By Stuart Soffer
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About this blog: Growing up in Brooklyn, NY I lived in high-density housing and experienced transit-oriented services first hand. During high school and college summers I worked in Manhattan drafting tenant floor plans for high-rise office buildi...
(More)About this blog: Growing up in Brooklyn, NY I lived in high-density housing and experienced transit-oriented services first hand. During high school and college summers I worked in Manhattan drafting tenant floor plans for high-rise office buildings. This could have been a career option, but my interest in computers - unusual at the time - led me to the computer science program at the University of Wisconsin. A programming job on Page Mill Road brought me to Palo Alto after college. Since 1993 I consult on bridging law and technology, and serve as an expert witness in Intellectual Property litigation. We moved to Menlo Park's Linfield Oaks neighborhood in 1994. Neighborhood traffic issues motivated my initial volunteering as a Menlo Park Planning Commissioner, followed by a stint as a Chamber of Commerce board member and most recently a finance/audit committee member. I advocate community volunteering for meeting people, the neighborhoods, and understanding the myriad issues that somehow arise. As hobbies I collect contemporary art and vintage cameras. And? fly helicopters, which offer rare views of the nooks and crannies of the Bay Area.
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With news of potential reuse of the Guild Theater I recall the histrionics, proposals and attempts for reuse of the Park Theater. Noble attempts all, but there was difficult to avoid the world of zoning without aggregating properties. The Park to this day is a dirt lot. Someday.
Before the Park Theater closed I was given access to the projection booth where I took some photos. A sampling follows:
I collect motion picture technology - I have one 35mm analogue projector from the Aquarius and a Dolby sound head from the Guild - when they converted from film to digital.
Incoming and outgoing film.
Storage bins for reels of film.
Projection booth view of the screen. A 'Mystery Switch' remained a mystery.
Projector, take-up reels, a lone seat, and workbench.
