File:Apollo Media Center - fmr Apollo Theatre - Buffalo, New York - 20220402.jpg

English: The Apollo Media Center, 1348 Jefferson Avenue, Buffalo, New York, April 2022. An eye-catching landmark in the Cold Spring neighborhood of the city's East Side with its gleaming white tile façade and LED marquee, the Apollo opened its doors in April 1941 on the site of an earlier theater, the Liberty. In this first incarnation, the facility was operated by the local Basil Brothers chain in partnership with the upstart theater magnate Nikitas Dipson, and along with a projection room and executive offices, it comprised a 900-seat auditorium with seats upholstered in velour and elaborate interior murals depicting events in Greek history. It was quite a sumptuous environment in which to enjoy the latest big-budget Hollywood opuses from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, such as Gone with the Wind, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, and The Philadelphia Story (the theater's inaugural feature). The theater was located at the epicenter of what was fast becoming the main business district of Buffalo's African-American community, and after a fire of undetermined cause swept through the building in October 1966, it was therefore most likely the discriminatory policy of redlining that lay behind Basil's decision to close the theater rather than making the $30,000 in needed repairs. After a three-year renovation accomplished mostly by volunteer labor from community members, the Apollo reopened three years later as Buffalo's first Black-owned and operated theater, and for the next decade-plus under the ownership of the Ethiopian Orthodox Fellowship and later of young impresario Ray Moss (the latter of whom famously redecorated the interior in an Afrocentric theme, complete with zebra-skin tapestries and African-style paintings) it hosted live dramatic productions and screened Black-oriented movies until its closure some time in the 1980s. The Apollo's third act began in 1995, when a task force including Masten District councilman David A. Collins, architect Bob Coles, local media personality Sandy White, and community organizations such as the Langston Hughes Center and the African American Cultural Center teamed up to renovate the building into a public access television production facility. Today, the Apollo Media Center produces a broad range of community-sourced religious, public affairs, and entertainment programming viewable on Digital Channel 1302 of the local Spectrum cable service.