The Theater Magnificent! The lobby, from all accounts, made jaws hit the polished floor: marble columns three stories tall, a spectacular (if overdone) chandelier, musicians playing from a balcony above.

See the problem? That's correct: overhead. It's one thing to build a theater this size, and it's something else to keep it running while you pay off the mortgage - especially if your patrons are paying a dime to drink from your marble fountains and recline in your sumptuous chairs.

It would have been difficult to make it work in the best of times, but two years after it opened, the economy was tumbling into the basement.