As technology continues to improve, the way people not only make movies, but watch them, has become a whole new world.

However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for the good ol’ days.

What You Need To Know

  • Bob Card and Helen Zyma have owned The Strand Theatre in Old Forge for 30+ years

  • The theatre is almost museum-like with it's displays of historic cameras, old time popcorn machines and more

  • The theatre however, is also very much up-to-date, with digital movie showings of the latest releases

At a theatre in the Adirondacks, that is just as much history as it is future.

Bob Card and his wife Helen have kept movie lovers happy for more than 31 years at the Strand Theater of Old Forge.

“This is a special place," Bob said. "We've always tried to keep it that way."

It's special because this year The Strand turned 100 years old.

“On March 14 of 1923, they did an unofficial grand opening, and they showed the film ‘The Old Homestead,'” Bob said.

And in the 100 years since, especially after Bob and Helen took over in 1991, the theater has become so much more. It's now almost a museum.

"[The] word's kind of out that there's a large camera collection here and people will kind of come in and bashfully ask sometimes, you know, 'Can we just look around?' ” Bob added.

The original auditorium was built in 1929.

"And then around 1934, this auditorium actually had had a makeover to this art deco style, which was not just for style, but also for acoustics,” Bob and Helen said as the tour moved into the main theatre.

And then, of course, there's a snack bar.

“Is it kind of the secret to making the best popcorn you can possibly make,” Bob said standing near an old popping machine made in 1947.

Their other popcorn machine was built in 1953. Both still work.

“[It has a] brilliant kettle design with just beautiful heat dispersion," Bob said. "It just makes the best tasting corn."

The theater even has an old cigarette pack dispensing machine, which does not work — on purpose.

“I remember my father was a smoker and he would just give me some money and send me to the local bar," Helen remembered. "I would just go up to one of these machines and put the money in and get his cigarettes out and bring them home to my dad."

Of course, it has not always been easy.

There were the massive expenses that came with switching from projectors to digital, and then of course the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, which left Bob and Helen with nothing to do other than to wish people, their faithful customers, "Happy Birthday" up on the marquee.

“Yeah. You know, there are all sorts of challenges, trials and tribulations,” Bob said of issues over the years.

To celebrate these 100 years, the nearby Goodsell Museum in Old Forge opened a special exhibit.

“Now, this is really, really nice. [It] feels very, very good,” Bob said walking into the exhibit with Helen.

“We feel honored that we have been able to, you know, help out a little bit. Yeah, to keep this place going,” Bob and Helen said inside the exhibit.

Bob and Helen say one of their favorite parts of the night are when movies end and they are able to personally thank people for coming in, and of course, ask them how the movie was.