This complex was built as the Century 21 Pleasant Hill and opened with Doctor Zhivago. In 1974 four screens were added behind the building and it began it’s run as Century 21-25 and then the Century Complex. Century rebranded this theatre as one of its CineArts Theatres, which Cinemark still operates the theatre as under their control. To this day, the employees still refer to the auditoriums as #21-#25. Photos can be seen at http://www.cinematour.com/tour.php?db=us&id=2718 included a once proposed addition of two domes into the parking lot (assumedly before the 4-plex was added behind the dome).
21 (The Dome), #23 & #25 are equipped with Century JJ’s capable of 70mm. I believe there are 70mm rollers in cabinets back there that could allow them to switch to 70mm if needed. (Many older Century Theatres are still equipped for 70mm). As for them carrying the reels through, when I was familiar with the location, most of the film build-up and break-down was done in the back booth and films for the dome were transported either with clamps, or on 6000 foot reels to be built up on the Dome’s Christie AW-3. (Builds up slower than the Potts platters in back.)
I’m sure Cinemark would probably love to add Wehrenberg to their screen count, and it would fill in a geographical gap in their map of the US. Though I’m sure Wehrenberg is also attractive to AMC and Regal as well. The question is: Who has money left to buy anything?
Whether a company advertises two theatres as one, while historically significant to the way we’ll remember it, seems irrelevant to me. It’s still two separate theatres. In San Jose the domes are referred to as “Movies on Winchester” but they’re 4 separate buildings and four separate theatres.
But yes, I agree, the mods will need to decide on this.
Which Century Theatres operated this? It’s too old for it to actually be the Syufy/Century chain, and I wasn’t aware the the Century chain from the east coast operated on the west coast. Was there a third Century chain?
Oy, this location is so hard to describe to people who haven’t been there. This listing for the Century 21 Theatre is now considered to be screens 13 & 14 of the Century Stadium 14, but is a separate building than the other 12 screens.
These two screens are essentially the original Century 21 theatre, and were operated independently of the 12-screen “Complex” until about 2003.
The other twelve screens are part of the original Century 22 theatre, which started as a single dome, then had two smaller domes added similar to the Century 22 in San Jose. At some point, the large dome of Century 22 Sacramento got split in half, and when they expanded the complex in 1996? they added 8 more screens and a new entrance, box office, snack bar and restrooms.
So technically I suppose this listing is correct. Another listing should be created for the Century 22 Sacramento/Century Complex Sacramento/Century Stadium 14(12) Sacramento.
I’ll have a number of photos of Syufy Drive-Ins to share. When Century’s offices moved to Texas, they threw out a lot of photos, all of which are waiting to be scanned.
I’ve always been fascinated with this theatre, but I can never find any good info on it’s last incarnation, only on the original configurations of each theatre.
John Tarantino, you seem to be the man I want to talk to. I had no idea that Plitt/Cineplex ran this place, and I’ve always wanted more information on the Plaza, Daly City as well as other places around the bay.
Here’s my snappy comeback a year-and-a-half later…
I can barely see the first 15-minutes of Star Trek 1 on my DVD player. The movie was pretty damned dark to begin with, I can’t imagine drive-ins doing it much justice anywhere.
I visited this theatre at the start of my theatre fascination. The original 4-screens downstairs were the orange bowling alleys that Plitt built originally. The length of them always suggested to me that perhaps it was originally a twin that had walls built down the center of each auditorium. Seriously, each auditorium had a center aisle with four seats on either side, 30-rows deep. The box office was located outside in the mall passageway. At the entire opposite end of the mall, Cineplex Odeon built another 4-plex that matched more of their mid-90’s motif with the marble tile and purple seats.
A former employee of mine worked there, and the Hilltop Mall did not have the best clientelle. I was told that they performed all their banking at one of the theatres, which meant having to transport drops and deposits back and forth through the mall while being escorted by security.
The Galaxy 6 was actually remodelled by CinemaCal Enterprises and later operated by Century Theatres while the Del Monte 13 was being developed. The Galaxy was similar in design to a number of CinemaCal’s other locations, featuring the Brejfus sound panels of movie stars and film characters.
Is it likely that somebody is going through and starting a new listing just because it’s “AMC” now? Does the listing also exist as just “Springfield Mall 1-4” and “Springfield Mall "5-10”?
The GCC photos above were taken when I went to see U-571 there in the main house. (So sometime in APR or MAY of 2000).
I would have loved to take a bevvy of really nice photos, but that place was crawling with managers, and theatre managers usually freak out when they see people taking pictures, so I try to be discreet.
Oh and Ed — thanks for the permission for your photobucket pictures. We’ll be sure to give you proper credit when we get a chance to post them up on Cinematour.
I have from time to time been known to take pictures of the theatres without the management knowing about it. I’ll do that when I absolutely hafta gotta needta have pictures of a place, but I prefer to be able to setup a tripod and take some good steady un-blurry shots.
I’ve also taken detailed pictures inside various chain theatres that friend of mine have worked at. The photos aren’t published for the public to view at Cinema Tour since their corporate offices might be upset about it, but should the theatre ever close, we’ll be able to have record of what it looked like.
Well that’s always been an option, but sometimes people never take the time to take pictures of the theatres in their own backyard, whether it’s time constraints or technological constraints. That’s where we can help.
And how many times have you clicked one of those photobucket or flickr links, eager to see what picture is on the other end, only to get an error message?
This complex was built as the Century 21 Pleasant Hill and opened with Doctor Zhivago. In 1974 four screens were added behind the building and it began it’s run as Century 21-25 and then the Century Complex. Century rebranded this theatre as one of its CineArts Theatres, which Cinemark still operates the theatre as under their control. To this day, the employees still refer to the auditoriums as #21-#25. Photos can be seen at http://www.cinematour.com/tour.php?db=us&id=2718 included a once proposed addition of two domes into the parking lot (assumedly before the 4-plex was added behind the dome).
21 (The Dome), #23 & #25 are equipped with Century JJ’s capable of 70mm. I believe there are 70mm rollers in cabinets back there that could allow them to switch to 70mm if needed. (Many older Century Theatres are still equipped for 70mm). As for them carrying the reels through, when I was familiar with the location, most of the film build-up and break-down was done in the back booth and films for the dome were transported either with clamps, or on 6000 foot reels to be built up on the Dome’s Christie AW-3. (Builds up slower than the Potts platters in back.)
I’m sure Cinemark would probably love to add Wehrenberg to their screen count, and it would fill in a geographical gap in their map of the US. Though I’m sure Wehrenberg is also attractive to AMC and Regal as well. The question is: Who has money left to buy anything?
AMC bought Loews.
Cinemark bought Century.
Kerasotes bought Colorado Cinemas.
Carmike bought GKC.
Reading is buying Pacific/Consolidated.
It looks like Regal is probably the only one left who hasn’t bought anything recently.
I stumbled across some photos on flickr tonight of the mall being demolished. So I assume the same.
Whether a company advertises two theatres as one, while historically significant to the way we’ll remember it, seems irrelevant to me. It’s still two separate theatres. In San Jose the domes are referred to as “Movies on Winchester” but they’re 4 separate buildings and four separate theatres.
But yes, I agree, the mods will need to decide on this.
Which Century Theatres operated this? It’s too old for it to actually be the Syufy/Century chain, and I wasn’t aware the the Century chain from the east coast operated on the west coast. Was there a third Century chain?
Oy, this location is so hard to describe to people who haven’t been there. This listing for the Century 21 Theatre is now considered to be screens 13 & 14 of the Century Stadium 14, but is a separate building than the other 12 screens.
These two screens are essentially the original Century 21 theatre, and were operated independently of the 12-screen “Complex” until about 2003.
The other twelve screens are part of the original Century 22 theatre, which started as a single dome, then had two smaller domes added similar to the Century 22 in San Jose. At some point, the large dome of Century 22 Sacramento got split in half, and when they expanded the complex in 1996? they added 8 more screens and a new entrance, box office, snack bar and restrooms.
So technically I suppose this listing is correct. Another listing should be created for the Century 22 Sacramento/Century Complex Sacramento/Century Stadium 14(12) Sacramento.
I’ll have a number of photos of Syufy Drive-Ins to share. When Century’s offices moved to Texas, they threw out a lot of photos, all of which are waiting to be scanned.
Does anybody see movies at this place? (or any on 3rd St?) I never see any photos from the interior or any of the theatres.
I’ve always been fascinated with this theatre, but I can never find any good info on it’s last incarnation, only on the original configurations of each theatre.
John Tarantino, you seem to be the man I want to talk to. I had no idea that Plitt/Cineplex ran this place, and I’ve always wanted more information on the Plaza, Daly City as well as other places around the bay.
Here’s my snappy comeback a year-and-a-half later…
I can barely see the first 15-minutes of Star Trek 1 on my DVD player. The movie was pretty damned dark to begin with, I can’t imagine drive-ins doing it much justice anywhere.
I visited this theatre at the start of my theatre fascination. The original 4-screens downstairs were the orange bowling alleys that Plitt built originally. The length of them always suggested to me that perhaps it was originally a twin that had walls built down the center of each auditorium. Seriously, each auditorium had a center aisle with four seats on either side, 30-rows deep. The box office was located outside in the mall passageway. At the entire opposite end of the mall, Cineplex Odeon built another 4-plex that matched more of their mid-90’s motif with the marble tile and purple seats.
A former employee of mine worked there, and the Hilltop Mall did not have the best clientelle. I was told that they performed all their banking at one of the theatres, which meant having to transport drops and deposits back and forth through the mall while being escorted by security.
The Galaxy 6 was actually remodelled by CinemaCal Enterprises and later operated by Century Theatres while the Del Monte 13 was being developed. The Galaxy was similar in design to a number of CinemaCal’s other locations, featuring the Brejfus sound panels of movie stars and film characters.
John — Bill Tannehill passed away a number of years back.
This was originally a UA build, built during that period in the mid-90’s before stadium seating caught on.
My guess is the Coronet, though possibly the Metro.
Is it likely that somebody is going through and starting a new listing just because it’s “AMC” now? Does the listing also exist as just “Springfield Mall 1-4” and “Springfield Mall "5-10”?
I was just looking at this listing the other day and apparently somebody had just taken a few exterior photos and submitted them to cinematour.
http://www.cinematour.com/tour/us/4579.html
MMmmm blue, red, gray and wood.
The GCC photos above were taken when I went to see U-571 there in the main house. (So sometime in APR or MAY of 2000).
I would have loved to take a bevvy of really nice photos, but that place was crawling with managers, and theatre managers usually freak out when they see people taking pictures, so I try to be discreet.
We must get in there to take photos of every last detail. Those sloped roofed houses always make me giddy.
This was operated by Syufy Enterprises / Century Theatres and was designed by architect Vincent Raney.
Oh and Ed — thanks for the permission for your photobucket pictures. We’ll be sure to give you proper credit when we get a chance to post them up on Cinematour.
I have from time to time been known to take pictures of the theatres without the management knowing about it. I’ll do that when I absolutely hafta gotta needta have pictures of a place, but I prefer to be able to setup a tripod and take some good steady un-blurry shots.
I’ve also taken detailed pictures inside various chain theatres that friend of mine have worked at. The photos aren’t published for the public to view at Cinema Tour since their corporate offices might be upset about it, but should the theatre ever close, we’ll be able to have record of what it looked like.
Well that’s always been an option, but sometimes people never take the time to take pictures of the theatres in their own backyard, whether it’s time constraints or technological constraints. That’s where we can help.
And how many times have you clicked one of those photobucket or flickr links, eager to see what picture is on the other end, only to get an error message?
We’re hoping to re-open the Santa Barbara Twin Drive-In at some point, hopefully you could make the rediculously long trek next year.