Seattle Protects Its Theaters: The New Downtown Historic Theatre District
Most people currently living in Seattle are not from Seattle. One of the ways this plays itself out is in Seattle's landscape, where it seems that developers can write policy directly without the need for actual legislation. The city is their playground, to graft, raze and recreate as they see fit, largely because no one cares.
So it is somewhat heartening to see Mayor Mike McGinn sign the new resolution creating a Downtown Historic Theatre District. This resolution aims "to support the preservation, promotion and maintenance of Seattle's downtown historic theaters," according to the press release from the Mayor's Office.
The five theaters that qualify for this designation are: The Eagles Auditorium (host to A Contemporary Theatre), The Paramount, The Moore, The 5th Avenue and Town Hall. Ostensibly the plan of the resolution is to support the theaters with preservation funding, promotion and a novel zoning law. Reading the press release, Mayor McGinn sounds positively sanguine about the idea.
"The creation of this district will recognize, protect and build upon the collective contribution of these theaters to our economy and our cultural identity," says Mr. McGinn.
As a native Seattleite - yes, there are some left - I would love to applaud the effort. But I have seen how Seattle handled its classic movie theaters already: go visit the downtown Banana Republic for a quick reminder. My memory is also good enough to recall Mayor Norm Rice's Theater Advisory Group declaring in the 1990s that "historic theaters are worth more dead than alive" because of the exponential rise in property values at the time. I see no reason why that logic should have changed. Neither theater production nor property values have decreased in the past twenty years since Seattle removed the "landmark" designation from the old Fox Theatre (aka Music Hall) to allow its demolition in 1992.
Nevertheless, it is very wholesome and heartwarming to hear that, at least, if theater as an art doesn't matter a tinker's damn to Seattleites, at least theater buildings do. At least until Martin Selig figures out a way around that, too.
