ALTON – Some Grand news was expected at Tuesday night's What's Up Downtown presented by Alton Main Street, but it was a continuation of the same.
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Current owner of the Grand Theater, John Simmons, recorded a video earlier this week, which was delivered Tuesday night to the nearly 100 people gathered to hear what was promised to be an announcement. Instead, however, Simmons simply said he was not sure what he was going to do with the building he purchased from former owner Ed McPike, but promised he would listen to community input, adding people should not be surprised at the quick pace at which the building is transformed.
He did give some history of the building, saying it was built as a carriage house in 1898 during a brick shortage in the St. Louis area. He said bricks were taken directly from the Alton Brick Company and lain in the foundation, quite literally baking themselves into place – as they were fresh from the kiln.
Simmons also discussed the former life of the building as a movie theater. He announced the last movie shown at the cinema was in 1977. It was the first rated-X animated film. In those days, an X rating did not denote pornography, but did denote a rating higher than R.
“That means we can only go up from here,” he said in the video.
Before that video announcement, Russ Smith took the podium to talk about Lovejoy's, which is the new name of the former Elijah P's. Lovejoy's will act as an event center open to weddings, gatherings, corporate luncheons, fundraisers and other events. He said the building would be open for business by Thanksgiving, saying dates were open, but were filling quickly after Monday's article in Riverbender.com.
Other news from the event includes a complete reformatting of the La Vista Community Sourced Agriculture (CSA). A representative from the CSA said they were looking to rework the current system of spending a large sum of money for a yearlong plot to some other payment options, which would let people choose the produce they received each time.
Party on Broadway also moved down the street – a move, which nearly doubled the amount of space for themed parties and painting groups. It moved to 307 East Broadway. In its old space is Fashion Lane – a business owned by Andrea Abbott of the Gift Box specializing in boutique fashions.
Jordon Meyers, co-owner of River Rat Ink displayed the new t-shirt and design company's current products and ideas. The locally-owned business takes designs related to living in the Riverbend and place them on t-shirts. Meyers said they would also like to partner with local businesses to do design work, adding they will have items on sale in the near future at events such at the YWCA's Green Gift Bazaar.
Stephanie Tate of the Alton Conventions and Visitors Bureau (CVB) said the town has been hosting a lot of foreign travel writers lately. She said German writers had a night at St. Mary's Catholic Church, a writer from the United Kingdom was able to enjoy a sunset on the River Road and a group of writers from Mexico were able to have tarot readings at Old Bakery Beer Company before enjoying a haunted evening at Mineral Springs Mall and the McPike Mansion.
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