BENCHMARKS continued
When Benchmarker first set foot in Dublin's Fair City, it was at a time when O'Connell Street and its immediate environs held a wealth of cinema theatres. Every evening long queues would form there, but if you had the patience you would almost certainly get in, if not to the film you wanted then at least to another nearby. You could pick an' choose. Sunday night was a different story as the tickets were sold in advance. So if you hadn't booked when the office opened on Friday then your only option was to pay an inflated price to one of the many scalpers who made good money from having got in early and block booked a tranche of seats. Today, their plaintive street-call “Seats? You want seats?” has fallen silent, and, with the exception of the Savoy, which has mutated into a multiplex, those cinemas have all gone the way of the dinosaur. Some were simply demolished and the sites redeveloped. A particular favourite was the Capitol on Palace Street, which along with the neighbouring Metropole Cinema and the Palace Bar, fell to the wreckers ball in the early 1970s to make way for a bland clothing store. It's doubtful if that would happen as easily today. So thankfully the fate of the Ambassador, (Benchmarker's second favourite) while no longer in use as a cinema, looks secure. The building has a long history - far too long to recount here. In recent years it was used as some type of financial services facility; more recently as a live music venue; and apparently there are plans to convert it and transfer there the public library that is currently in the ILAC Centre.
Below: The 'mark on the Ambassador Theatre. Someone has outlined the cuts in white paint; wonder was it B.B?
Above: The Ambassador Theatre, with the 'mark at bottom right.
