The Palace Theatre is a 1920s-era

movie palace A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 192 ...

in the village of

Eastwood Eastwood may refer to: Places ;in Australia *Eastwood, New South Wales **Eastwood railway station **Electoral district of Eastwood *Eastwood, South Australia ;in Canada * Eastwood, Ontario *Eastwood, Edmonton, Alberta, a neighborhood ;in the Ph ...

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

. It has been owned and operated by the same family for more than 80 years.

History

The Palace was built in 1922 by local businessman Alfred DiBella. The theater featured 1300 seating, a second floor dining and dance ballroom. After Alfred died in 1959, ownership was transferred to his daughter, Frances DiBella, who was behind the cash register or the

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

counter nearly every night for more than fifty years. On her death on April 26, 2004, ownership passed to her nephew, Michael Heagerty, who embarked on an extensive renovation of the theatre including opening The Palace Café next door (which has since been closed). Until the doors shut for renovation in 2004, the theatre had reputedly never been closed for more than a week during its entire history. Renovations included the installation of a digital

high-definition video High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines (No ...

system, Dolby Surround Sound, and

laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

presentation capability with the largest computer graphic projection in Central New York. Despite a temporary setback due to flooding soon after it reopened, the theatre is presently a lively venue for current and classic movies, meetings, parties, speeches, live concerts, lectures, benefits, and other community events. Syracuse Mayor

Matthew Driscoll Matthew John Driscoll (born February 7, 1958) is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation from 2015 until 2017. He served as the 52nd Mayor of Syracuse, New York ...

delivered his 2005 "State of the City" address at The Palace, and it hosts an annual

B-Movie Film Festival The Scare-A-Con Film Festival (formerly the B-Movie Film Festival) is an annual film festival held in Syracuse, United States. The festival was founded in 1999 by local filmmaker Ron Bonk to promote the art of B-movie making. It was canceled in it ...

that draws attendees from all over the world. The Palace has been independently owned and operated throughout its history. It is one of three independent movie theatres in Syracuse; the others are the Hollywood in the hamlet of Mattydale near the Syracuse airport; and the Manlius Art Cinema in Manlius.

References

External links

Palace Theatre home page
Concert halls in New York (state) Theatres in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Syracuse, New York Culture of Syracuse, New York Tourist attractions in Syracuse, New York {{US-theat-struct-stub