Photos: Vintage movie theaters in Central Pennsylvania. Are you a fan?

The Appell Center for the Performing Arts pairs two old theaters - the Strand and Capitol theaters. Several towns in the region have restored movie houses like the Strand-Capitol.

The Capitol, along with the Ritz and Rialto, marketing their movies in the newspaper.

Ella Fitzgerald sings to mark the re-opening of the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center in 1980. She was the keynote to celebrate this renovation, the most significant of many undertaken at what is now the Appell Center for the Performing Arts.

Cinema Treasures says the Ramsay Theater in Stewartstown in York County opened in 1920. If so, it would have hosted silent movies. It has been closed for many years - since circa 1960, Cinema Treasures states.

The ticket office at the Ramsay.

The Carlisle Theatre is wonderfully restored. Arts films are part of its repertoire.

A bonus: The Carlisle Theater is surrounded by coffee shops and restaurants - the type of good things you'll find in a college towns.

The Allen stands in another college town - Annville's Lebanon Valley College. The restored theater is blessed with another asset - it shares space with a coffee house.

The Majestic Theater in Gettysburg is another restored downtown movie house. It hosts productions as well as films.

Love and care went into restoration of many of the old movie houses in southcentral Pennsylvania. Here is some of the intricate restoration work at the Majestic. Majestic, indeed.

Bedford's Pitt Theatre shows movies on two screens. One of the screens delights audiences with a flourish. It opens its curtains to unveil the feature film, as in the old days.

The Pitt's entrance, complete with still operating box office. "We've been in business since 1939 and, call us old fashioned, but we still believe that going to the movies is a special event," The Pitt's website states.

The many-times-restored Capitol Theatre in downtown is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. As in these other active downtown theaters, the Capitol serves as a gathering place and focal point for culture and entertainment in the borough.

The Public Opinion in York reports: "It is one of the few theaters in the United States to still have its original organ... . The Möller theater pipe organ was used not only during showings of silent films, but also for early vaudeville acts that the new theater brought to town following its 1927 opening."

The West Shore theater, just across the bridge from York County, stands in New Cumberland. Cinema Treasures says this about the West Shore: "The West Shore opened on January 20, 1940 with the movie 'The Secret Life of Dr Kildare' and admission of 25 cents for adults, 15 cents for children. The theatre was designed by Philadelphia architect William H. Lee in an Art Moderne style. Interior wall coverings were in an old rose shade. The auditorium was furnished with walnut paneling on the side and rear walls and the ceiling had a hand painted oil painting. The theatre was built with air conditioning."

The Small Star Art House on West Market Street is perhaps the newest cinema in the region. It joins Zoetropolis in Lancaster and Midtown Cinema as the region's prominent venues for independent or indie films - movies not made by major studios. Some of the other movie houses also show indie movies along with major studio releases.

The Midtown Scholar Bookstore, a destination in itself, occupies the old movie house in the Midtown neighborhood in Harrisburg. But the neighborhood and beyond is well served with movies. Nearby, the Mid-Town Cinema shows indie films on three screens.

Zoetropolis is Lancaster is a peer with Midtown Cinema in Harrisburg and Small Star Art House in York as indie theaters with comfortable and cozy space.

We come now to old theaters seeing different uses - or in this case, awaiting public clarification about its future. The Glen Theatre in Glen Rock's website says it's closed, but a theater spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The Glen operated in a converted century-plus-old band hall. It was the home base of noted parade march composer Roland F. Seitz.

The Glen's screen is among the many unusual features in the theater. It's heated with radiators and has a small creek flowing beneath it. In recent years, the theater has been notable as the last community theater operating in York County, outside the city of York.

While it stands, there's hope. As we've seen, several other downtown theaters in the region have been restored. The Hanover theater, vacant since the 1980s, awaits a facelift and interior work. It has been placed on Preservation Pennsylvania's most endangered places.

Structural issues at this downtown Hanover theater are immense. As with other old buildings, if renovations are not done, the challenge to improve the structures become steeper with each passing year.

The marquee of the Dallas Theater in Dallastown lives on, thought the theater has been adapted for other business uses.

The Dallas, when it was a movie house. The seats and other familiar assets that made it a film venue for decades are gone.

The Dallas, in the 1940s or 1950s.

The Elks in Middletown was showing movies in the past four years. According to its website and Facebook page, it's is now closed. Its friends group is seeking funding for another phase of renovations.

Today, the Belmont Theater hosts live performances. It operated for years as the Elmwood Theater and then served as home base for the York Little Theatre. This group recently renamed the vastly renovated building the Belmont Theater.

This newspaper advertisement shows two demolished Springettsbury Township theaters. The York Mall has been replaced by Walmart, and development build on the former sites of the AMC Theatres and nearby drive-in.

In New Freedom, the old theater is used as an ice cream stand - Bonkeys. Stewartstown, in southeastern York County also hosted a movie theater - Ramsay, which still stands but is long closed.

The Mount Wolf theater has a newer use. It is now used as a church. The last movie shown there, in 1984, was "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial."

The Hippodrome of was one of many theaters dotting the city of York in the glory days of movie cinemas in the mid-20th century.

The Southern Theater operated on what is now Theater Drive, south of Loganville. The theater is long closed, and its screen demolished.

Now we move to outdoor drive-ins. The Stony Brook Drive-In was one of York County's most popular. Today, the Springettsbury Township drive-in site is covered by development.

The Stony Brook was used for more than movies. It's location along the Lincoln Highway made it convenient for other uses.

The Easter service at the Stony Brook.

The AMC 4 Theatres stood near the Stony Brook Drive-In. But it came down about 20 years ago.

This region of Pennsylvania has at least three operating outdoor drive-ins. Haar's near Dillsburg is York County's only drive-in.

Like many drive-ins, Haar's has used its acreage during the day for car shows and other events.

The Cumberland Drive-in has operated for years - since 1952 - in Newville, Cumberland County.

The Sky Vu Drive-in has shown movies at Gratz in Northern Dauphin County since 1948. Well, there was a break recently before the present owners breathed new life into it. The drive-in's website says only 338 drive-in theaters operate in the U.S. today.

The New Main stands on the footprint of the Main Theatre, a 1930s movie house in downtown Ephrata. So it's not vintage per se, but you get the idea.

The New Main's back entrance, leading to ample parking in a public garage. Cinema Treasures says some features of the original theater are built into this 1990s two-screen cinema and the complex itself has art deco design elements.

The HiWay, West Market Street, markets its air-conditioned comfort.