Tara Theatre
2345 Cheshire Bridge Road NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30324
2345 Cheshire Bridge Road NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30324
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 127 comments
Quite right! It will be 42 come this May. The Tara still holds the distinction of being the only theatre in the Atlanta area with more than forty years of continuous operation.
For Jack Coursey’s post just above this reply: Regarding the (Loews) Tara Theater on Cheshire Bridge Road…it opened in 1968; so, it’s not quite 48 years old…yet.
The Tara is still Terrific! It has been over twenty five years since I last cast a shadow in its lobby so it was a total sensory experience when I recently returned. The theatre is a classic and far larger than I remembered. The ridge across the ceiling of cinema one and four suggest that the theatre originally had a giant curved screen similar to the Georgia Cinerama. The place looks great for 48 years of continuous operation, a record for an Atlanta theatre. Feast your orbs: 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6
It will always be the LOEWS TARA to me. When it was one theatre and they ran 6 track stereo 70mm roadshow movies like OLIVER!, HELLO DOLLY, FUNNY GIRL and SCROOGE. Them were the days. View link
I wish they would remodel the exterior of the building. I just drove by the Tara today and walked around and it looks like a relic now, and not in a good way. It seems in the 8 years since I last visited the area, the city has done a good job of revitalizing/renovating the surrounding area by building some new apartment high-rises, etc. Now if only they could remodel the Tara so it doesn’t look like some 1960’s spaceship nightmare.
Don’t forget that the film “The Gods Must be Crazy” ran continuously for some 100+ weeks at the theater. (I saw it one cold, snowy Monday night in January with only a few people in the theater, several being actor Chuck Norris and his party.) Also, the highly publicized film “Caligulia” that ran nearly 24/7 after the Fulton County Sheriff raided the theater, stopped the film, turned on the lights and photographed the audience. They were soon thereafter selling out mid-week runs of the film starting before 10Am. The publicity, the raid and all of the shocked “Buckhead Bettie’s” made the film the hottest ticket in town.
If anyone here is on Facebook, I just created a Fan Page there as well. I love reading these memories of a cherished theatre!
View link
I saw Star Wars at this theater when I was eight. I lived in Pine Hills around the corner and was blown away. I also saw Blue Lagoon with Brooke Shields here as a teenager and was blown away again, but in a different way! I still go here a lot because it does not have that mass market feel.
Cliff, go to the CAPRI theatre,Augusta, I have a post for you on the pictures you wanted.
Clifford, I will get the few shots I took.I am looking for them.And will let you have what i snapped. Just wished the screen was still up.
There MUST be some pictures somewhere of the NORTHEAST EXPRESSWAY DRIVE IN when it was standing. If I had only known I would have shot footage of it. Who knew at that time that Drive-Ins would no longer exist? First it was the Drive In theatre, now it’s single theaters.
http://www.cliffcarson.com
The Atlanta Constiution did a big article on the closing. pictures of the old projectionist,booth,etc. That reporter must have loved Drive-ins. Of course, i cut out the article and HAVE IT somewhere!
No, we were talking about the NORTHEAST EXPRESSWAY DRIVE IN that sits where the spaghetti Junction is. The Drive In you’re talking about was right down the street, not far away. It was called the NORTH 85 DRIVE IN. A single screen drive in in the 60’s and 70’s and then split into two screens in the 70’s. I do have pictures of that Drive In, but I’m sure there are plenty on line. When I went back to Georgia and saw that it had been torn down I was very sad. The upshot is they built a theatre in it’s place instead of a Walmart of something like that, so I guess that was keeping in it’s integrity in a way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8obp2afgjrI
Clifford and Mike, are you guys talking about the drive-in that used to sit where the neon purple Regal Hollywood 24 sits now off of exit 93 on I-85? I remember hearing that it used to be a drive-in. Man, it must have been some drive-in! That property is huge! I would love to see any old pictures/video/film of the place.
I WOULD BE GLAD to send them. I would have to locate the pictures, I have taken hundreds of pictures and never really organized them,but I know i have a few shots.
Can you send any of them to me?
THe pictures I have are of the closed up Drive in. Inside the concession and i think the booth.Don’t you wish you would have taken a picture! I had the same thing here two Drive-ins gone and never thought about taking a couple of snapshops.I bet some these guys on CT might have a shot of the Complete Drive-in.
Do you have pictures of the actual Drive In? I just have photos of the space that it once stood before they put in the Spaghetti Junction?
My Pictures are when the theatre was closed everything was still standing except the screen was gone.
YEAH, I live in Evans,Which is AUGUSTA now since the city is spreading west. I have Pictures too of that Drive in. If i can ever find that book of passes i will be more than glad to send to you.I have so much old theatre stuff in my Basement.
Oh yeah, I read that. Do you still live in Georgia? About 9 years ago I took a bunch of pictures of where the NORTHEAST EXPRESSWAY DRIVE IN use to stand. What Rosebud was to Citizen Kane, that Drive In was to me. The last bastion of innocence and hopeful youth.
I Liked your write up on the Old EXPRESSWAY DRIVE IN. I pulled off the interstate years ago to look over the old concessionstand/ Booth. I found a book of movie passes.Have them SOMEWHERE.
Yeah, When i Took Bev. to see Sailor at the Imperial, a theatre i got in free at we had her best friend with her from out of town with her fiance. Boy, did i have to apologize! Like OLIVER so much Bought the Soundtrack.
Yeah, THE SAILOR WHO FELL WITH GRACE FROM THE SEA was the first film I ever saw that had masturbation in it. I don’t remember much about the film as far as the story is concerned. All I remember is Sarah Miles sitting in front of her vanity mirror masturbating all the time. You must have seen OLIVER! in it’s popular run format, exactly as shown in it’s roadshow version. It opened that way in several theaters equipped with 70mm projectors. NORTH DEKALB THEATRE was one. My friends and I went to see OLIVER! over and over. What atmosphere that movie had and in 70mm!! I remember vividly the feeling OLIVER! would give me as I left the theatre and exited the theater to a rain soaked Atlanta with the sun peering through the clouds and reflecting in the water on the streets. I was 9 years old and OLIVER! was the first film I saw over and over in the theatre. By 1970, I had seen it over 18 times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWXjFHqc7gc
CLIFFORD, I asked Beverly about going to the other movie .X rated! her mom would have killed me. even though we saw SAILOR WHO FELL WITH GRACE FROM THE SEA at the Imperial a pretty hard core R rated film. I am not much on musicals, but CAmelot! My Favorite Musical is OLIVER which i saw in 70mm at NATIONAL HILLS THEATRE.