Hometown Series: January Highlights

Originally debuting on the Editing Luke facebook page throughout January, these images are winter highlights from the "Hometown Series" shot in Medicine Hat, Alberta this month. 

Skinny Palms in Los Angeles, California

Not all travel shoots are about a specific destination, so much as they're about capturing the details that make you think of a place in general. Rows of skinny palm trees lining long boulevards are about as iconic to Los Angeles, California as the Hollywood Sign. In fairness, it doesn't hurt if you can find a street that allows you to capture both. 

 

Abandoned Cinema: Inside the Towne Theatre

Earlier this month I returned to the abandoned movie theatre I frequented as a teenager after learning that the interior had been pretty much gutted since my last visit. 

Back in 2013, I first photographed the abandoned Towne Theatre in downtown Medicine Hat, Alberta. At that time the movie theatre had already been vacant for years, but the interior was still pretty much intact. With its concession, theatre seats, and signage still in place, the Towne in 2013 was still a cinema that many would have recognized. That's not exactly the case today.

With the property having been on the market for years, and both the Monarch and Esplanade theatres just a few blocks away, the likelihood of the Towne Theatre ever becoming a working movie theatre again seems highly unlikely - regardless of how many nostalgia fueled posts leave people wishing they could go back to see one of their favourite movies here again. 

The lobby.

The evolution of this space has actually been a slow transition as there have been a few rumblings over the years that something might happen. While some may be saddened by the changes, I think keeping the theatre interior, as interesting as it was to explore, only further kept the property in limbo as it made it incredibly difficult to picture the space as anything else. 

Only time will tell what the future holds for the former Towne Theatre. In the meantime, I'm left with a greater appreciation for the previous images I shot in this old movie theatre and a renewed excitement for what it might look like when I find myself back here again someday.

A vacant main theatre.

A few tiles remain where the ticket booth stood at the entrance.

A now completely empty projection room.

Where the concession once was.

Former offices.

Theatre seats piled in the upper cinemas.