I just updated the street view (hope it sticks) to the building at 1608 Elm that once housed the Crystal Theatre – directly west of H.L. Greene’s Drug Store in the old Wilson Bldg. at the corner of Elm and Ervay (also former site of the original Titche’s store, before they moved east on Elm to a location across from the Tower Petroleum Bldg.), and directly across Elm from the present-day Thanksgiving Tower monstrosity at 1623-25 Elm, formerly the site of the Palace Theatre.
I just updated the street view to reflect the actual street adress; the view now shows the old Hodge building and you can see how the entrance with the marquee looked. My question is: since the changeover to the new format, who in blazes is responsible for the original settings on some of these theatres? This one was off by many blocks and streets – Front St (old US 80) and C – nowhere near the Hodge. What gives?
@ jamestv: I benefitted from your superb projection of “The Wind and the Lion” and you have my compliments! Great picture on the big screen, great projection, great house! Also saw “Where Eagles Dare” here in 1968, but can’t recall whether it was/was not in 70mm. As far as you know, is the original length “Camelot” on DVD, or is it lost?
I was gone from Dallas by the time “Beyond The Poseidon Adventure” premiered and I have never caught the film (I am a fan of bad movies, the REALLY bad ones) but I have heard of this particular event from a friend who was present and his story jibes with yours, egcarter. Wish I’d been there. Shades of “Meteor” and “Rollercoaster!”
Looks like they’ve used some of the original “HEIGHTS” lettering to spell out “IGLESIA.” Seems like it’s been a church more than twice as long as it was a theatre.
Chuck – consult the magic book and tell us when the Peak opened/closed! In all the years I spent growing up in Dallas, I never once heard of this theatre – I am intrigued!
The Medallion was supposed to be the first in a new generation of prestige first-run venues for Interstate Theatres that would replace the old downtown theatres, all of which were on their last legs due to shifting demographics and lack of parking space; ironically, it was the last such venue Interstate built due to the company’s failure to read the coming trend toward multiplex venues. It opened in 1969 with the Dallas exclusive run of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
“Loews first foray into the Dallas-Fort Worth metoplex…” – sorry, not so; Loew’s opened the Downtown theatre at 1100 Elm in 1969; Loew’s took over the ownership of the Hope Theatre, built in 1921, the following year and renamed it the Melba. The company had had a long, if spotty, association with the Dallas area by the time this theatre was built.
“There’s a link at the bottom of this and every page that says “If you find a mistake, please contact us At Cinema Treasures” to click on.”
Did that link disappear in the site make-over? I’d like to correct that map view to the correct site on Conway (SH 107) just north of Business 83 (9th Street) but I don’t know how to do that. Present map view takes you to Pelican Street, south of Expressway 83, in a new subdivision.
75050 zipcode in address maps to Carrolton, TX, not Dallas; correct zip is 75201; that’ll get you to the correct block of downtown Dallas. Of course, the entire block of buildings in which the Capitol (and the Old Mill/Rialto, Ritz/Pantages/Mirror, Queen/Leo, and Telenews) sat is long, long gone.
The story on the street down here in the Mission-McAllen area was that the Cinemark Tinseltown multiplex, just down the street from the Border, successfully pressured the movie companies to stop renting first-run releases to the Border because patrons were being pulled away from the Cinemark; sounds plausible, because at almost 400 seats, the Border accounted for Cinemark’s biggest auditorium. Patrons HAD to have preferred the Border experience for first-run flicks, esp. at the generally lower admission prices compared to Cinemark.
The address (Jupiter Road & Garland Road) is all wrong; that is the closest major intersection that bounded the outlying parking areas of the original Lochwood Shopping Center (no longer there, as the entire property has been totally re-developed). Actual location of the theater was where the Home Depot is located at 11287 Lochwood Blvd., near the intersection with Marchant Circle.
Here’s a link to a discussion thread on the dallasmetropolis forum in which forum member Dismuke has posted scans of his program from opening night at the Palace, June 11, 1921. The Artwork depicting the theatre’s interior and architectural features will probably prove to be the first time since your last visit to the theatre that you have seen these views.
BJohnston, I can’t be sure, but I just know I remember seeing the Midway advertised in the movie listings of the Dallas papers well into my teen years, which began in 1967. Could it have re-opened after 1956 under new ownership, perhaps?
lrostochil’s two links are indeed of the King’s demolition, not the Linda Kay’s. The King was originally opened as the Cinderella, so the crown thing still applies (I think).
I’d say those memories of mine are from the late 60’s – mid-70’s, Randy. I remember being able to see the screen from R.L. Thornton, with little-to-no bushes or trees to obscure the view, but at that distance it wasn’t crystal clear. I figuew you had to know what you were looking for (I did)! As you note, Linda Kay was a completely different story – VERY clear!
Description is all wrong – the UA Cine 150 (name reverting to UA Cine when twinned in the early 1970’s) was NEVER in a shopping mall – it was free-standing until the day it was demolished. The “150” in its original name designated its capability of projecting Dimension 150 prints – only two pictures were ever photographed in this process, which was simply Todd A-O with a new name and a better lens, and these were “The Bible” (1966) and “Patton” (1970). Ironically, both opened their exclusives downtown at the Tower! Oh, well…
Map view couldn’t be more wrong, as it is nowhere near Dallas’s old Theatre Row. Address should be amended to “1608 Elm Street.” Building is still there and its appearance is remarkably like it was when it housed the Crystal.
Chuck, this particular “Avenue” Theatre was not built until about 1949. It was originally called the “Columbia” because it replaced another theatre up the street that had been known as the Columbia (and, I believe, closed just prior to ‘49 as the Rita). The Rita building is still there, but has long since been re=purposed. The “new” Avenue was renamed “Guild” in the very late '60’s or early '70’s. The last time I was in that block of Columbia before the name change was May of 1968; I believe there was a George Montgomery picture advertised on the marquee.
We lost some of the comments when we switched over to the new format – one of them being that the Casa View originally opened in (IIRC) 1954 as the White Rock Drive-In. Still called White Rock as late as 1959. Exactly when name changed, I don’t know but from the time my family first started attending (ca. 1961), it was already the Casa View.
Status is demolished but screen tower frame is still up.
I just updated the street view (hope it sticks) to the building at 1608 Elm that once housed the Crystal Theatre – directly west of H.L. Greene’s Drug Store in the old Wilson Bldg. at the corner of Elm and Ervay (also former site of the original Titche’s store, before they moved east on Elm to a location across from the Tower Petroleum Bldg.), and directly across Elm from the present-day Thanksgiving Tower monstrosity at 1623-25 Elm, formerly the site of the Palace Theatre.
I just updated the street view to reflect the actual street adress; the view now shows the old Hodge building and you can see how the entrance with the marquee looked. My question is: since the changeover to the new format, who in blazes is responsible for the original settings on some of these theatres? This one was off by many blocks and streets – Front St (old US 80) and C – nowhere near the Hodge. What gives?
@ jamestv: I benefitted from your superb projection of “The Wind and the Lion” and you have my compliments! Great picture on the big screen, great projection, great house! Also saw “Where Eagles Dare” here in 1968, but can’t recall whether it was/was not in 70mm. As far as you know, is the original length “Camelot” on DVD, or is it lost?
I was gone from Dallas by the time “Beyond The Poseidon Adventure” premiered and I have never caught the film (I am a fan of bad movies, the REALLY bad ones) but I have heard of this particular event from a friend who was present and his story jibes with yours, egcarter. Wish I’d been there. Shades of “Meteor” and “Rollercoaster!”
Looks like they’ve used some of the original “HEIGHTS” lettering to spell out “IGLESIA.” Seems like it’s been a church more than twice as long as it was a theatre.
@ Chuck1231: Wow! Lifespan of only a decade!
Chuck – consult the magic book and tell us when the Peak opened/closed! In all the years I spent growing up in Dallas, I never once heard of this theatre – I am intrigued!
The Medallion was supposed to be the first in a new generation of prestige first-run venues for Interstate Theatres that would replace the old downtown theatres, all of which were on their last legs due to shifting demographics and lack of parking space; ironically, it was the last such venue Interstate built due to the company’s failure to read the coming trend toward multiplex venues. It opened in 1969 with the Dallas exclusive run of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
“Loews first foray into the Dallas-Fort Worth metoplex…” – sorry, not so; Loew’s opened the Downtown theatre at 1100 Elm in 1969; Loew’s took over the ownership of the Hope Theatre, built in 1921, the following year and renamed it the Melba. The company had had a long, if spotty, association with the Dallas area by the time this theatre was built.
“There’s a link at the bottom of this and every page that says “If you find a mistake, please contact us At Cinema Treasures” to click on.”
Did that link disappear in the site make-over? I’d like to correct that map view to the correct site on Conway (SH 107) just north of Business 83 (9th Street) but I don’t know how to do that. Present map view takes you to Pelican Street, south of Expressway 83, in a new subdivision.
75050 zipcode in address maps to Carrolton, TX, not Dallas; correct zip is 75201; that’ll get you to the correct block of downtown Dallas. Of course, the entire block of buildings in which the Capitol (and the Old Mill/Rialto, Ritz/Pantages/Mirror, Queen/Leo, and Telenews) sat is long, long gone.
The story on the street down here in the Mission-McAllen area was that the Cinemark Tinseltown multiplex, just down the street from the Border, successfully pressured the movie companies to stop renting first-run releases to the Border because patrons were being pulled away from the Cinemark; sounds plausible, because at almost 400 seats, the Border accounted for Cinemark’s biggest auditorium. Patrons HAD to have preferred the Border experience for first-run flicks, esp. at the generally lower admission prices compared to Cinemark.
The address (Jupiter Road & Garland Road) is all wrong; that is the closest major intersection that bounded the outlying parking areas of the original Lochwood Shopping Center (no longer there, as the entire property has been totally re-developed). Actual location of the theater was where the Home Depot is located at 11287 Lochwood Blvd., near the intersection with Marchant Circle.
Here’s a link to a discussion thread on the dallasmetropolis forum in which forum member Dismuke has posted scans of his program from opening night at the Palace, June 11, 1921. The Artwork depicting the theatre’s interior and architectural features will probably prove to be the first time since your last visit to the theatre that you have seen these views.
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showthread.php/634-Palace-Theatre-(Old-Dallas-Theatres)
BJohnston, I can’t be sure, but I just know I remember seeing the Midway advertised in the movie listings of the Dallas papers well into my teen years, which began in 1967. Could it have re-opened after 1956 under new ownership, perhaps?
lrostochil’s two links are indeed of the King’s demolition, not the Linda Kay’s. The King was originally opened as the Cinderella, so the crown thing still applies (I think).
I’d say those memories of mine are from the late 60’s – mid-70’s, Randy. I remember being able to see the screen from R.L. Thornton, with little-to-no bushes or trees to obscure the view, but at that distance it wasn’t crystal clear. I figuew you had to know what you were looking for (I did)! As you note, Linda Kay was a completely different story – VERY clear!
Thanks, Chuck – I still haven’t figured out how to do that – how DO you do it?
Could this be it (see link)? http://www.flickr.com/photos/66262530@N08/6027614302/in/photostream
Description is all wrong – the UA Cine 150 (name reverting to UA Cine when twinned in the early 1970’s) was NEVER in a shopping mall – it was free-standing until the day it was demolished. The “150” in its original name designated its capability of projecting Dimension 150 prints – only two pictures were ever photographed in this process, which was simply Todd A-O with a new name and a better lens, and these were “The Bible” (1966) and “Patton” (1970). Ironically, both opened their exclusives downtown at the Tower! Oh, well…
Map view couldn’t be more wrong, as it is nowhere near Dallas’s old Theatre Row. Address should be amended to “1608 Elm Street.” Building is still there and its appearance is remarkably like it was when it housed the Crystal.
Chuck, this particular “Avenue” Theatre was not built until about 1949. It was originally called the “Columbia” because it replaced another theatre up the street that had been known as the Columbia (and, I believe, closed just prior to ‘49 as the Rita). The Rita building is still there, but has long since been re=purposed. The “new” Avenue was renamed “Guild” in the very late '60’s or early '70’s. The last time I was in that block of Columbia before the name change was May of 1968; I believe there was a George Montgomery picture advertised on the marquee.
We lost some of the comments when we switched over to the new format – one of them being that the Casa View originally opened in (IIRC) 1954 as the White Rock Drive-In. Still called White Rock as late as 1959. Exactly when name changed, I don’t know but from the time my family first started attending (ca. 1961), it was already the Casa View.
The Medallion was still a single screen as late as summer 1979 when it showcased the exclusive first run of “Alien.”