Boxoffice-January.03.1953

TRAFFIC CONTROL IN
SUB-ZERO WEATHER
A Fairbanks^ Alaska, Theatre Remodels to Solve a Holding-Area Problem
having difficulty getting
I HE EXHIBITOR who thinks he is
materials and equipment for a remodeling job should consider
che problem which faced the Lathrop Co. in rebuilding the
Empress Theatre in Fairbanks. Alaska.
Just as the building program got under way. a w^aterfront
strike crippled transportation by boat and contractors resorted
to almost every mode of handling freight except reindeer team.
Materials and equipment were hauled in by air freight, barge and
auto freight up the Alcan highway.
Most of the finished items used on the job were sent in by
air and the entire marquee display was especially designed by
the architectural firm of Carlson, Eley, Grevstad of Seattle so
that it could be fitted into the largest freight plane available.
The Empress Theatre, built in 1927 by the late Captain
ARCHITECT: CARLSON - ELEY - GREVSTAD
Austin E. Lathrop, was the first reinforced concrete and steel
frame building in interior Alaska, They said then it couldn't be
done and when the shipping strike hit Alaska, there were those
who again warned that it would be virtually impossible to bring
in all materials and equipment by air and auto frieght to complete
the remodeling job.
In remodeling the theatre, the purpose was not only to create
an attractive new front, but to provide a maximum of space for
a holding area In the far north this is absolutely essential.
Temperatures reaching as low as minus 60 degrees were a considerable
factor in the design developed by the architects to
handle the flow of traffic.
It is the policy of the theatre to stop all flow of traffic into
the auditorium for a considerable period before the end of the
feature. The result is that local patrons are pretty well trained
to show up all at once, just before the break. The management
then very carefully routs all outgoing traffic through the exits
following along behind with the incoming patrons who immediately
fill up the auditorium for the next show.
An examination of the floor plan will show, through the use
of arrows, how the incoming and outgoing traffic flow is controled
by the theatre management.
When the theatre was built, the entrance occupied very little
of the frontage. A vertical sign was about all the identification
given to the theatre, and the foyer was a long narrow passageway
leading to the auditorium. In the new design, a travel
agency which occupied the greater portion of the street frontage
was shifted into a smaller area and the space previously devoted
to commercial enterprises was redone into a handsome modern
showplace.
The resulting effect is certainly not what the movies them-
The boxoffice area, before and after remoc/e/ing. Originally, the
lobby was little more than a long corridor. In the remodeling, the
boxoffica space was removed, the entrance doors were walled off
ond the old lobby become a travel agency office. In the lower
photo, the area at the left is for holdouts. The elaborately styled
concessions bar can also be seen through the doors.
The MODERN THEATRE SECTION