A late 19th-century photograph of the Academy Theater at 16 North Chestnut Street, where Barnaby’s Steakhouse is now housed.
Polio has been eradicated in the modern world thanks to Dr. Jonas Salk’s vaccine, but before the good doctor developed the cure in 1957 the disease was rampant. Polio spreads by direct person-to-person contact, contact with infected mucus or phlegm, or contact with infected feces.
The virus impacts the nerves and it left many of its victims partially or fully paralyzed. Theaters and public swimming pools often faced public health closures during polio sweeps. Quarantines of areas were also common.
But after the scare, the Opera House got back to showing movies. Newspaper ads from the 1910s and 1920s are chock-full of movie announcements.
As a sign of the times, the Opera House also hosted “Chautauquas” — or adult education lectures, which were popular at the time. Like the Lyceum Movement, Chautauquas featured history and culture lectures designed to educate and improve the lives of everyday people.
In 1924, the Opera House had to rebound after a small fire. By June of that year, they’d reopened with a new movie screen and exit lights. There was another big renovation between 1925 and 1926. Ventilation and theater chairs were added upstairs. New owners came in.
“Since the improvements made in the New Paltz Opera House, it is one of the most attractive little theaters in this section,” a reporter wrote back in 1926.
Catholic community center
When the Opera House folded in 1929, it was an end of an era — and it was something that people in town couldn’t quite grasp. Bought out by St. Joseph’s Church for use as a Roman Catholic parish center, 16 North Chestnut’s days as a movie house and entertainment center seemed over forever.
“The transaction took place on Monday and we understand that no more pictures will be show at the Opera House,” the Independent wrote on Dec. 6, 1929.
While St. Joseph’s owned the whole building, it seems there were still plans for tenants to come in and use it. There were occasional mentions about the priest in charge of St. Joseph’s looking to sell the building too, starting in 1934. An article from 1939 in Wallkill Valley World newspaper mentions a plan to create a skating rink and bowling alley at 16 North Chestnut.
In August 1940, George Oates opened a hardware store at the parish center in one part of the building.
In some ways, local Catholics used the building in the way it had been used during the Village Hall and Opera House days. They met there for meetings, had village barn dances there. They saw it as a place of gathering, fellowship and fun.
St. Joseph’s Church again tried to sell the building in 1946 and they even set a sales price of $30,000. However, the church ended up keeping it until the mid-1960s.
Academy Theatre and Barnaby’s Loaf & Tankard
Developer Theodore Hand looked at purchasing the building from the church in early 1966. He envisioned building a “College Inn” that would appeal to students from SUNY New Paltz. Hand had trouble with the local planning board, because he didn’t have enough parking, however. An article from that year notes that the building had fallen into a state of disrepair.
Eventually, the Academy Theatre and Barnaby’s Loaf & Tankard opened up, upstairs and downstairs respectively.
Locally, the Academy Theatre is looked on fondly by old-time New Paltzians. It was an independent movie house that showed art films — and controversially sometimes X-rated films — that the standard cinemas would not.
The New Paltz Independent wrote in August 1967 that Academy Theatre owner Donald Bellinger had pumped a lot of money into rehabilitating the space.
“More than $25,000 has been spent on the construction and renovation of the 300-seat movie house,” they reported back then.
The dual use of Barnaby’s downstairs and the theater upstairs lasted a long time. Academy Theatre was successful and respected enough to eventually add live theater in 1973.
On Oct. 12, 1977, the Huguenot Herald wrote about the upcoming production of “Of Mice and Men,” starring actor John Torturro as Lenny at the Academy Theatre. Torturro ended up becoming famous and his name will be recognizable to anyone who’s seen “The Big Lebowski,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” or the Transformers movies.
By 1980, Barnaby’s was holding strong, but the theater was struggling. Then-owner John Lahoud sold out to new owners in 1981. The sense of dread on the part of the local press was palpable.
“The area is losing one of its cultural landmarks,” the Huguenot Herald wrote in January 1981. But later that year, the theater reopened as a live “classical theater only” establishment. New Day Repertory Company, an all-black theater group, took over the space. They lasted into 1984, but their productions didn’t find an audience.
Big renovations in 1986 gave the Barnaby’s building the appearance we know now. According to a Daily Freeman story from 1987, the renovations cost roughly $120,000. It was also at that time that Barnaby’s Loaf & Tankard owners John and Barbara Saul won recognition for having the best hamburger in the Hudson Valley.
By 1999, the Huguenot Herald wrote about a short-lived plan to turn the upstairs space into a hair salon. They described the demise of the Academy Theatre as having happened because of “high rent and utility bills” and “competition from the new multiplexes.”
Briefly, after the theater’s demise, the upstairs had a three-week stint as a discotheque.
In 2001, the Barnaby’s brand name went on hiatus briefly when the Sauls sold their restaurant. New owner Anthony Prizzia opened a 1930s gangster-theme faux speakeasy called Bugsey’s. He used the upstairs as a catering hall.
Regional restaurant owners the Vanikiotis Group ended up buying the building and restaurant from Prizzia in 2002. Three brothers, Peter, Teddy and Dino Vanikiotis own the business group — and they also own The Palace Diner and Table Talk Diner in Poughkeepsie, Daily Planet Diner in LaGrangeville, Red Line Diner in Fishkill and the Hyde Park Marina.
Now back with the old brand name, Barnaby’s held its grand reopening as a steakhouse and tavern on Dec. 13, 2003.
New Paltz’s village Historical Preservation Commission also designated the building a local historical landmark in 2004.
Barnaby’s: The next generation
According to the management at Barnaby’s, there are tentative plans for new renovations of the building this year. So 2014 could be another year where the grand old hall changes once again.
To learn more about Barnaby’s Steakhouse, head to https://barnabyssteakhouse.com/.
Barnaby’s is the fifth installment in a six-part series featuring the history of local taverns. Next week, the spotlight will be on the Gilded Otter. Check out the entire series by visiting newpaltzx.com.
Designate this beautiful old building as an Historic treasure!