Holding memories of the past, an Astra ticket stub symbolizes more than a piece of paper, it is a piece of history. Jasper, Indiana’s, downtown square swallows the Astra theater with its dank lights and cloudy windows. In the process of being reborn, the vacant building, and its once shining neon sign, stands as if there is light at the end of the tunnel. Because of the tenacity of civic minded patrons, the historic Astra theater on the square begins its transformation from a vacant memory filled business into the future home of cultural entertainment for the modern day community. An ambitious and successful man, Bernie Gutzweiler, owned the Tivoli theater, a furniture company, and a butcher shop. For reasons unknown, he decided to build a
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It notably displayed penguin posters to entice customers into relaxing in its air conditioned building. The structure, itself, stood among the first to have cool air. Some went, not just to see the movies, but to feel the breeze. The affordability of 10 to 12 cents per ticket, naturally made the theater a popular place to cool off and view the current films of the week. Bernie used to say, “Now this is the business to be into; where everybody pays.” Charitably, during the Great Depression, he issued credit to moviegoers who could not afford this luxury. Although the Great Depression seemed to have impacted other Indiana theaters, the Astra thrived and improved in subsequent years. Installing an automatic movie reel in the 1970’s eliminated the need for employees to manually switch reels during the showing of films. To give moviegoers a choice,the owner transformed the balcony into a separate second-story showing room in …show more content…
After restrooms are in place, Next Act will work to resolve other pressing issues, with the theater’s electrical, plumbing, and HVAC (Efforts 1). An effort to put forth to adjust the decor to mirror the style of the 1930’s, would resemble the era in which it was built (Steczyk 2). The Next Act hopes to rely primarily on the help of donations from the community for these restorations and improvements. Steczyk is considering obtaining professionals to help achieve the financial goals in the revitalization of the Astra. (Heeke
It notably displayed penguin posters to entice customers into relaxing in its air conditioned building. The structure, itself, stood among the first to have cool air. Some went, not just to see the movies, but to feel the breeze. The affordability of 10 to 12 cents per ticket, naturally made the theater a popular place to cool off and view the current films of the week. Bernie used to say, “Now this is the business to be into; where everybody pays.” Charitably, during the Great Depression, he issued credit to moviegoers who could not afford this luxury. Although the Great Depression seemed to have impacted other Indiana theaters, the Astra thrived and improved in subsequent years. Installing an automatic movie reel in the 1970’s eliminated the need for employees to manually switch reels during the showing of films. To give moviegoers a choice,the owner transformed the balcony into a separate second-story showing room in …show more content…
After restrooms are in place, Next Act will work to resolve other pressing issues, with the theater’s electrical, plumbing, and HVAC (Efforts 1). An effort to put forth to adjust the decor to mirror the style of the 1930’s, would resemble the era in which it was built (Steczyk 2). The Next Act hopes to rely primarily on the help of donations from the community for these restorations and improvements. Steczyk is considering obtaining professionals to help achieve the financial goals in the revitalization of the Astra. (Heeke