A good third act

The light was intense this afternoon, and as I passed the Walgreen's, on Duval, I had to get a picture of the restored façade.

Krakow has its wildly decorated Rynek Glowny, and we have. . . . Aw, hell, they have T-shirt vendors in their Cloth Hall, too (that's what the finials remind me of), though better cafes on their square.

I know, the marquee can seem intrusive, especially from this angle. But it's exactly the same size as the Strand's old now-playing marquee when the Carbonells owned it. (A few weeks back, at the barber shop, a sweet old guy told me he was watching a movie when water poured in the doors and down the aisles as a hurricane roared through; I think it was Donna, but I wasn't going to screw up a good story by asking for details.)

Given Duval Street rents and the woes of non-chain non-plexes, the outcome could have been worse.

And considering that the entire canopy had been torn off some years ago -- and that the theater innards had been torn out to make a Ripley's "museum" -- I think the new life is a good third act. At least when you drop money in Walgreen's, you leave with something besides a headful of cobwebs.

And at night. . . . Well! Ro-co-CO!