A few years after switching to porn, the North 11 Drive-In put up high-powered lights along the side facing Highway 11; this was done to block free viewing of the XXX films playing (the screen previously was visible to northbound traffic).
I can’t blame Carmike for wanting out of this mall. Sears has left, Penneys may be next, that leaves Rose’s as the only other anchor – and a weak one at that. Rose’s did the same flip-flop at this mall that Carmike did, only they left the mall first – also in bankruptcy – and came back after Carmike did. Carmike 10 has no direct mall access; patrons must exit the mall to access the theater. If Penneys goes under, Carmike will most likely leave for Heritage Crossing or maybe Westwood (the WalMart shopping center); another possibility could be the old Kmart/Home Depot site near WalMart. I doubt Carmike would stay in a dead mall (like Tarboro’s independent Parkhill Cinema 3); they would break the lease and pay the penalty.
At the time of the Parkwood Cinema’s opening in 1967 Parkwood Shopping Center was an open-air shopping center anchored by J. C. Penney, Rose’s and a Winn-Dixie supermarket. The Parkwood Cinema went to three screens in 1978 simultaneously with the conversion of Parkwood Shopping Center into Parkwood Mall. Parkwood Cinema 3 outlasted all of the original anchors except Penneys; the current Rose’s in the mall (now Wilson Mall) was built in 1978 as Belk(-Tyler) Department Store, which left Parkwood Mall not long after Parkwood Cinema 3 closed.
Parkhill Cinema 3 was never part of the Stewart & Everett or Carmike chains – the only theater in Edgecombe County owned by those chains was the Oakwood Twin in Rocky Mount.
From ABC11 Eyewitness News (10PM broadcast on WLFL CW22): As of the close of business on November 10, 2012, the Galaxy Cinema will close permanently. It will be demolished and replaced with a Harris-Teeeter grocery store. The Galaxy’s owners may attempt reopening at a different location, but that option has not been finalized yet. For now, art films can be seen at the Triangle’s other arthouses(Carolina-Durham, Chelsea in Chapel Hill, Rialto and Colony in Raleigh); the fate of Bollywood films in the Triangle is uncertain.
According to WNCT-TV9 11PM news: Wells Fargo Bank has made the highest bid for the Turnage Theater. The City of Washington and any other bidders have ten days to come up with a higher bid. Should Wells Fargo prevail, the Turnage will most likely be gutted and turned into a branch office of the bank.
Not only is the Carolina East Cinema vacant, but the entire shopping center is dead,except for a few outparcels (PNC bank, Gary’s Skin Grafix tattoo parlor, and a DMV office).
I remember seeing a reference to a State Theatre in Jacksonville in a 1967 (Raleigh) News and Observer movie ad. Jacksonville’s Cardinal Theatre opened in 1969; at that point the State may have converted to second-run, grindhouse or porn. If the State and/or Onslow theaters were still operating in the 1970s, they were most likely showing porn and/or grindhouse films; Court Street was very sleazy during the 1970s. Both theaters were most likely demolished during a “cleanup” of Court Street in the early 1980s (similar to what happened to Fayetteville’s Hay Street grindhouses in the 1990s). The Iwo Jima closed in 1985, after the “cleanup” of Court Street but before Carmike took over S&E. The Iwo Jima is, to the best of my knowledge, the only downtown theater left in Jacksonville (which doesn’t have much of a downtown – Jax was a very small town before Camp Lejeune and New River Marine Corps Air Station were built during World War II).
First the Galaxy Cinema in Cary, then the Parkhill Cinema in Tarboro, and now the Cameo Theatre in Fayetteville – all three are now in danger of closing (the Galaxy due to issues with the landlord, the Parkhill and Cameo due to digital conversion). ABC11 News (on their 10pm newscast on WLFL CW22) has reported that the Cameo Theatre may have to close because of the high cost of digital conversion. The future of small, independent cinemas in North Carolina, the USA and elsewhere seems to be dimming; the big boys (Carmike, Regal and the now-Chinese-owned AMC among others) conspire with the studios to squeeze out the alternatives.
This is currently Carmike’s smallest theater in North Carolina. The next smallest Carmike Cinema in North Carolina is the Carmike Cinema 6 in Havelock.
MikeRogers: The theater at Ft. Bragg is called the York Theater (named after Sergeant Alvin C. York) and is listed on CT; also listed is the Pope AFB Theater on what is now Pope Army Airfield. The Bragg Theatre takes its name from Bragg Boulevard. Also, this theater was not in the King’s Plaza shopping center – that theater was the King Theatre.
The article posted by Tinseltoes identifies the Bragg Theatre as being operated by Stewart & Everett Theatres rather than North Carolina Theatres (aka Wilby-Kincey).
The Plaza Cinema 3 was the only first-run theater in Greenville to show Troma films, including “The Toxic Avenger” and “Surf Nazis Must Die”. Both Stewart & Everett and Carmike advertised the Troma films (as well as mainstream films) on the radio; no other theater chain in Eastern North Carolina advertised regularly on the radio at this time (the 1980s). The Plaza Cinema was the primary showcase in Greenville for “sleazy” (but not porno) movies; the Plitt Quad seemed to avoid low-budget exploitation films and the Buccaneer 3 showed them very infrequently. The Plaza Cinema showed non-Troma “sleaze” films as well; “Reform School Girls” (starring Wendy O. Williams of the punk-rock band The Plasmatics) played here under S&E. Carmike stopped booking Troma fims in Greenville (and eventually stopped showing exploitation films in general) after 1990. The last Troma film released theatrically in Greenville was “Def by Temptation” in 1990; it played first-run downtown at the Park Theatre (which charged its normal $1.50 “all shows” admission).
In its last years the Starlite Drive-in also operated as a video-rental club and a gun shop; VHS videotapes and firearms were displayed in the concession building.
If the Oasis was still operating in the early 1940s it was a different theater from the Carolina, which was also operating in the early ‘40s (as was the Paramount). The Center Theater could have been a remodeling of the Oasis after World War II but before 1951, when H.B. Meiselman’s Park Theatre opened in the Parkview Shopping Center on North Queen Street. The Carolina was still operating in the 1950s, but I have no idea if the Center was still operating, or of where the Center, Oasis and Carolina were located (most likely on Queen Street between Vernon Avenue and King Street – downtown Kinston proper).
I lived in downtown New Bern twenty years ago when the diagonal image of the “restored” facade was painted on the (then) Saax Bradbury Playhouse. I attended a performance of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at this theater in 1991 and nothing had been done to the facade since the removal of the circa-1940 front and marquee back in the late 1980s. They should have left the modern facade up until they had the funds to fully restore the original Athens facade. Still, at least the New Bern Civic Theatre is still operating; the Turnage Theater in nearby Washington is closed and about to go on the auction block.
A few years after switching to porn, the North 11 Drive-In put up high-powered lights along the side facing Highway 11; this was done to block free viewing of the XXX films playing (the screen previously was visible to northbound traffic).
This drive-in closed just before the Martin chain was rebranded Carmike Cinemas (which bought Martin in 1982).
Rave Cinemas is now selling off all of its theaters; Southpoint Cinemas may find itself with yet another owner within the same year.
I can’t blame Carmike for wanting out of this mall. Sears has left, Penneys may be next, that leaves Rose’s as the only other anchor – and a weak one at that. Rose’s did the same flip-flop at this mall that Carmike did, only they left the mall first – also in bankruptcy – and came back after Carmike did. Carmike 10 has no direct mall access; patrons must exit the mall to access the theater. If Penneys goes under, Carmike will most likely leave for Heritage Crossing or maybe Westwood (the WalMart shopping center); another possibility could be the old Kmart/Home Depot site near WalMart. I doubt Carmike would stay in a dead mall (like Tarboro’s independent Parkhill Cinema 3); they would break the lease and pay the penalty.
At the time of the Parkwood Cinema’s opening in 1967 Parkwood Shopping Center was an open-air shopping center anchored by J. C. Penney, Rose’s and a Winn-Dixie supermarket. The Parkwood Cinema went to three screens in 1978 simultaneously with the conversion of Parkwood Shopping Center into Parkwood Mall. Parkwood Cinema 3 outlasted all of the original anchors except Penneys; the current Rose’s in the mall (now Wilson Mall) was built in 1978 as Belk(-Tyler) Department Store, which left Parkwood Mall not long after Parkwood Cinema 3 closed.
Parkhill Cinema 3 was never part of the Stewart & Everett or Carmike chains – the only theater in Edgecombe County owned by those chains was the Oakwood Twin in Rocky Mount.
From ABC11 Eyewitness News (10PM broadcast on WLFL CW22): As of the close of business on November 10, 2012, the Galaxy Cinema will close permanently. It will be demolished and replaced with a Harris-Teeeter grocery store. The Galaxy’s owners may attempt reopening at a different location, but that option has not been finalized yet. For now, art films can be seen at the Triangle’s other arthouses(Carolina-Durham, Chelsea in Chapel Hill, Rialto and Colony in Raleigh); the fate of Bollywood films in the Triangle is uncertain.
According to WNCT-TV9 11PM news: Wells Fargo Bank has made the highest bid for the Turnage Theater. The City of Washington and any other bidders have ten days to come up with a higher bid. Should Wells Fargo prevail, the Turnage will most likely be gutted and turned into a branch office of the bank.
The Turnage Theater is supposed to go on the auction block today; the City of Washington plans to bid on the theater.
A restaurant has been built on the site of the Plaza Cinema 3.
Not only is the Carolina East Cinema vacant, but the entire shopping center is dead,except for a few outparcels (PNC bank, Gary’s Skin Grafix tattoo parlor, and a DMV office).
The grand opening ad posted above indicates that this theater opened as a Regal Cinema, not United Artists.
Will this theater be sold as part of the Dickinson Theatres bankruptcy?
I remember seeing a reference to a State Theatre in Jacksonville in a 1967 (Raleigh) News and Observer movie ad. Jacksonville’s Cardinal Theatre opened in 1969; at that point the State may have converted to second-run, grindhouse or porn. If the State and/or Onslow theaters were still operating in the 1970s, they were most likely showing porn and/or grindhouse films; Court Street was very sleazy during the 1970s. Both theaters were most likely demolished during a “cleanup” of Court Street in the early 1980s (similar to what happened to Fayetteville’s Hay Street grindhouses in the 1990s). The Iwo Jima closed in 1985, after the “cleanup” of Court Street but before Carmike took over S&E. The Iwo Jima is, to the best of my knowledge, the only downtown theater left in Jacksonville (which doesn’t have much of a downtown – Jax was a very small town before Camp Lejeune and New River Marine Corps Air Station were built during World War II).
First the Galaxy Cinema in Cary, then the Parkhill Cinema in Tarboro, and now the Cameo Theatre in Fayetteville – all three are now in danger of closing (the Galaxy due to issues with the landlord, the Parkhill and Cameo due to digital conversion). ABC11 News (on their 10pm newscast on WLFL CW22) has reported that the Cameo Theatre may have to close because of the high cost of digital conversion. The future of small, independent cinemas in North Carolina, the USA and elsewhere seems to be dimming; the big boys (Carmike, Regal and the now-Chinese-owned AMC among others) conspire with the studios to squeeze out the alternatives.
This theater is still listed on Carmike’s website despite being closed.
This is currently Carmike’s smallest theater in North Carolina. The next smallest Carmike Cinema in North Carolina is the Carmike Cinema 6 in Havelock.
Good to see that a downtown theater outlasted Carmike Cinemas' shoeboxes. Can they survive digital conversion?
MikeRogers: The theater at Ft. Bragg is called the York Theater (named after Sergeant Alvin C. York) and is listed on CT; also listed is the Pope AFB Theater on what is now Pope Army Airfield. The Bragg Theatre takes its name from Bragg Boulevard. Also, this theater was not in the King’s Plaza shopping center – that theater was the King Theatre.
Why would H.B. Meiselman have given a drive-in the same name as his first-run downtown theater? Makes no sense to me.
The article posted by Tinseltoes identifies the Bragg Theatre as being operated by Stewart & Everett Theatres rather than North Carolina Theatres (aka Wilby-Kincey).
The Plaza Cinema 3 was the only first-run theater in Greenville to show Troma films, including “The Toxic Avenger” and “Surf Nazis Must Die”. Both Stewart & Everett and Carmike advertised the Troma films (as well as mainstream films) on the radio; no other theater chain in Eastern North Carolina advertised regularly on the radio at this time (the 1980s). The Plaza Cinema was the primary showcase in Greenville for “sleazy” (but not porno) movies; the Plitt Quad seemed to avoid low-budget exploitation films and the Buccaneer 3 showed them very infrequently. The Plaza Cinema showed non-Troma “sleaze” films as well; “Reform School Girls” (starring Wendy O. Williams of the punk-rock band The Plasmatics) played here under S&E. Carmike stopped booking Troma fims in Greenville (and eventually stopped showing exploitation films in general) after 1990. The last Troma film released theatrically in Greenville was “Def by Temptation” in 1990; it played first-run downtown at the Park Theatre (which charged its normal $1.50 “all shows” admission).
In its last years the Starlite Drive-in also operated as a video-rental club and a gun shop; VHS videotapes and firearms were displayed in the concession building.
If the Oasis was still operating in the early 1940s it was a different theater from the Carolina, which was also operating in the early ‘40s (as was the Paramount). The Center Theater could have been a remodeling of the Oasis after World War II but before 1951, when H.B. Meiselman’s Park Theatre opened in the Parkview Shopping Center on North Queen Street. The Carolina was still operating in the 1950s, but I have no idea if the Center was still operating, or of where the Center, Oasis and Carolina were located (most likely on Queen Street between Vernon Avenue and King Street – downtown Kinston proper).
I lived in downtown New Bern twenty years ago when the diagonal image of the “restored” facade was painted on the (then) Saax Bradbury Playhouse. I attended a performance of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at this theater in 1991 and nothing had been done to the facade since the removal of the circa-1940 front and marquee back in the late 1980s. They should have left the modern facade up until they had the funds to fully restore the original Athens facade. Still, at least the New Bern Civic Theatre is still operating; the Turnage Theater in nearby Washington is closed and about to go on the auction block.