Showcase Cinemas Toledo

Cinema 1 and 2, as they were originally known, opened with a lot of fanfare in 1964. They advertised uninterrupted site lines, spacious reclining seats, giant wall to wall screens and MOST important…acres of FREE parking! That alone spelled the ultimate demise of the downtown movie theater. The Valentine Theater downtown was the official 70mm Cinerama theater at the time. They lost their bid to this title in early 1966 when the Redstone chain secured the rights to show all future Cinerama films. The first 70mm Cinerama feature to be shown there was The Battle of the Bulge in 1966. The last time a Cinerama film showed there was around 1977 when they showed 2001 A Space Odyssey in “Cinerama” one last time. Cinerama was ultimately abandoned and the other theaters were twinned up untill it closed in 2005.

“2001, A Space Odyssey” played here in 70mm Cinerama on a reserved seat basis in Cinema 1 when the theater was known as Cinema 1, 2, 3. I think it was originally built and operated by General Cinema as its architecture was similar to many theaters they built and operated in the 1960s.