English: As seen on a February 2023 evening from a short distance westward on Berkshire Avenue is the Varsity Theatre at 3165 Bailey Avenue in Buffalo, New York. A work of the locally-based architectural firm of Lewis & Hill, the stripped-down take on Neoclassicism was a popular style in early 20th-century architecture in general, but is quite a bit less ornate than what you'd typically see in theatres and early moviehouses: in place of Baroque-derived flourishes and filigrees we have a monochromatic façade of ruddy brick accentuated only by the sparsely applied stone trim that comprises the capitals atop the Doric pilaster strips that separate the windows, as well as the sunburst relief panels above. Aside from that, ornamentation is limited mainly to the pair of urns that once crowned the central portion of the roofline parapet (one remains today), with Roman latticework between. Opening day at the Varsity was November 28, 1923, and both under the management of original owner James Cardina and even after affiliating with the Basil Brothers chain of cinemas seven years later, it retained the identity of a scrappy independent moviehouse: its lack of an exclusive contract with any big studio meant that it was passed over for showing many of the biggest features, and the "high-class photoplays" for which it was best known often had to be supplemented by second-run fare, vaudeville shows, community lectures and events, and other such programming. This tendency toward the eclectic held true even through future incarnations of the business: after the Varsity closed in 1963, the Circle Art Theater took over the space and added imports, arthouse films, and occasional gallery exhibits to the mix. By the early 1970s, the screen was showing porn more often than not, and the place cycled through a number of different monikers: the Capri, the Uptown, and lastly and most notoriously the New Palace Theater, subject of repeated raids by the Buffalo Police's Salacious Literature Squad during its decade of operation at 3165 Bailey, from 1986 through '96. The building had been long vacant by the time of its 2010 purchase by Ibrahim Cissé, an Ivorian-born IT professional-turned-head of the Bailey Business Association who spent the next five years cobbling together New York State grant money, profits from his own computer shop and Subway sandwich franchise, and other financial assistance to restore the theater to its original condition. Reopened in January 2016 under its original name, the Varsity Theatre today hosts mainly live music performances.