Birmingham Palladium Abuptly Closes

[mwilbert]

Retail bailed out of Rochester and Birmingham long before the internet became a factor. The supermarkets unassed downtown for strip malls and the department stores went into the enclosed malls. Now the internet is competing with both malls and shoppes [[unless there is a niche product).

This is correct. Downtown Birmingham was in the process of losing its "practical" retail 30 years ago. The rise of internet shopping simply further reduced the number of viable business types.

[Wesley Mouch]

If I am not mistaken American Apparel is having some management difficulties. I always thought that placing most of their stores in Downtowns were unique, as is the fact that they actually push for American-Made products in their stores. I did see one in Malibu CA a few years back that just stood there on the side of the road, out of place and strange. It could be that Malibu fits their demographics and the land use there is bizarre with the exception of Pepperdine.

Am I wrong that American Apparel is / was a Canadian company? I recall an interview on the CBC with the founder who I believe is from Montreal. Welcome, I say to a country where you can succeed or fail with less governmental intrusion than up north.

[Lowell]

The Palladium Theatres were built not because of the market, but because of a development idea from downtown vitality consultants. They were looking to create downtown activity in the evenings, to help spur their ideas of a vibrant downtown. Didn't like that B'ham pretty much closed up at 5pm when the Fidelity Brokerage office closed.

The developers didn't want the theatre, but it came with the package.

Typical example of what happens when you try to manipulate the market...

If that's the case it can now sound like the owners are doing the manipulating. Get rid of the theaters and do with the space as they had intended. If theaters were a condition of their getting a pass on zoning or other condition that allowed their project to proceed I wonder if they will get called out. Maybe that's why they are mumbling about keeping a theater or two?

[the rock]

I remember when there was sadness in Birmingham, although not too much, when the Bloomfield Theatre closed in the 80's. It was kinda Art Deco, and was located a couple of blocks below the current Birmingham Theatre, but only held about 900 customers. Doubt if too many folks on Detroityes remember it much less ever heard of it. I saw many a Phantom serials there on a Saturday afternoon. Female manager did not put up with too much crap from little boy school kids throwing Jujubees at the girls sitting in the first five rows.

[dtowncitylover]

Am I wrong that American Apparel is / was a Canadian company? I recall an interview on the CBC with the founder who I believe is from Montreal. Welcome, I say to a country where you can succeed or fail with less governmental intrusion than up north.

I don't think that's the reason why he started it down here. In fact Montreal had one of the first stores ever.

[Wesley Mouch]

If that's the case it can now sound like the owners are doing the manipulating. Get rid of the theaters and do with the space as they had intended. If theaters were a condition of their getting a pass on zoning or other condition that allowed their project to proceed I wonder if they will get called out. Maybe that's why they are mumbling about keeping a theater or two?

Your 'manipulating' is their 'legal rights' as are likely defined in the contracts between the developers and the authorities.

Don't forget that corporations are people, too. And as expressions of the will of the people who own the corporations, they have rights just like the individual corporate stakeholders.

The building owners do not have a moral obligation to keep operating as a theatre unless they agreed to do so.

[iheartthed]

Am I wrong that American Apparel is / was a Canadian company? I recall an interview on the CBC with the founder who I believe is from Montreal. Welcome, I say to a country where you can succeed or fail with less governmental intrusion than up north.

American Apparel is based in Los Angeles. Apparently, it was started in Montreal which I did not know before I just looked it up.

[Inkadinkado]

Yeah, but Partridge Creek is basically a downtown, except without any practical stores or offices. Yes, people love it because they're xenophobic and they know icky people live in old cities.

How is that a bad thing, even if it is true? Freedom of choice is unacceptable? What do you say to Detroiters, icky folk to use your characterization, who opt to drive by all of those gloriously character-infused city alternatives to shop at a Kroger in Dearborn? Let everyone shop where they choose and leave the judgement out of it.

[CassTechGrad]

I remember when there was sadness in Birmingham, although not too much, when the Bloomfield Theatre closed in the 80's. It was kinda Art Deco, and was located a couple of blocks below the current Birmingham Theatre, but only held about 900 customers. Doubt if too many folks on Detroityes remember it much less ever heard of it. I saw many a Phantom serials there on a Saturday afternoon. Female manager did not put up with too much crap from little boy school kids throwing Jujubees at the girls sitting in the first five rows.

The old Bloomfield theater in Birmingham is now a parking garage. Records say it opened in 1937 and closed sometime in the 1980's.

Today

[Honky Tonk]

I had a lady take me there to see Monsoon Wedding. A saw a few other movies there in the 60's and 70's. It was a quaint theatre. With the Home Theatre thing these days, 900 might just be the right #.

[nain rouge]

What do you say to Detroiters, icky folk to use your characterization, who opt to drive by all of those gloriously character-infused city alternatives to shop at a Kroger in Dearborn?

Inkadinkado, meet point. Point, meet Inkadinkado. Seems you two missed each other.

Yes, obviously, if we pick winners and choose not to invest in city like Mt. Clemens, it should come as no surprise to see Mt. Clemens struggle and even decay. It should also come as no surprise that people pass it by for Hall Road. Because, yes, it's true that at this point Mt. Clemens is not as desirable as Hall Road.

But what made Mt. Clemens that way? Well, we decided we didn't like a demographic there or perhaps its development style and moved our money away from it. We the people decided to wash our hands of it. It's not Mt. Clemens' fault that its struggling. We assigned it to the dust bin of development. Mt. Clemens couldn't do anything about it. It's just a an artificial boundary and a collection of buildings, streets, and geographic features. We could've rebuilt it or renovated it any way we liked - we could've made it like Partridge Creek - but we willingly chose not to.

That's our right in a free market, sure. For the time, we can afford it, to keep sprawling out. But some of us aren't sure it's a good way to achieve future prosperity. We don't have to shut up about it, either, because we have freedom of speech. How do you like that?

[Bham1982]

The old Bloomfield theater in Birmingham is now a parking garage. Records say it opened in 1937 and closed sometime in the 1980's.

That parking garage is really an office building that happens to have on-site parking.

It was actually built as a retail center in the 1980's. I think it was called Piccadilly Square or something, and was intended to be an upscale indoor mall, but the concept never worked.

[the rock]

The old Bloomfield theater in Birmingham is now a parking garage. Records say it opened in 1937 and closed sometime in the 1980's.

Today

Thanks for posting the pix of the old Bloomfield Theatre, Cass Tech. Brought back memories to this old-timer. Next to the theatre was the Birmingham Greyhound station with a Pontiac -bound bus parked in front. Not positive, but I think the little shop with the awning was Baugh's Bike Shop who was the local Schwinn dealer, but he sold and serviced all makes and models.
Back then, you paid full price for a Schwinn, no discounts. And they were not cheap, but were solid and rugged, excellent for those of us who carried and delivered the Detroit Shopping News twice a week.

[softailrider]

I'm kind of surprised, I thought that theater was as busy as any of the other theaters in the area. I went there many times.

[Cliffy]

Yeah me too. I would go to that theater when I wanted to check out a movie.

[DTWflyer]

I suspect it had to with the change in ownership of the building and any expiration of leases/contracts for the space. While it might be busy, it is a higher-cost building than most surrounding theaters. Plus, the new owner likely believes they can command higher rents per square foot with office and residential.

The vacant retail and restaurant spaces don't help the case. Looks like they new owner wants to convert the basement into underground parking for tenants.

Apparently Birmingham has a daytime parking problem. There have been numerous instances were the topic has been brought-up by city officials. There is more demand than available monthly parking passes for business owners and office workers in the downtown area.

[Hermod]

Inkadinkado, meet point. Point, meet [/COLOR]Inkadinkado. Seems you two missed each other.

Yes, obviously, if we pick winners and choose not to invest in city like Mt. Clemens, it should come as no surprise to see Mt. Clemens struggle and even decay. It should also come as no surprise that people pass it by for Hall Road. Because, yes, it's true that at this point Mt. Clemens is not as desirable as Hall Road.

But what made Mt. Clemens that way? Well, we decided we didn't like a demographic there or perhaps its development style and moved our money away from it. We the people decided to wash our hands of it. It's not Mt. Clemens' fault that its struggling. We assigned it to the dust bin of development. Mt. Clemens couldn't do anything about it. It's just a an artificial boundary and a collection of buildings, streets, and geographic features. We could've rebuilt it or renovated it any way we liked - we could've made it like Partridge Creek - but we willingly chose not to.

That's our right in a free market, sure. For the time, we can afford it, to keep sprawling out. But some of us aren't sure it's a good way to achieve future prosperity. We don't have to shut up about it, either, because we have freedom of speech. How do you like that?

Did you ever see Mount Clemens in the late 1940s and early 1950s when it was a large collection of old hotels and mineral baths? They went out of style and were pretty much razed to the ground.

Right now, Mount Clemens is primarily residential with suburban sprawl shopping along Gratiot. Take the Partridge Creek footprint and overlay it on Mount Clemens and then think of how you would have to assemble the parcels and buy the properties to make it work.

[Vitalis]

The Death of any theatre diminishes us all - [[Unknown)
This thread reminds me of the long-gone Studio 8 theater in downtown Bham. For a short time in the 1970's a goodly number of "serious" American and European films were booked there. As for the rest of the "chain" - the Studio North [[now the Magic Bag); the Studio New Center [[at Third and W. Grand, now demolished); and the Studio [[I don't recall the location....Anyone?) along with the Surf, the Coronet, and the Trans-Lux Krim showed "foreign cinema" as far back as...well....before me, and that was a long time ago. Parking was always lousy for the Studio 8, and I'm sure that the neighborhood didn't much care for the congestion. But Studio 8 was the only place you could see a young actor named Jack Nicholson, in "Five Easy Pieces."

[nain rouge]

Did you ever see Mount Clemens in the late 1940s and early 1950s when it was a large collection of old hotels and mineral baths? They went out of style and were pretty much razed to the ground.

Right now, Mount Clemens is primarily residential with suburban sprawl shopping along Gratiot. Take the Partridge Creek footprint and overlay it on Mount Clemens and then think of how you would have to assemble the parcels and buy the properties to make it work.

Yes, and by razing all that stuff to the ground, enough space was made to allow for a outdoor mall. Certainly, it would've been a challenge to convert downtown Mount Clemens into a mall, but why are we so weak and timid? Somehow, we once found a way to demolish entire neighborhoods for freeways. Why can't we rebuild anything?

It'll always be easier to plop stuff on greenfields, but we can't do that forever. Eventually, we'll have to figure out how to redevelop within the existing confines of the metro area. What is Metro Detroit supposed to look like in 50 years? Sprawled out to 60 Mile? We'll go bankrupt.

[motz]

Competing theaters for Birmingham... Rochester Hills E-Magine, Troy MJR, Madison Heights Star [[Seriously. Those seats are amazing.), AMC Forum 30, Royal Oak E-Magine. Definitely over saturated in the area. Just wanted to make sure the list was proper... If you want, you can also count Great Lakes Crossing, Waterford MJR and one or two others, since the "nice" Birmingham theater was most likely intended to draw from the money areas of Rochester/Rochester Hills/Troy/Bloomfields/Waterford/Birmingham/etc.

[bailey]

Yes, and by razing all that stuff to the ground, enough space was made to allow for a outdoor mall. Certainly, it would've been a challenge to convert downtown Mount Clemens into a mall, but why are we so weak and timid? Somehow, we once found a way to demolish entire neighborhoods for freeways. Why can't we rebuild anything?

Well, for one, all those properties are owned by different folks. Second, it's a public area. Partridge Creek type "lifestyle" centers can exclude things like rowdy teens and the poors [[loitering) by being private property and controlling access. Its the number one complaint of the blue hairs in Bham... those "outsiders" and "teens" being rowdy/hanging out all over the place. Tenants like the security and the one landlord and the uniformity of a mall. Patrons want the exclusion of...lets face it, poors and other races. Nordstrom isn't going to locate in a building with a risk that a dollar store could go in next door...Nordsrom shoppers aren't going to go shop where they'd need to walk past street people. Not here. Because we've spent 50 years building out to segregate from it.

Further, with regard to Mt. Clemens and forcing change, I thought we are all supposed to be against government condemnations and takings for Private uses? Because at this point that is the only way it changes.

It'll always be easier [and MASSIVELY cheaper] to plop stuff on greenfield

which is why it will be done 9 times out of 10 for as long as there are greenfields [[or disused golf courses) around here to build "lifestyle" centers, and vinyl clad shitboxes, and big box stores surrounded by oceans of parking.

Want it to change? gas needs to go to 15.00 a gallon forcing a massive structural change in how we in flyover country live our lives. Until it's not just a bit uncomfortable cost wise, but practically impossible for middle and upper middle class to have a car for each driving age member of the household to use for every.single.thing needed to go about their day, it'll be more of the same.

[iheartthed]

Yes, and by razing all that stuff to the ground, enough space was made to allow for a outdoor mall. Certainly, it would've been a challenge to convert downtown Mount Clemens into a mall, but why are we so weak and timid? Somehow, we once found a way to demolish entire neighborhoods for freeways. Why can't we rebuild anything?

It'll always be easier to plop stuff on greenfields, but we can't do that forever. Eventually, we'll have to figure out how to redevelop within the existing confines of the metro area. What is Metro Detroit supposed to look like in 50 years? Sprawled out to 60 Mile? We'll go bankrupt.[/COLOR]

Michigan makes it incredibly easy to plop stuff on greenfields and also does not have a good system to hold companies accountable for cleaning up brownfields. That's why Michigan's cities are rotted to hell.

[anonJD]

Also, I'm sure the local Real Housewives will be very happy this sordid den of unwashed outsiders is being turned into more luxury condo boxes. Just what Birmingham needs.

You and I both know parents from all over the region would drop off their delinquents, using the Palladium and downtown Birmingham as a babysitter for the night. On weekends and during summer breaks, it was out of control. For several years residents have avoided downtown because the obnoxious, unsupervised teens coupled with the type of crowd attracted to the "lounges" in that corridor ruined what used to be a quiet, tony enclave. Thank God it's [finally] closed. It should go a long way in restoring Birmingham's charm.

[Elevator Fan]

The Death of any theatre diminishes us all - [[Unknown)
This thread reminds me of the long-gone Studio 8 theater in downtown Bham

The Studio 8 was located in the Green 8 Shopping Center across Greenfield Road from Northland Mall. The theater in Birmingham was the Studio 4, across Old Woodward from the Bloomfield Theater. It spent most of its time since those days as a high-end used car showroom. The front of the building continued to feature a sculpted "4".

[Hypestyles]

The Ilitch family owns this theater? They need to open one in downtown Detroit.