More than a thousand people gathered outside The Little Theatre in Rochester’s East End Monday night for a special celebration.
The occasion was the re-lighting of the marquee of that historic theater.
It was a project that took 9 months, and ended with music, a little dancing in the street, and that spectacular restored marquee updating the entrance to The Little Theatre, a marqueethat has been around since the early 1930s.
WXXI & The Little Theatre President Norm Silverstein hopes this sign will help generate even more interest in Rochester’s East End and downtown areas.
“This is one of the most iconic images of the city of Rochester; when you look at almost anything about Rochester, The Little Theatre marquee pops up as one of the images so it is really important, it’s really important to The Little , it’s really important to the East End, it’s important to the entire city.”
Silverstein said that the hope is that, “More people come down and discover not just The Little, but RoCo, the great restaurants down here, the music venues…”
The sign restoration which costs nearly $300,000 was paid for with private donations.
The new sign at the Little keeps the vintage look, but also takes advantage of more modern technology, like LED display panels, which replaces the system that used to require someone getting up on a ladder to change the movie titles.
Videography by WXXI videographer Katie Epner
