Progress Being Made On Lakewood Theater Repairs

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The historic Lakewood Theater is on the mend after the devastating hailstorm that hit east Dallas on June 13.

At last count, the Southwestern Insurance Information Service estimated that the hailstorm caused more than $2 billion in damages to homes and businesses.

Damage from the storm left the Lakewood Theater with 90-percent of the glass in its 100-foot art deco tower destroyed and half of the theater marquee smashed.

"It knocked out all of the panels on the right side of the marquee and it busted about 1700 feet of glass tubing," theater-owner Wayne Roden explained.

While workers went to the theater, off Gaston and La Vista, and began taking measurements the morning after the storm, the delicate glass repairs are taking quite some time.

Roden says the company hired to do the repair work is on site and progress is being made.

"Looks like they've replaced all of the panels in the right side of the marquee that got busted out," Roden said.

Details about the theater marquee, turns out, is the good news. Repairing the glass that makes up the iconic neon tower is going to a little take longer.

"I guess they're just making the glass now," Roden said, "and once they get it all made I think they'll just come put it in."

Late last month Roden had pleaded that the costs to make repairs were extensive and would, "require the support of our neighbors." He opened a special Lakewood Theater Tower Fund and began taking donations, but today says he still has a ways to raise the more than $25,000 that it will take to get the theater fully restored and operational.

The Lakewood Theater originally opened on October 27, 1938 and is the sole remaining single-screen movie theater, in the city of Dallas, that remains in its original condition.