The Dome Cinema
7"X5.5" Pencil on paper
On the second day of my trip my I went down to Worthing with my sister and nephew. We stayed at the Ardington Hotel in the lovely Steyne Gardens. This was a real treat as we both realized that we never usually stay in hotels unless someone else is paying, for conferences and conventions, or in my case, sleazy motels for little league baseball tournaments. We felt very grown-up.
I didn't sketch at all that day but on the following day I walked down to the seafront and sat in a shelter while I drew the Dome. This building is a Worthing landmark. It was built early in the 20th century as a "leisure centre" offering roller skating with a six piece orchestra providing the music. By 1911 it also included an "electric theatre" or cinema. My grandfather remembered skating there as a teenager and seeing the early films there was certainly part of his inspiration to become a projectionist when he grew up. I went to see films there myself as a child but it was already pretty seedy by then and it closed down for many years. Now it has finally reopened, completely refurbished and again running as a first release cinema.
A fascinating sketch and a fascinating story about the cinema. There use to be a couple of theaters here where I live that had the old wurlitzers that came up out of the stage. Even as a kid, those types of cinemas had mostly vanished but those two were really fun places. I can remember the kiddie shows on weekends with flying popcorn boxes and bubble gum stuck all over the screen...haha!!! Someone even lit off a fire cracker inside one time. You had to laugh because the place was pure bedlam. They'd play old *Ma and Pa Kettle* shorts for us kids, than the feature.
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