With the Tribeca Film Festival taking over NYC this week, I’ve got movies on the brain. More specifically, movies that make for the best theater-going experiences: those that elicit laughs, gasps, jumps, and plenty of “WTF”s.
Photographer Matt Lambros has long been fascinated with abandoned movie theaters; in fact, he shot little else for 10 years. “My inspiration comes from the fact that most of the theaters I visit are largely forgotten,” Lambros says. “My generation grew up going to multiplexes and, for the most part, have no idea that people went to the movies in what are essentially palaces.”
In 1631, Capuchin monks came to live at Santa Maria della Concezione, carrying the remains of their dead brethren with them so that all the friars might be in one place. Rather than simply burying these bodies, the monks decorated the crypts with their bones as a reminder that death could come at any time. A plaque in the crypt reads, “What you are now, we once were; what we are now, you shall be.”
Arbor Lodge in Nebraska City is both a historic home and the birthplace of Arbor Day. Built by J. Sterling Morton, the estate is now surrounded by a sprawling arboretum filled with hundreds of tree species, reflecting his vision to transform the plains through planting. Today, visitors can explore the mansion and walk shaded paths that continue to bring that idea to life.
Behind Frederick Douglass’s historic Cedar Hill home in Washington, D.C., stands a modest stone cabin known as the Growlery. The one-room structure served as Douglass’s secluded study, where he could read, write, and think away from the bustle of daily life. The building was simply furnished with a desk, couch, and fireplace—just enough for quiet reflection. Today, visitors can step inside a reconstruction built on the original site and imagine the reformer at work.
