Finding out the location	very easy
Access	very hard
Safety	very safe
Risk of being seen	high
General condition of the place	good
Traces of vandalism	none or very few
Good place for taking pictures?	good
Did you see other people?	none or very few

Visit date    March 1 2021 at 4 hr
Visit duration    2 hours

I stumbled upon the mega theater when I was lost in a certain city looking for a different urbex location to take better pictures of it’s gym. I wanted to cut the zip ties holding up the temp lighting which was strung to the second tier. They had plans of construction at one point. I parked a few blocks away and came upon this mammoth gray stone building that had the semblance of a city hall or court. As I passed the backside, I noticed the doors were locked and a few glass ones had plywood on the inside. I tried the handles, and they didn’t budge as if they also had two by fours on the inside securing it shut.

My next instinct was to look into a ground level window. I didn’t want to enter it if it was merely “pandemic” abandoned. Those places rarely interest me and oftentimes mean their inactivity is temporary. The sign revealing it to be a theater which would make sense for its closing, since all theaters are currently inactive. So I peered into one of the windows and noticed orange tinted water damage along the ceiling, peeling paint, and the hallways were bare except for a few spare pieces of furniture. All of the random chairs and tables were coated in dust and timeworn. It seemed as if it had been vacant for quite a while. My curiosity was at full peak.
The windows wouldn’t budge because they were metal and frozen shut by years of rust.
I found a double door out of view and door out of view and went at it using all of my weight against a tool to keep it open, thrusting my body onto it. I hear the two by four on the inside creak and crack until the heavy door popped open and an alarm sounded. I flee inside. I had no prior arrests at that point so I figure, worst case, I spend the night in jail and get a fine. I hustle to the front of the building and reach a lobby.
The lobby is all marble and has WWII murals that cut just below the ceiling. There’s also large scale windows ground which overlook the busy street. How weird it was to be in there alone looking at the hurried world outside. I opened the doors to the theater from the second floor. When your looking at it from the entrance it’s so vast, like a baseball field, that all of the dust and plaster crumbles go unnoticed. Since it was getting dark i only took a few pics And chose to return the following morning.
I posted one pic in my ig story. When I was there the next day, I still went with my light and as I started snapping pics I ran into other urbexers. One follows me quietly on ig but doesn’t like or say peep. He and his friends scolded me for
My choice of entry because “they’d hate for anyone to learn about it, plus they’d known about the building back from when they had a photo group there.”
They include to warn me not to tell anyone about it.
“I’m here alone...didn’t go to a photoshop...I found it by accident. You’re here with two of your buddies. Who do you think is more likely to blow it up huh? The art kids who who go to the photogroups and come in with a crew? Or me who’s coming in solo? You can stop with the chiding young man.” I responded and returned to an affable disposition talking to the others there, before turning to taking my iPhone pics. All of them were big name hashtags, or did YouTube. Anyway long story short, these kids don’t “break in,” anywhere. So it would make sense for them to follow people quietly. I guess they’re hot on the underdogs footsteps while they make money, most likely rent off of other peoples audacity. Which leads us to a more important question: who needs who?

On a positive note I’m very happy with my pictures. The one of the theater may not have been quite as dazzling had one of them not parted the curtains....they were like six feet from the ground or higher. I restricted him and the others because I put so much effort into getting into my finds. And I take pride in them iPhone or not.

  Text and photos are by D4mge_C4se. Click here to see D4mge_C4se's profile and other reports.

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