WILLIAMSPORT -- A restaurant owner in Lycoming County hopes to breathe some life back into a theater that closed in the 1950s.
There is a fresh coat of paint on the walls, but it's the new carpet smell that lingers. A flooring company is finishing work inside the former Park Theater lobby in Williamsport.
"This is the entrance of the theater, and the theater sit in the back of the building where I tore it down because it was in bad shape,” said Michael Morrone.
Pictures of the Park Theater that closed down in the 1950s are hung up inside what is now Morrone's new banquet hall.
"I wanted it to be the same as what it was, actually we did the same colors as it was before," said Morrone.
Michael Morrone has owned part of this building on West 4th Street for about 30 years. Over time, Morrone moved the Italian restaurant he and his wife own. They've been expanding ever since.
"It consequently became Morrone's Cafe. Then it became Morrone's Cafe and Lounge. Now it's going to be Morrone’s Cafe, Lounge, and Banquet Hall," said Cynthia Marrone.
The unfinished ballroom above the restaurant is what the banquet hall used to look like a year ago. Michael Morrone tells us it took a lot of help from family and friends to bring it back to life.
"The molding, it's all plaster molding that at one time it was just hanging," said Michael Marrone.
"They called him Michaelangelo because he was doing the ceiling over himself, every day for a year," said Cynthia Morrone.
Joe Banghart remembers the Park Theater from when he used to live in Williamsport. He came up from Arizona to visit the Morrone's.
"I think revitalizing all of these building is a great idea. This was a great building,” said Joe Banghart.
The Morrones tell us the banquet hall will hold about 150 people. They expect to open it next month.