Eli Fish Brewing Company celebrated its sixth anniversary with a fun relay race, plenty of craft drinks and frozen fish this past weekend in downtown Batavia. The relay took runners around a block from Jackson Square onto School, Center and Jackson streets and back again to the Square, where a DJ was entertaining participants and spectators alike.

Billy Buckenmeyer's team won their heat in the event, and befitting of the Main Street establishment's name, real fish were used in place of the more traditional baton that passed from runner to runner for the relay. Each team received eight drink tokens and the winning team won a grand prize of four Mug Club memberships for the 2024 season.

Several Downtown businesses were packed on Saturday evening with a parade of beer tasters who signed up for the Business Improvement District's annual FeBREWary events.

Photos by Howard Owens.

As baby boomers, the Mancuso and Dipson theaters were essential to our childhoods. 

A Saturday afternoon in the 50s and 60s would be spent at one of these theaters. If we took our pop bottles to your corner store and redeemed two cents for every bottle, you could save enough money to afford the .50 needed for admission to a movie.   

We first had to check the Legion of Decency, a list of films nailed to the back door of our Catholic Church stating what movies were appropriate for our ages.  Disney movies were at the top of the list of acceptable movies.   

In the 70s, I remember exactly where I sat when I saw "Jaws." I can still remember the fear I felt when the great white shark opened its jaws and the screams I heard in the theater, including mine.

Theaters in Batavia have a very early history. Imagine, in 1874, an Opera House on Main Street. It had seating for 1,000 with a stage that could be converted into a dance hall. A balcony and seating boxes on either side of the stage were reserved for courting couples. John Dellinger built the Dellinger Opera House, the center of local entertainment for over 50 years. Most people saw their first live performance on the stage at the Dellinger. Road companies stopped in Batavia regularly in the 1880s and 1890s. Amateur shows could be performed on this stage one day, and the next day, you could watch professional acting companies take the stage.

In 1900, a store on Jackson Street was the site for the first showing of motion pictures. Later, silent pictures were shown in Ellicott Hall on Court Street. To make the silent picture more exciting, sound effects such as train whistles, blank gunshots, and the noise of crashing cars were added.

Batavia’s first theater was called the Lyric Theatre, located at 49 Main St. It had 36 seats fastened to the inclining floor. Other theaters, such as the Dreamland on Court Street and the Orpheum Theater at 122 Main St., were places to see “moving pictures.”

Two new moving picture theaters opened in 1913, the Grand at 72 Main St. and the Family Theatre on Jackson Street. The Grand could seat 584 patrons, and the Family Theatre could seat 600. A pianist or violinist could be heard while showing a moving picture, adding excitement to the movie.

A group of local businessmen financed the Family Theatre. It was considered to be one of the prettiest theaters in this area. The furnishings were from New York City and consisted of seats made of oak, 12 chandeliers, and a stage curtain that could be opened to show a stationary picture screen made of plaster.

Nikitas Dipson came to this country from Greece in 1909. He was interested in movie theaters, which began in 1913 when he lived in Jeanette, Pennsylvania, where he managed a small motion picture theater. He later moved to Batavia and managed The Family Theatre. 

In 1914, he temporarily bought the theater on Jackson Street until he could build a new modern theater on Main Street. He purchased two buildings at 36 and 38 Main St. They were not big enough for his new theater, so he closed the Family Theatre and moved the films, screen, and pianist to the Grand Theatre.

The New Family Theatre could seat 700 people and reopened in 1923 with a high domed ceiling lighted with radiant light and a 21-foot-deep and 43-foot wide stage. The orchestra seats were sitting from the other seats by a walnut rail. A console organ was in the pit, and a fireproof curtain could be lifted mechanically to the roof. The sides of the auditorium were decorated on either side with mural paintings.

The Lafayette Theatre, built just to show films, stood facing the Family Theatre for over 40 years. In 1947, the Lafayette Theatre, the property of Nikitas Dipson, closed. 

Nikitas Dipson finally could build his theater on 36 and 38 Main St. The theatre opened on April 17, 1947. The inner lobby was decorated with mural paintings depicting scenes from Genesee County’s early history. Floral designs covered the walls. After the house lights went out, the floral lights would glow softly for a few moments. This air-conditioned theater could seat 1,400. This theater would alternate with the Mancuso Theatre, housing the graduation exercises from Batavia High School and later Notre Dame High School. Dipson’s beautiful theater eventually fell victim to Urban Renewal in 1973.

Mancuso brothers decided to build a theater at 212 East Main St. It opened on June 4, 1948. The theater was as large as Dipson’s and advertised as modern as any theater in the country with “power enough to light a city.”  It had excellent acoustics because of the construction of the walls and ceiling. The side walls were decorated with flat sculptured figures. It was considered at that time to be one of the most satisfactory little theaters outside New York City. On opening night, 1,600 people filled every seat for the showing of "The Emperor’s Waltz." Today, that theater saved from the wrecking ball is currently the home of City Church. 

Nikitas Dipson dominated the motion picture business for 40 years, owning or operating all the motion picture theaters in the county at one time or another, including the two drive-in theaters on East Main Street Road and Clinton Street. Under an arrangement with the Mancuso Brothers, he ran the Mancuso Theatre, the Dipson Theatre, and the Family Theatre. Eventually, the two main theaters were ultimately divided into Cinema I and II. 

In mid-1979, William Dipson and Mancuso Brothers asked the McWethy Construction Company to build two mini theaters on the northwest corner of the mall. The theaters opened in 1980 as Mall I and Mall II. After 33 years, the theater closed. 

Over the years, Batavia has lost many buildings and businesses.   In June 2013, Ken Mistler, a local businessman who owned several downtown businesses, purchased Mall I and Mall II Movie Theater. He remodeled the Batavia Show Time Theater and showed first-run movies for many years. He's currently renovating the theaters into a new entertainment venue.

It seems sad that all we have left from these beautiful historical buildings are memories and pictures from old postcards and newspaper clippings. 

Photos courtesy Genesee County History Department.

Rows of glass windows are being installed as part of what officials have described as the open-air feel of the new Healthy Living building in downtown Batavia.

The site that will merge Healthy Living programs with YMCA received some hoopla in a beam-signing celebration at the end of November, and crews have been working towards sealing up the exterior in preparation for inside work on the 78,000-square-foot facility.

Once completed, there will be a children’s Adventure Room, indoor playground, intergenerational room filled with interactive games, a large upstairs track, a swimming pool equipped with underwater benches for swim lessons, a splash pad, and wheelchair and walk-in access.

There will also be universal pre-kindergarten, morning daycare, and after-school classrooms, plus supervised childcare with options, expanded hours, and universal standards to bring everything to beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act code, officials have said. 

The medical and wellness facility is to include state-of-the-art exercise equipment, a teaching kitchen, 22 exam rooms and two medical procedure rooms for primary care, telemedicine appointments, behavioral health and crisis intervention support, cancer prevention, chronic illness, and community education services. 

The new campus is to be completed by sometime this fall.

Photos by Howard Owens

Photos by Howard Owens.

Press release:

Join us in the holiday spirit at the annual Christmas in the City celebration on Saturday, Dec. 2, from 2 to 6 p.m. with the Downtown Holiday Parade starting at 6 p.m.

Christmas in the City activities include pictures with Santa, holiday crafts, cookie decorating, chili, hot cocoa, face painting, sleigh rides, family portraits and more! Several downtown businesses will be offering activities, crafts, and in-store specials. For a full listing of activities, go to www.bataviabid.com.

The parade begins promptly at 6 p.m. at Wendy's and makes its way down Main Street east toward Liberty/Summit Streets. 

Join us in our scavenger bunt bingo throughout Downtown, exploring and and supporting our small businesses. Bingo begins at Iburi Photography at 35 Jackson St. and ends at GO ART!, 201 East Main St. There are 22 business bingo stops. 

For more information on Christmas in the City, see The Batavian's previous story: Snow is here, December is coming, it must be time for Christmas in the City

Since 2018 I have been writing nostalgic stories for The Batavian about growing up in Batavia, New York, in the 1950s and 1960s. In some of those stories, I made mention of some of the businesses that were located in what we always called “Downtown.” 

Due to “urban renewal” in the 1970s, most of these establishments and their buildings no longer exist. 

Recently a reprint in The Batavian of the last chapter of Anne Marie Starowitz's book “Back In the Day” made mention of a lot of these places, and it got me thinking about my experiences in some of them. As a young boy and a teen, I had no reason to go into a hat shop, a paint store or a furrier. But I certainly patronized the two movie theaters that we had. As a teenager, I did a lot of hanging out at Kustas Kandies and, to a lesser extent, Critic's Restaurant, and I got a lot of my clothes at McAlpine-Barton Clothiers (the owners were next-door neighbors of my grandparents on North Lyon Street).

Time-Honored Theaters
Our two movie theaters were The Dipson Batavia on the northwest side of Main Street between the Post Office and State Street and The Mancuso Theater on the southeast side of Main between Center and Liberty Streets. I would say that despite the two theaters being in competition, both were well attended, depending on what movies were being shown. Prices were certainly reasonable with a lot of movies (we called it “going to the show”) being $1 and even less for kids.

It's odd how memory works, but I really can't recall exact details about either theater. Mancuso's seemed to be a little fancier and, later on in the 70s split into twin theaters so they could show two movies instead of one. 

My younger brother (by 11 years) Jim's first job was as an usher at Mancuso's and he certainly has some stories to tell. I do remember a young usher at Dipson's named Lester who took his job very seriously. Unfortunately, we kids weren't very nice to him and often gave him a hard time.

I know that I must have seen the big blockbusters of that time like “Ben Hur” and “The Longest Day,” but I cannot remember specifics (of course, I have watched them on TV since), like who I was with or what theater I saw them at. I do recall that most movies, especially the kid ones were preceded by cartoons. I assume we got popcorn, but I think oftentimes we brought our own candy in our pockets. We'd stop at Corrigan's or some other mom-and-pop grocery first and stock up. 

I don't remember if we bought drinks, but I'm sure they didn't cost $5 or $6 like they do now. 

My brother still works in the theater business and he will certify that way more money is made on concessions than tickets. I don't know if that was the case 50 or 60 years ago, but we didn't contribute much to the concession intake at all.

I'm pretty sure that it was not the norm for 10-year-olds to go to the movies alone, but I distinctly recall being dropped off at Mancuso's in 1957 for a movie called “Heaven Knows Mr. Allison.” War movies were my favorites then (I never did serve in the military, though) and that's probably what attracted me to it. It starred Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr as a “salty” Marine and a nun who were randomly stranded on a Pacific island during World War II. When the Japanese came and set up an outpost, the two of them had to hide out in a cave. Mr. Allison, as the Sister called him, fell in love with the nun, but of course, she told him that her life was committed to God and a relationship with the Marine could never be. Corporal Allison eventually disabled some Japanese artillery to enable an American landing on the island, and the two were rescued and went their separate ways. Deborah Kerr was nominated for an Oscar for her performance. 

Why do I so vividly recall going to this movie and not other bigger, splashier ones? That's the conundrum of memory, I guess.

One thing for sure about going to the movies back then was that if you really wanted to watch the movie, you should not sit toward the rear, Those rows were populated by teenagers who were there only to take advantage of the warm, dry theater to “make out” or “neck” (those are some funny descriptive terms aren't they? ). I was certainly no ladies' man, but I can remember coming out of some movies and having no idea what film I had even attended. I specifically recall one time when I told my parents I was at a friend's house when I was at Mancuso's with a girl instead. When I didn't come home on time, my mom called the friend's mom, and of course, I was in trouble for lying. It was surely embarrassing (and still is if I think about it) to try to explain to my mom why my lips were swollen. 

Teenagers.

Both theaters were occasionally used for music, but Batavia was certainly no usual stop on entertainers' tour agendas. Much to my delight, though, in June 1964 just before I graduated from Notre Dame, Mancuso's hosted a pretty big-time show -- my first rock and roll concert. 

Like most teens at that time, I was all in on the “British Invasion.” The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five, Gerry and The Pacemakers (did Gerry have a heart condition? ) and more were all over Top 40 radio. WKBW from Buffalo was the local station of choice with DJs Joey Reynolds, Tommy Shannon, and Danny Neaverth. So when I heard that The Searchers, with their big hits “Needles and Pins and “Love Potion Number #9,” were going to headline a show in our little town, I was ecstatic.

It was almost 60 years ago, so I don't remember too many details of the show. Danny Nevearth was the emcee. There were five bands on the bill and two shows at 6:30 and 9:15 ( I don't recall which one I went to) so the opening acts must have only been able to play a few songs. I can't recall anything about the first two acts: Ronnie Cochran and Ronnie Dio and the Prophets. Ronnie Dio was 21 at the time of the Mancuso show and grew up in Cortland. He later went on to be the lead singer of Black Sabbath, taking Ozzie Osborn's place. Many consider him to be the best “Heavy Metal” singer of all time.

The third band was The Dovells, a dance band from Philadelphia. Their lead singer was Len Barry who went on to later have a big hit with”1-2-3”. They performed their choreographed song “Bristol Stomp,” and another dance tune called “Do The Continental,” which many years later showed up in the John Waters movie “Hairspray." They were followed by Dick and Dee Dee, whose popular hit was “Mountain High”. The only thing I recall about them was that I was shocked to find out that Dick was the one with the high falsetto voice and Dee Dee sang the lower range.

The Searchers did not disappoint, playing their two hits I mentioned earlier along with a set of other tunes that were hard to hear over the screaming teenage Batavia girls. My first big rock and roll show started me on the road to many, many more as I went on to college and through life. Going to see live music is still my favorite thing to do. 

Thanks Mancuso's.

Teen Hangouts
A big venue in the lives of most teens in the '50s and '60s was the local “soda shoppe.” For my friends and me (and many others of our age) it was Kustas Kandies on the north side of Main Street. Mrs. Kustas, who held down the counter and table area, was well-liked by all the kids and hired a number of them to work there, too, including a couple of my classmates, Mike Palloni and Madonna Mooney. She was pretty tolerant of teens hanging out there as long as you bought something and didn't get too rowdy. Most of my meager funds were spent on Cherry Cokes and French Fries, but if I happened to have a little extra cash, Kustas had delicious cheeseburgers in the style of McDonald's Big Mac or Carroll's Club burger. Like many restaurants of the time, there was a jukebox at every table, and we fed them coins to play all our favorite tunes. I'd bet The Rolling Stones' “Satisfaction” was #1 in the rotation. Hey, hey, hey, that's what I say.

Across Main Street and slightly to the west was Critics, formerly The Sugar Bowl. Critics was more of a pre- or post-date restaurant, though. Mr. Critic (real name Ernest Criticos who, after urban renewal, relocated his restaurant to Greece Town Mall outside Rochester) did not brook any nonsense from teens. He wanted to appeal to a more adult crowd, and if teens hung around longer than 30 or 40 minutes, especially without buying a meal, out you went. It was just a little fancier than Kustas, though, so if you wanted to impress a girl before or after a date ( a movie, let's say), you would take her there. It wasn't a soda shop, but into the 60s, another date spot was Your Host Restaurant in the East End Plaza, but not downtown. You probably needed a car to get your girl to Your Host.

Classy Clothiers
It's hard to believe, but in a small city of about 18,000 people, there were three men's clothing stores (not counting JCPenney) in downtown Batavia. There was Beardsley's, Charles Men's Shop, and McAlpine Barton's. 

I really don't recall ever buying anything at Beardsley's, and I have no idea why not. I'm pretty sure that when I was a student at St. Mary's Elementary School from first to eighth grade, we bought our school uniforms from Charles Men's Shop. For the boys, they consisted of light blue shirts, dark blue pants, and a dark blue clip-on bow tie. Probably Charles had a deal with the school. 

My mom would buy two pairs of pants for the year, and they would take a beating, so multiple sewing repairs were required. I wouldn't even want to guess how many bow ties I probably lost in 8 years. At Notre Dame High, those of us who earned them got our letter sweaters at Charles, too, again probably a deal between the school and the store. Other than those things, I don't recall frequenting that haberdashery very often.

When my grandparents, Anna and Henry (Henrik) Newhouse, moved to Batavia from Brooklyn (after emigrating from Denmark) in the 1920s, they bought a house at 25 North Lyon Street. There they raised my mother and three other children. Grampa was a tool and die maker at Doehler-Jarvis, which is why they moved here. My two uncles, Walter and Robert (who is the last family member of his generation at age 93) followed their dad's career path and became tool and die makers also. Their neighbors at 23 North Lyon were the Bartons of McAlpine – Barton Clothing store. It was originally McAlpine-Brumsted, but the Bartons bought out Brumsted and the business carried on. So, the reason why we patronized that store is because the Bartons were neighbors and friends of my mother's family.

The store was located on the south side of Main Street on the corner of Center Street (ironically, Charles Men's Shop, McAlpine's competitor for many years, is still in business and now occupies that building). LaRay Barton and his son Charlie ran the business, and LaRay's wife Eva took care of the office. My mom, Anna Newhouse Reilly, worked in the office for a number of years, too before going on to become the office manager for William Dipson of the aforementioned Dipson Theaters. Another long-time salesperson that I recall was Fred Darch.

McAlpine-Barton's had two floors for clothes shopping, the main floor and the basement. The offices were on the second floor. The main floor had two parts: the main room, which was for suits, sport coats, and slacks, as they referred to dress pants. Then there was a side room for what they called “leisure wear”. This would be sweaters, dressier polo shirts, and so on. The basement, where I got most of my clothes, was more for teenage or younger people's clothes like t-shirts and jeans, which they called “dungarees”. It wasn't like most of the places you go to get clothes now, though, where you pretty much wait on yourself unless you ask for help. There was always a salesman with you and assisting you.

I do have fond memories of McAlpine–Barton's, mostly because all the salesmen were friendly and willing to help you find what you were looking for and ensure a good fit. (note: I honestly do not recall any female salespeople at Barton's. It was probably a combination of it being a men's store and the chauvinism of that era. Also, later on, the family opened The Pendleton Store for women's clothes, managed by Charlie, and they had all female salespeople). Of course, my brothers and I got extra good treatment at McAlpine-Barton since LaRay and Charlie knew our family.

I moved to the Rochester area after graduating from St. John Fisher College there in 1969, so I wasn't living in Batavia for the Urban Renewal, which took place in the 1970s resulting in the demolishing of most of the downtown buildings. Dipson Theater, Kustas Kandies and Critics are long gone. Mancuso Theater still stands but is now a church. Finally, as I mentioned previously, the building that housed McAlpine-Barton is now home to the still-in-business Charles Men's Shop.

From following a couple of Facebook pages devoted to remembering the Batavia of old I realize that there are a substantial number of people who lived through the tearing down of a majority of downtown buildings who are still grieving and angry about it. Their feelings are that Batavia as they knew it was ruined forever. Nonetheless, even though the population of the seat of Genesee County has declined by about 5,000 since the '50s and '60s, it is still a city, and a number of its citizens are still trying to make it a viable and valued place to live.

For those of us who grew up in Batavia, New York, back then and are still living, we have our photographs, paintings and especially our memories that can remind us of the way things used to be.

Dipson Theater Painting by Pat Burr.
All other images courtesy of Genesee County History Department.

It was with a "heavy heart" that owner Roger Christiano closed O'Lacy's on School Street in Batavia Wednesday, 18 months after he took over the popular Irish pub in 2022 from former owner Kent Ewell.