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Fireworks are sure to dance in the sky on July Fourth in Rockland, but when the doors open July 3 at the Strand Theatre on Main Street, this city of 7,600 will have a star replaced in its civic and cultural firmament. More than 80 years ago, the Strand was a local hub in a city that, despite economic ups and downs, has always been spirited. The art-deco building, which went up in a mere six weeks back in 1923, first featured silent films accompanied by live piano and then showed talkies.
Rockland Mayor Thomas Molloy, who grew up here, remembers going to Sunday matinees that cost 12 cents. “The movies played continuously,” he recalled recently. “You could stay for two or three.”
For all its popular past, the old jewel of a movie house fell into disrepair and disuse in recent years. Water damaged the interior, and the exterior began to stand out as an eyesore as the rest of Main Street moved toward the 21st century. The original owners sold it to a buyer who then sold it to a cinema chain, which eventually shut it down in 2001.
The Strand might, indeed, have remained stranded if Matthew and Ellen Simmons, wealthy Texans with ties to Rockport, had not purchased the building last year for $200,000 with the goal of turning it once again into a state-of-the-art movie house and cultural center.
“It is easy to fall in love with Maine and fun to be able to try and give back,” wrote Matthew Simmons in an e-mail from Amsterdam, where he and Ellen were this month. Simmons is founder and chairman of Simmons & Company International, a Houston-based investment banking company specializing in the energy industry. “Ellen and I are also very active in the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and genuine high quality restoration means a great deal to us.”
For the last 16 months, the Strand has been undergoing a transformation with a new brick facade, new floors, walls, carpet, lobby, restrooms, concession areas, sound and lighting systems, proscenium arch, tin ceilings and refurbished seats. For much of last winter, the building was wrapped Christo-style during the multimillion dollar demolition and restoration. (Local organizers wouldn’t give an actual cost.) Maine artisans, designers and construction workers did most of the renovation.
In June, a replica of the original marquee was unveiled and, on Sunday, a major block party will be held to celebrate the rebirth of the building, now on the National Register of Historic Places.
To underscore the monumentality of the event, the first movie to be shown beginning July 4 using the theater’s new screen and state-of-the-art sound and projection equipment will be “Lawrence of Arabia.” In addition to ongoing screen classics, the Strand will program independent, world and documentary films, as well as occasional live music events. A concession area will provide organic popcorn and designer chocolate, and an upstairs bar will serve beer and wine. In addition to entertainment events, the Strand also is equipped to host conventions, meetings and social occasions.
“During this project, I’ve learned that this theater has been a huge part of peoples’ lives in this town,” said Donna Daly, a Camden native who conceived of restoring the movie house and will be its director and programmer. With a background in film and business, she also oversaw all aspects of the building’s renovation. “They had their first date or their first kiss here. It’s important to remember that movie theaters are social centers in addition to entertainment centers. There’s a trend back toward community and old values of meeting friends in a social setting. This will be a social environment that people are meant to meet in.”
While the Strand’s reopening promises to be an important part of local and tourist activity, many see it as simply the next step in a series of strides Rockland has been taking for the last 20 years. As recently as 1991, when Patrick Reilley arrived in Rockland to open Second Read Coffee Shop, a cafe and used-book store across the street from the Strand, more than a dozen storefronts were vacant and boarded up. A handful of sandwich shops dotted Main Street, but few could characterize it as a booming downtown. The stench from Sea Pro, a fish-packing factory on the waterfront, fouled the air enough to inspire the saying: “Camden by the sea. Rockland by the smell.” Yachters and boaters were warned away from the waters, and Rockland was little more than a pass-through on the way to boutique-y Camden or touristy Bar Harbor. MBNA, the credit card lender, had not yet set up shop in town, Wal-Mart had not moved to town, and the Farnsworth Art Museum was attracting about 20,000 visitors a year.
That’s when Chris Crosman, then the Farnsworth’s director, began thinking of a way for the museum to have more of a Main Street presence.
“We wanted to connect with the community a bit more,” said Crosman, now director emeritus at the Farnsworth. “We had a building on Main Street, and we thought we could use it to generate activity. By doing that, it gave people a sense that somebody was coming in with something new and fresh. If the museum was going to develop, maybe other businesses could, too. We were putting out the message that we thought Rockland was a place people would want to come – tourists and locals alike.”
And come they did.
Sea Pro closed in the early 1990s, and, since then, the harbor has been filled with pleasure boats. With its comprehensive collection of Wyeth works and Maine art, the Farnsworth, where Matthew Simmons is a trustee, saw more than 70,000 visitors last year. And more and more and more businesses, restaurants and galleries have opened on Main Street. Last month, at the opening of the new Maine Lighthouse Museum, which houses a landmark collection of lighthouse and life-saving artifacts as well as the Rockland-Thomaston Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Molloy spoke about the potential the rising creative economy held for the area.
“I see Rockland as a destination now and not just a place people pass through on the way to Camden,” said Molloy. “The opening of the Gateway Center holds a lot of promise. The Strand will be a magnet, too. I can visualize my wife and myself walking down Main Street to see a show. This kind of nightlife will enhance Main Street. Rockland is thriving.”
Molloy has seen his hometown go from the limestone to the fishing to the service industry, driven in recent years, he said, by good business and the arts.
But it was not clear to Reilley when he moved to the area that Rockland was on the rise. Fifteen years ago, Rockland could have just as easily faltered, said both Reilley and Molloy. While no one can pinpoint exactly what the driving forces were that sent Rockland soaring instead of stumbling, many list these events as significant: the closing of Sea Pro, the arrival of MBNA, the opening of the Farnsworth’s Main Street entrance, the coffee-shop bookstore, and the development of the waterfront. Others might add the Lincoln Street Center for Arts and Education, Rockland’s inclusion in the travel guide “100 Best Art Towns in America,” a blues festival and a lobster festival.
Reilley chuckled at the thought of his original store, which was in a storefront building with less than 1,200 square feet, affecting the revitalization of this city. But he acknowledges that the store gave artists and others a place to meet, eat, read and hear the occasional concert. Now, he owns two coffee shops and a coffee roasting business in Rockland, and, at last count, he needed more fingers than he has on two hands to calculate the number of restaurants on Main Street. There are also art galleries, gift shops, T-shirt shops, hair salons, jewelers, another bookstore and novelty shops.
“There was a sense years ago that the arts were not safe, that they were a big risk,” said Patrick Reilley, whose roasters will supply the coffee to the Strand’s concession stand. “But in the end, it was not just people from away but Rocklanders, too, who were a major part of the energy that changed things. A lot happened at the same time, a lot of sources of energy. I wouldn’t say it was organic. It took a lot of effort on a lot of people’s part. The Strand is the crowning jewel of it all.”
And shine it does. With the team of local architects Richard Higgins of Rockland and John Gillespie of Camden and Omni Construction of Warren, the Strand glimmers with a fresh look. On a recent tour, the building was still a hard-hat area, but the jade green walls and red seats facing a gold stage arch were nearly ready for moviegoers. Carleton Grey, who began working as an usher at the Strand in 1970 and eventually became the projectionist, was working on final touches as workers from Boston Light & Sound prepared high-tech projectors.
“I was really worried in 2001 when I thought they were going to tear down the Strand,” said Grey, who moved to Rockland as a teen. “It has always been a part of my life. I love it. And I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to go back to my old job. The projection room is 100 times better.”
Such degrees of comparisons can be found on the street these days here.
One businessman from Camden put it this way: “The reality now is that Rockland is 10 times the town it was. Matt Simmons’ building is another piece to this increasing puzzle of Rockland. It has tourism, but it’s not geared for tourists like Camden. Rockland has a soul.”
“I’m sure the Strand is going to make it much more fun to come to Rockland at night,” said Cynthia Hyde, who owns Caldbeck Gallery with her husband Jim Kennealey. Both Hyde and Kennealey are artists, and their gallery is one of the oldest in town. “I think it will have a wonderful impact. We opened the gallery in 1982 to show our work and the work of other artists. We wanted to help the community grow.”
While Rockland’s population in has remained fairly stable, the community has, indeed, grown. Last month, MBNA announced plans to downsize and to sell its considerable real estate holdings in the coastal area, including a large harbor-front complex in Rockland, to a developer from Baltimore. While that means a loss of jobs, there’s still reason for residents to be hopeful: No terms or plans were disclosed for the properties, assessed at $50 million, but the purchasing company is known to have residential, multifamily and commercial development projects else where.
More immediately at the Strand, it’s likely when the movies, the world music and chamber concerts, the conferences and coffee klatches take place here, even more people will be drawn to the downtown by day and by night. And the old movie house will be there side by side with the newer sense that Rockland has not only the Strand but that it has taken strides.
NEWS writer Walter Griffin contributed to this story. Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.
For information about the Strand Theatre and events, call 594-6641 or visit www.rocklandstrand.com. For information about the City of Rockland and local events, visit www.ci.rockland.me.us.
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