I saw a lot of movies at the Orleans, and I watched its decline over the
years with sadness. It was the last survivor out of all the neighborhood
theaters where I saw landmark movies as a kid.
I remember seeing the old Pathmark get converted to theaters 5-8 when I
was in grade school in 1984.
When I was in high school in the late 80s and early 90s, the parking lot
was full to capacity every Friday and Saturday night. Around that time
undesirables came up often from bad neighborhoods and started causing
trouble, and there was frequent police activity. A girl was killed one
night in an altercation after a midnight movie, and that was the end of
midnight movies at the Orleans.
In the 90s it really started going downhill. I live about a seven minute
walk from the Orleans, and the last movie I saw there was 12 Monkeys, in
1996. When the locals stop going, that's when you know the place is
doomed. One of my friends from the burbs who didn't know any better went
there to see Kill Bill and had her life threatened when she asked some
noisy people to be quiet.
When the theater at Franklin Mills opened up, much of the undesirable
crowd's business went up there-- which is why I don't go to that theater
anymore, either.
Almost all the businesses on that block are gone now-- the Hollywood
Bistro went under earlier this year (I honestly don't know how it hung
on that long, the place looked like a dump for years and I would never
have known it closed except they boarded up the windows); the deli and
the bagel shop have been gone for a few years; The Lee's Hoagie House
moved to a storefront on Castor Avenue over the summer; the Jo-Ann
fabrics has a big "Store Closing" banner up in recent days, so the
landlord probably refused to renew their lease; and the jewelry store
that was previously Henry's Ice Cream is long gone. All that's left is
Pep Boys, which shows no sign of moving or closing down, though I would
imagine they'll get the boot because Target would probably want the
entire lot bordered by Shelmire, Bustleton, Bleigh and Horrocks. I'm
really hoping that that does just turn out to be a rumor, because I
don't want all the traffic a Target will bring to the neighborhood, and
there are Target stores only 10 minutes north and south of this location
on the Boulevard. How many do they need?
