Mann Torrence Promenade 6
19800 Hawthorne Boulevard,
Torrance,
CA
90503
19800 Hawthorne Boulevard,
Torrance,
CA
90503
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 34 of 34 comments
There was a good comic store there, called the Comic Vendor, which eventually relocated to North Torrance. I recall public chess tables there too, that my dad always said “were where the queers met up.” I also distinctly remember riding a kid’s ride called THE BUSY BEE, which woulda been fun if the bee-antennae hand controls had worked properly.
Definitely, the coolest place to see flicks in the So. Bay in 1982.
Finally, a dicussion about Old Towne Mall!!! My childhood favorite…I was so sad to see it go. My mother took me there all the time to ride the carousel in the early 80s, and we knew the owners of the Belgian Waffle by name (in fact, a year or so ago we ended up reunited with them because one now works at our local coffee shop).
My mother has lived in the South Bay her whole life, and remembers each and every thing that’s been discussed in this thread, as well as the ones about the UA 6 at Del Amo, and the Redondo Beach Cinemas. She was very excited to hear all about the various rides in Old Towne once more. She says the Fantasia ride was the best, and that the whole place started going downhill when the Time-Out arcade was put in. Her brother (my uncle), incidentally, was the clown-ish person who walked the invisible dog to entice people to buy those fake/gag dog leashes.
I fondly remember the swings on top of the carousel, getting a smurf toy from the hanging baskets at the toy store, and going trick-or-treating there each Halloween. I miss it dearly.
Thank you, MallRat73 for your great memories!
…Also, does anyone remember the wax museum during the first year Olde Towne opened? It was pretty lame, too.
Olde Towne Mall opened with 10 indoor rides. ‘Fantasia’ was a 2-story, overhead ski-lift conveyance funhouse ride located 1/3 of the mall from the North end with a rotating barrel gag (that always had pennies rolling and dropping on unsuspecting riders) and little scummy river bisecting the upper level and waterfall beneath the lower level car storage area. Most of the effects were large, plush animals nailed to the floor/walls. It sucked as much as you think it might. Maybe more because I think one 2-minute ride was $2.50. It opened when the Mall debuted and closed in ‘84. Security would throw our punk asses out when we spit on the dolls and punched holes in the barrel. We were very immature and stupid… but we had a lot of fun.
The 'Double-Decker Denzel Carousel’ was located mid-mall and featured the typical assortment of actual and mythical animals. It lasted the entire life of the mall until it was sold to a small theme park back east in ‘91. It had small swings on the upper level where you could catch a little air and screw up your balance. For a 10 year-old this was like a Zanax rush.
'The Haunted House’ Pretzel dark ride lasted from ‘80 to '82. It was directly across from the Shooting Gallery and had only a handful of run-of-the-mill gags including the big black bat on a garage door opener. It was closed during the week because no one rode it except naive tourists on the weekends. It also sported several lame pop-up box monsters that were constantly vandalized to the point people stole the chicken wire protecting the $5 gags until only the supporting stick would pop up, the crappy monster either stolen or face down and flooding the little, Haz-Mat creek that ran from the end of the ride to the car storage area. I remember one flooding took out the dress shop to the left of it and swamped out the security device store on the right that moved to the South end after the flood.
Going waaaay back to the first 6 months the mall was open and before The Mann Theatres debuted they had a small but impressive carnival in the huge 3 story area at the entire South end of the mall. I believe it was Pay-One-Price but you could also buy individual tickets because admission was free. There was a 'Parachute’ centrifugal wheel, a pair of ‘Hammer Heads’, the ‘Kiddy Kar Thrill Track’, a half scale ‘Ferris Wheel’ and a few, standard, small, circular kiddie rides. They filmed ‘The Fury’ at the carnival area (trashing the ‘Parachute’ ‘ride in '78). Plot Outline: A government agent is determined to come to his son’s rescue, when a sinister official kidnaps him to harbor his extremely powerful psychic abilities.The credits mistakenly credited 'Old Chicago Amusement Park, Bolingbrook, Illinois, USA ’ as the park but it was actually filmed the last few months before the Carnival closed and the remodeling for the theatres began. Of course there was the midway where, if you were real lucky, you could win a $2.00 Mr. Bill doll for $20.00 worth of darts. This area also blew goats.
Does any one else remember the indoor ‘Miniature Golf Course’ near mid mall and the ‘Sega Center Arcade’ at the North end near the Food Court? How about the glass-enclosed train tracks outside of the ‘Fantasia’ ride and ‘The Belgian Waffle House’ restaurant where you could run one of 4 trains on different tracks for .50?
The theatres completely fell into disrepair when they went to a $3 discount house. The floors felt like you were stuck in the La Brea Tar pits and it was obvious to anyone with a nose that several patrons decided the restrooms were just too far away and offloaded up in the back floor of the theatres. I remember the theatres would build a large model of a scene from one of their current movies right out front of the ticket line. “Caddy Shack' was the best followed by ‘Friday the 13th’. Somehow they talked the manager to display severed body parts and a huge amount of stage blood. These cool displays were also completely trashed within days.
Bitchin'.
The best time I remember at those theatres is when someone released a jar of moths during ‘Strange Brew’. Just like in the movie, the moths clustered around the only source of light in the room (the projection Room Window) completely ruining the next few showings and forcing the extremely, morbidly obese ‘Jewel’ to roll off her re-enforced bench to give out free passes. Also, their was a pretty impressive fight just outside the Box Office when a large crowd of rednecks started hazing anybody that was buying a ‘Purple Rain’ ticket.
Immature? Disrespectful? Complete lack of respect for others property through random acts of malicious vandalism? You betcha. Good Times, indeed. VIVA LA OLDE TOWNE!
Rode the bus from San Pedro to watch movies here as a kid. Saw “Friday the 13th Pt.3 in 3D” here. Saw Farrah Fawcett in “Sunburn” here. Twice. Loved the weird fun house with the foam walls coming apart. Good times.
Old Towne did rock. The theater was great, but the mall was incredible. They also had a shooting gallery, this weird forest ride, and of course, The Scorpio Shoppe. The owner moved this place to Hermosa Beach-still in business. I saw some great films there…and like knatcal, I too saw Pretty in Pink there. I went with my sister and her boyfriend at the time. This and the Marina Theater aka Rat Theater in Redondo Beach (now a condominium) were by far the best so. bay movie locales back in the day. JoeC
Old towne mall rocked. It had a malt shop, Vespa scooter outlet, fantasy ride, carousel, excellent modle shop and old style cop who dressed like the old days. The place rocked. I remember some excellent movies, and made out with my first girlfriend Kathy, actually got a wet finger when I was in it. Bless her heart!
The Mann Old Towne 6 Theatre was located 19800 Hawthorne Blvd..
In the mid-1980s, I when I did not quite make it to class I would go to the Old Towne for one dollar movies on Tuesdays. One movie I well remember attending in 1986 was Pretty in Pink.