DOWNTOWN THEATERS - Saenger, Loew’s State (Palace), Orpheum, Joy, Gallo, Dixie and Clabon theaters

These seven theaters stand as symbols of a time before television, when entertainment for the American public meant going to a vaudeville show or Hollywood movie. They had been under utilized or completely dark for years before Hurricane Katrina inflicted further damage. The Saenger Theatre, designed by architect Emile Weil, flooded and has remained vacant since the storm, as has the Thomas W. Lamb-designed, circa 1926 Loew’s State (Palace), at one time the largest theater in the city. The Canal Street Orpheum, a vaudeville house-turned-movie theater, and Joy, built in the 1940s and wired for television, also flooded and remain closed. The Gallo, Dixie and Clabon theaters have significant structural problems. The roof at the Gallo burned, and heavy timber roof trusses at the Dixie were toppled by the storm. The façade of the Clabon is detaching from the structure. Discount shops operate in some of the Canal Street theater spaces, leading to a further loss of architectural integrity. These theaters would benefit from proposed state legislation – known as Broadway South – to give tax credits to the performing arts industry and to theater owners for renovation. Those breaks, coupled with federal tax incentives for rehabilitating income-producing historic buildings, could spur the redevelopment of Canal Street and surrounding areas.
Threat: demolition by neglect, architectural and structural degradation
Update: Sadly, the Gallo Theater was demolished this summer, but the 2007 legislative session resulted in the passage of the Broadway South tax credit program, which has the potential to generate interest in and funding for the remaining historic theaters.