Question:
I've heard from former employees that there is a Hoyts theater in South Jersey
that has no air conditioning in the booth!! (I thought of that last week when
it hit 100 outside. Man, the booth must have been 130 with 12 screens.)
What must that do to the films?
No air may not be illegal, but what would you call it? I thought Hoyts was a
professional outfit. Anyone work for them?
Answer:
I can beat that...the place where I worked had a "Carrier Model #1"
that was installed in 1933. It is still in use, and works well (and
is the oldest in the Commonwealth of Virginia). The thing is huge and
scary-looking; it takes up most of the basement.
The booth was "sort of" heated/air conditioned, but ventilation wasn't
so good, except for the lamp exhaust blower, which was a big old thing
originally made for carbon-arc lamps (though xenons had been installed
in 1982).
The thang in that pitcher resembles the air handler here.
Carrier unit #005 was installed new here in 1926 (theater
opened January 1927). The blueprints for the theater were
drastically revised during construction to accommodate the
installation of the monstrous A/C equipment. A lot of
existing construction was obviously knocked through &
around as the A/C was installed.
Carrier's installation seems to have been integrated
into an originally-spec'd evaporative cooler type A/C.
There's a water cooling tower on the roof (probably not the
original, what with the regular tropical storm conditions
here & all).
