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I have wanted to go here longer than any other explorer. That isn't an exaggeration. My earliest memory of the long country lane that these are on is the August of 1976. I was 4. As my family returned from a holiday in Wales, the hillside was ablaze near here. Horrific flames reached high as the trees caught alight as Kinver Edge burned. The smoke engulfed my dads Maxi as we slowly made our way down the lane, driving over the hoses from the fire appliances that had come nearly 40 miles to help fight the fire. It was caused by a discarded glass bottle like many forest fires in the 1970's. It all added to the mystique of the road. The old barbed wire fences around here. The stories that if you ever were to wander into the compound around Drakelow, men would appear and very politely ask you to leave. I'd seen the yellow B.T vans outside now and again, and the whole place was scary and unknown.
My mom however knew more. In fact she had researched this place in 1962 as part of her college final year project. She knew about the Rover company and the blasting they had done of the soft sandstone rock and the machines that they installed to build the tank parts for the war effort.
Underneath the hill are the tunnels, not carved, but blasted out. Three people lost their lives I think during this. They were blasted out to be used for a Shadow Factory. Here is one of the entrances. These used to frighten me. It is hard to imagine the cars racing here as the sirens sounded their four minute warning that a Russian Warhead was on it's way to destroy the world. The great and good would have entered here, and made their way in through the blast doors. Three months of time underground would have awaited them.
The Commodore was first opened in 1945 by the Wilder chain. It closed in 1975 due to the decline of the downtown Portsmouth, VA area. In June,1987, Fred Schoenfeld purchased the Theatre and began the restoration project.
The restoration work on the Commodore began in June, 1987, after a 12 year period in which the theatre had been closed. Fred Schoenfeld's idea was to restore the theatre back to the way it was in 1945, the year Bunkie Wilder opened this, his flagship theatre. The original design was for over 1,000 seats; however, the capacity had to be reduced down to 190 in the main floor dining area and 318 in the balcony.
The artwork in both the auditorium and lobby areas was painstakingly reworked. The 20 by 40 foot side murals were completely redone with the original scenes repainted and enhanced. The ceiling was repainted in places that had been water damaged. All of the artwork in the lobby area is new, created by the artists from Wall Illusions, the Norfolk-based company who did all the artwork for the project. The main artist was James Nelson Johnson of Virginia Beach. The chandeliers are new; each weighs over 300 pounds and is made of Italian leaded crystal. The originals were florescent tubes that could not be dimmed. The artists recreated the original look of the auditorium through two murals, located in the two alcoves just off to the side of the inner lobby. The superb paintings were done from life prior to the demolition work.
Fred Schoenfeld designed the Commodore's sound system with the help of George Lucas' THX Group at Lucas Film in California. We show 35 mm film exclusively in Dolby Digital sound. Our screen measures 41 feet wide and 21 feet high. There are 9 large JBL speakers mounted in the sound wall behind the screen and 22 surround speakers throughout the auditorium, 6 of which are behind the side wall murals! The original stage was set up with a fly loft, which allowed live stage shows to be presented along with movies; however, it was necessary to remove all of the rigging in order to meet the requirements of the THX Sound Certification. The auditorium, designed by Baltimore Architect John J. Zink, A.I.A., measures 85 feet wide by 90 feet deep, an almost perfect shape and size for today's film processes. The design is so good that balcony patrons and main floor patrons are not visible to each other, thus allowing each group to view the screen without distractions.
The kitchen occupies the old manager's office and men's smoking lounge. The balcony originally had no rest room or concession facilities. These were added so that the patrons sitting in the balcony would not have to walk down the stairs during the show. The ladies' smoking lounge was restored with new wall coverings, a chandelier, and comfortable furniture. The pay phone in the lounge is an early 1940's vintage that actually works! The marble bases on the table lamps were cut from the marble removed from both main rest rooms during construction. Both the table lamps and the ladies' smoking lounge chandelier were custom made for us by Morrison Studios in San Francisco.
The marquee in front of the theatre has been restored, and included the addition of stainless steel panels and plating. All new bulbs and sockets have been installed, as well as new neon tubing. The original construction of the marquee was impressive: a six-inch-thick concrete roof with 20-inch T beams projecting 20 feet out from the front of the theatre. Estimated weight is over 30 tons!
The Commodore is dedicated to the memory of the men who trained Fred in this wonderful show business: Norman Powell and Kenneth Andrews. These men both nurtured Fred's dream and worked long and hard with him to make it a reality. Fred and his wife and business partner, Dr. Jean Haskell, thank all of our loyal patrons who have complimented us and been faithful movie goers over the years here at THE COMMODORE.
<From commodoretheatre.com
The commodore museum, in the new ikea shelf. At the bottom is an A500, then a C64C with the old datasette, then an A1200, then a C64, and at the top a C128 (the new addition). Next to each is assorted manuals, etc. A speccy hides in fear on the left
For more information about The National Museum of Computing , visit www.tnmoc.org
Please take a look at www.retrocomputers.eu for more info about my retro computer collection.
One of my hobbies is collecting retro-computers, focusing on computers made by Atari. I have currently have eleven different Atari-models, three from Commodore and one other model in my collection.
The Commodore 64 was probably the dream computer for most kids in the early 1980ies. It outperformed most of the contemporary home-computers when it came to graphics and sound in 1982, however the BASIC interpreter was anything but impressive.
Lived in a veritable desert when it came to computer technology in in 1983, if memory serves me correct the VIC 20 me and my four year older brother got for Christmas in 1982 was bought in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, 450 km south of us, we were a bit lucky when a local store mostly sold office equipment like type writers and office computers decided to also sell home computers in form of Commodore 64. My brother and his friend spent much time during the summer of -83 there playing the limited amount of games that were available at the time, then later nagging on our parents to get one for Christmas. So by using most of my and my brothers savings, and selling the VIC 20 we got our precious Commodore 64 for Christmas in 1983.
A few years later we also acquired a 1541 disk drive, as far as I can remember it costed as much as the computer had in 1983. Today you get a quite decent laptop for that kind of money.
I sold mine in 1989, so this is not the one I had back then.
My Dad's Opel Commodore taken from my Sister's bedroom window in the early eighties. Even the repairs on next-door's MkIII Cortina had been repaired. I cut the hedge the following day!
My Dad's second Opel Commodore, a GS, taken in the mid-eighties. From some angles it could almost've been American. There weren't many car manufacturers who didn't fit "Rostyle" wheels (after "R"ubery "O"wen) to at least one of their vehicles in the seventies. They were pressed steel but made to look like the Mag wheels of the day.
Praktica MTL3
Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 50/1.8 MC
Kodak Gold 100 (expired 2005, @50)
Giving expired film a try... Overexposed by one stop to compensate for the loss of sensivity. The grain was absolutely awful on most photographs (on this one it's actually pretty fine).
Commodore 64 Computer
Artifact no.: 1996.0114
Manufacturer: Commodore Business Machines Ltd., Agincourt, Ontario, Canada
1983
Introduced in 1982, the Commodore 64 personal computer was the first PC with reasonable computing power to cost less than $1000.
Considered one of the most popular home PC’s in history, this personal computer was used by the donor’s family primarily to play games and for word processing.
Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation
www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca
Photo credit: CSTMC
Commodore Amiga 2000 (wish I had one of these.)
Vintage Computer Festival (VCF) East 6.0 , at the InfoAge Science Center
My 2009 Vintage Computer Festival page www.dancentury.com/computers.html
Vintage Computer Festival at The National Museum of Computing www.tnmoc.org at Bletchley Park.
My blog post on VCF which also contains my video round up of the event :-) rainycatz.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/vintage-computer-fair-...
The Commodore Apartment Hotel is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion Cas an excellent example of the Apartment Hotel Building subtype of the Multi-Family Residence/Apartment Building property type identified in the Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF) entitled Residential Resources of Wichita. The building was designed by Kansas City-based architect Nelle Elizabeth Peters, who specialized in the design of apartment buildings and hotels, and developed by American diplomat and Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley.
National Register of Historic Places Homepage
Siguiendo con la gran nevada este febrero en Nueva York. Digo "gran" porque personalmente no estoy nada acostumbrado a esa cantidad de nieve!
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One more shot of the snow in NY this days. For me too much because never snows in Barcelona!
The Commodore Apartment Hotel is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion Cas an excellent example of the Apartment Hotel Building subtype of the Multi-Family Residence/Apartment Building property type identified in the Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF) entitled Residential Resources of Wichita. The building was designed by Kansas City-based architect Nelle Elizabeth Peters, who specialized in the design of apartment buildings and hotels, and developed by American diplomat and Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley.
National Register of Historic Places Homepage
COMMODORE CLIPPER
IMO: 7021845
Built : 1970 by Ferus Smit, Westerbroek, Holland, (Yard Number : 204) as HIBERNIAN ENTERPRISE for Hibernian Transport Companies Ltd, Dublin
GRT: 758 / DWT: 1521
Dimensions: Length (oa) 78.5 metres x Beam 11.9 metres
Name Changes
1970: HIBERNIAN ENTERPRISE (as built): Hibernian Transport Companies Ltd, Dublin
1971: MAYO: Irish Sea Operators Ltd, Dublin
1974: COMMODORE CLIPPER: Commodore Shipping Co Ltd, Guernsey
1988: CELINE M.: Jean Paul Metz
1990: SEA LION I:
1991: CELINE M.: Meromar Chartering Co Ltd
1993: LARNACA TOWN
1993: SEA STAR III
1993: CELINE M.: Celine M Ltd,
2003: ABDALLAH : M.F.Kaidaban
2006: ABDALLAH: Vienna Shipping Co.
2010: ALBARAKA 8: W.A.M.Alamoodi
2013: Still trading
Photographed arriving Portsmouth on 27 August 1982