandon the comfort of the cinema multiplex to attend movies downtown? Before you vow that you would, ask yourself a couple of questions: First, how long would your nostalgic fervor last — one movie, two, three? Businesses don’t survive without customers.

Secondly, would you really get off your couch and come to an event downtown when you haven’t done so for the last two or three decades? I guess a legitimate follow-up question would be whether you would be willing to sink your personal life savings into a business that relied on the support of a dramatically apathetic public like ours?

It’s not surprising that many are blasting current Albany officials for, essentially, talking about what has to be done with the Albany Theater. Some citizens have even taken shots at Forgey, blaming the messenger, as it were, for telling the truth about the theater. They seem not to have noticed that Forgey, a staunch believer in historic preservation, said his preference is always to save “local treasures.” But Forgey is also a realist who knows there aren’t any white knights waiting in the wings to ride in and save the Albany.

It would be easy to ask all these old-Albany folks decrying plans to move forward with the Albany Theater’s demolition where they’ve been the last couple of decades or so while the historic building has been steadily deteriorating. But that’s too simplistic. And, besides, we know where they’ve been anyway. They’re the ones who’ve sat behind their own four walls, doing nothing but complaining, while much of this “once grand city” that they purport to love has slowly wilted around them.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected]. Follow @ABH_Fletcher on Twitter.