He helped to create First Fridays in Jim Thorpe, which morphed into Second Saturdays, which are essentially special gallery walks to showcase the town. Hugo is an organizer of Jim Thorpe Artists, a nonprofit devoted to promoting the cultural scene in the town. Hugo works days as a computer database programmer in New York, but opened Dakota Ridge, a fine art photography gallery on Broadway in 1998. City folk, attracted by affordable property, quaint charm and mountain air, have settled here among long-time residents.ĭan Hugo is another one. Monteleone is one of the people who brought change to Jim Thorpe in the last quarter of a century. 'It has never been totally renovated, but pieces of it have always been taken care of.' 'When you have a building that's enormous and only run by a volunteer staff and has no regular income, there's nothing to fund it on a regular basis,' says Marianne Monteleone, Jim Thorpe Area Chamber of Commerce vice president and owner of Monteleone Design at 97 Broadway, a women's clothing store.

For 12 years, it was the home of the Laurel Festival of the Arts, a chamber music festival that folded two years ago. It has hosted community theater and special events. What is oft-described as the cultural jewel of Jim Thorpe has been underused and under-maintained. The opera house has survived, but hasn't exactly been restored. An opportunity for rebirth began in 1975, when the Mauch Chunk Historical Society bought the opera house, hoping to restore it.

But the building's role as an entertainment hub came to an end in 1962, when it was bought by a pocketbook manufacturer and used as a warehouse. In 1927, the opera house became a movie house.

The mauch chunk opera house