Albany's Spectrum and the salvation of cities

The Spectrum has been showing good films for as long as I remember, but the wife and I spent many years hardly ever going out to the movies. Now, as empty nesters looking askance at a $170-a-month cable/phone/Internet bill (this without HBO, Showtime etc.), it seems to make sense to cut back to the minimum channels, ditch the land line and get out of the house more.

So on Sunday and then again on Monday (I have a summer gig working Wednesday-Sunday, making this the start of my weekend), we went to the late show at the Spectrum, to see Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" and then Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life." Beauty is a key part of both movies (more in the theme of the former and the actuality of the latter), which makes seeing them in the theater much better than on our boxy old TV or one of those tiny portable devices. The Spectrum helped by providing a security guard in the parking lot round back, who remained on duty as we came out near midnight.

We also found the not-small New World Bistro, just up the avenue from the theater, which was packed on a Monday night. A very pleasant couple we met there said the restaurant shares ownership with the theater, and it is an obviously mutually beneficial relationship. They are a key part of the revival of Delaware Avenue, which is a hopeful sign for the city.

Last week, the wife and I went back to Glens Falls, where we used to live, to meet our son for dinner. Downtown was lively on a Wednesday night with some kind of festival, bands playing in the street, etc. Not all the news is good. We stopped at an independent book store, Red Fox, which is going out of business. But then I went to a drug store near our old neighborhood, and was astonished and delighted to discover that much of the parking lot has been converted to a community garden. (They got 'em in Albany, too.) When I mentioned this in an email to a nephew in England, he said it was like a reversal of that old Joni Mitchell line, "They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot."

 

Comments

[Brian]

And there is a group (I'm part of) that's working to start a local food co-op.