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Photo: Dheckler510, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Riviera Theatre is a 1,140-seat entertainment venue in North Tonawanda, New York. The theatre hosts live concerts, theatre, dance shows, and movies. The Riviera's “Mighty Wurlitzer” theatre organ has been restored, is maintained by volunteers, and is famed as being one of two original Wurlitzer demonstrator organs, which the company would use to show off to potential clients in the height of the silent film era.
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North Tonawanda is a former lumber port on the Erie Canal that, in 1915, became home to the Allan Herschell Company, America's largest producer of amusement park rides, particularly carousels. Though the company closed in 1970, the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum lives on in the former factory buildings, providing 15,000 visitors annually with exhibits and demonstrations on the history of the Herschell Company and amusement rides in general. An original Allan Herschell carousel from 1916 is the centerpiece of the museum's collection. Special programs offered by the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum include beginner and advanced woodworking courses, and a short walking and biking trail leads from the factory complex through historic downtown North Tonawanda to the banks of the old Erie Canal.