In the small town of Missoula, Montana, The Wilma Building is a legend. As a way of preserving the flavor of this building, I photographed and talked to people in the building for over a year. I wanted to capture just a taste of what it is like to wander through its hallways, into residents' apartments

and into the minds of the people who made The Wilma what it is today, a treasure.  Sitting on the corner of the Clark Fork River and the main street, Higgins Avenue, people passing by feel their gaze drawn to the building. This place is so much more than just a movie theater, with six floors of apartments reaching upwards over the Missoula skyline. Some people remember the glamorous dress shop on the 8th floor in the 40's. You could look up to the building and see dresses hanging in the window. Others remember having ballroom dancing lessons in the downstairs ballroom in the 30's, wearing smart suits and trilby hats. In its hay day, The Wilma Building was one of the most salubrious places to live in town.

A fleet of six men work constantly restoring the building. They occasionally come across reminders of these bygone eras when they step into an apartment which has a gold dragon as a faucet and matching toilet with a gold seat. The stunning restoration of the restaurant in the basement, Marianne's at The Wilma was completed last year.  Many people express some kind of wistful excitement when they think of The Wilma Building. It's like stepping into a time capsule. The history pours off the walls not simply because of the ornate crystal chandeliers or the red velvet wallpaper. The crazy past  echoes all around you in the feeling of the place.

Decades of couples have kissed on the back row of the movie theater. Hundreds of children's feet have run up and down the beautiful stairway leading to the balcony seating.  People step in off the street just to have a look around. I hear them talking to each other, oohing and aaahing about different features, such as the marble floor or the decorative ceilings. "Isn't that where the Chapel of the Dove used to be?" they ask. They go on to talk and giggle about how strange that man was who had the pigeon on his shoulder all the time and who dedicated a small movie theater to his beloved dove, Koro Hatto (from the Japanese meaning 'cooing pigeon').

Pigeons have lived in the building ever since, much to the chagrin of the current owner. Rumors of ghosts still float around. Some people talk of the secret swimming pool in the basement. Others talk about how David Lynch based his movie, "Blue Velvet" on The Wilma. Lynch was born in Missoula, but no one knows for sure if he ever lived in The Wilma.  For me, I have always been intrigued by The Wilma. I longed to know what everyone was doing in those high apartments.

I just wanted to be in the building to soak up some of the atmosphere. Banging and clattering on one floor leads to laughter on the next. Everyday life in all its glory goes on a few floors above the fantasy of the movie screen. And, in this case, movies are particularly fantastic simply because you view them from a beautiful 1920's movie theater  with red velvet seats and intricate wooden carvings around the actual screen, making it look like a fireplace for the gods. Even the stage curtain shimmers with red and orange, just like a fire.