This theater should be listed as Westchester Cinemas (without the word “Mall”), as it was not at Westchester Mall. The Martin Twin was actually the closest cinema to Westchester Mall.
If this was never a Jerry Lewis franchise then that company never entered North Carolina. The only mini-cinema chain in North Carolina I am aware of was the Trans-Lux Inflight Cine' chain, which built its first NC location in Kinston (originally single-screen, it is listed on CT as Plaza Cinema Twin). Others followed in Kannapolis, Charlotte, Burlington, Greensboro and High Point. The dedicated mini-cinema chains such as Jerry Lewis, Trans-Lux Inflight Cine' and whatever company the Six Forks Cinema was to affiliate with were on the ropes by 1972, as the established chains started building mini-twins of their own. The fact that this cinema ever opened, let alone is still operating as a cinema over forty years later, is amazing. Most other mini-cinemas from the late 1960s-early 1970s closed down decades ago when the multiplexes crowded them out; many mini-cinemas (including all NC Trans-Lux Inflight Cine’s except Kinston) became porn theaters at some point in their existence. The Six Forks Cinema/Terrace Twin/Colony Twin never to my knowledge operated as a pornhouse, although some X-rated films may have been shown there.
Did this theater end up a Carmike like the Charleston, SC Ultravision Theatre (that one ended up a 4-screen)? Carmike pretty much owns all the theaters in Columbus (except the pornhouse), its (and predecessor Martin Theatres') headquarters city. It wouldn’t surprise me if Carmike ran this one into the ground as they did with many other ex-ABC/Plitt/Cineplex Odeon cinemas in the Southeast.
If the address listed above is correct then the James Theater has been demolished. However, there is a building on the southwest corner of South James and West Spruce Streets (301 South James?) that looks like it could have been a movie theater at one time.
The closing of the 264 Playhouse Theatre marked the beginning of the decline of movie theater competition in the Greenville, NC area. Both the 264 Playhouse and the Tice Drive-In theaters closed in 1986, eliminating independently owned cinemas from Greenville and Pitt County to this day. Shortly afterward Carmike Cinemas acquired Stewart & Everett Theatres (Plaza Cinema 1-2-3 and Park Theatre); by 1990 Carmike owned every operating movie theater in Pitt County and would close every one of them by 2001 after opening their 12-screen in 1998. The Carmike 12 was the only operating movie theater in Pitt County from 2001 until 2007 (excluding East Carolina University’s Hendrix Theater; that was open to the public only for live shows, films there were/are for students only). Closing the local pornhouse began a domino effect on the local cinema business ultimately ending in total monopoly (until Consolidated’s – now Regal’s – Greenville Grande 14 opened in 2007).
The 264 Playhouse Theatre is actually closer to the Paramount Theatre in Farmville than it was to the downtown Greenville theaters; the nearest theaters were the Carmike Carolina East 4 (named Plitt Quad when the 264 Playhouse operated), South 11 Drive-In (demolished before the 264 Playhouse was built), Greenville Grande 14 (built long after the 264 closed), Tice Drive-In in Winterville, and the Farmville Paramount.
The building at 711 East Washington Street currently housing the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith is most likely the former Carver Theatre; its address was most likely renumbered after it ceased functioning as a theater. The lack of windows, wooden doors with diamond-shaped windows, and the spacing between the two sets of doors (where a ticket booth may have been located at one time) give this church building the look of a converted theater.
The Riverdale Cinema 3 was never a Cinemark house. Gordon Theaters opened the Riverdale in 1965, Martin Theatres took over in 1969 and subsequently twinned the theater. Martin was rebranded Carmike Cinemas in 1985; the Riverdale Twin was run by Carmike from 1985 until about 1987, when Neighborhood Theatres took over. Neighborhood turned the Riverdale into a three-screen cinema in 1991 and eventually sold out to Regal Cinemas, who closed the Riverdale Cinema 3.
This was Jacksonville’s last standing drive-in theater. When it closed in 1985, all other drive-ins in Jacksonville, including the South 17 Twin on Wilmington Highway/US 17 South (non-porn) and Starlite (most likely the XXX drive-in just north of the South 17 Twin), had been demolished. The Cinema Drive-In has since been demolished as well.
If the Ritz was located at 1027 Broad Street it would have been directly across the street from the Palace Theatre and behind the Queen Street theater; any building at 1027 Broad Street would have been demolished by the late 1960s to make way for a large self-service gas station (which has itself been demolished).
The address should be 150 East Thomas Street if the Ritz Theatre and the Manhattan Theatre are the same. The Manhattan and Booker T Theaters are east of the railroad tracks in Edgecombe County; the tracks divide East Thomas Street (Edgecombe County) from West Thomas Street (Nash County). Locals never refer to the Manhattan Theatre as the Ritz; the Ritz could have been a different theater. East Thomas Street was Rocky Mount’s primary African-American business district during the days of segregation.
The correct address of the Booker T Theater is 170 EAST Thomas Street, as the theater is east of the railroad tracks (which divide East Thomas Street from West Thomas Street, and also serves as the Nash/Edgecombe county line).
t_law56: Was this drive in on the Wilmington Highway south of the old Red Carpet Inn (now Triangle Motor Inn)? I remember going through Jacksonville back in the 1970s and passing the Red Carpet Inn, an X-rated drive-in with a restaurant next to it, and further south was another drive-in (South 17 Twin Drive-In). The Starlite may be the drive-in I keep remembering as the Moonlite for some reason. As for the Starlite being “the only adult drive-in in the country”, they were not. There were many other X-rated drive-ins in the United States, including the North 11 Drive-In over in Kinston.
The Broad Street theater has been listed on CT by Lost Memory as the Palace Theatre; the Ritz Theatre was most likely located in the building on Queen Street now housing the Arabian Temple.
This theater’s name was probably not a reference to Tryon Palace, as that New Bern landmark was not reconstructed until the 1950s, more than twenty years after the Palace Theatre opened. The then-whites-only Tryon Theatre (listed on CT by its original name Athens Theatre) was the local theater that took its name from Tryon Palace, adopting the Tryon name around 1958 (the Tryon Palace restoration opened in 1959).
There are two buildings in New Bern’s Five Points neighborhood (the area surrounding the intersection of Broad, Queen and Roundtree Streets) that look like former African-American movie theaters. One is the Arabian Temple on the 1000 block of Queen Street; the other is located approximately 1028-1030 Broad Street. The Broad Street building has what looks like the outline of a box office in front of the present doors, while the Arabian Temple looks more like a post-World War II movie theater. Both look like former theaters but I don’t know which was the Ritz or the name of the other theater.
Status of the Masonic Theatre should be open. It is once again a legitimate theater (its original purpose), home of the RiverTowne Players. The Masonic Theatre began showing movies in 1917 (not 1910) and continued as a movie house until 1974. The correct address is 514 Hancock Street.
A Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant is now located on the site of the Plaza Cinema 3 (the final name of this theater). Despite the official address of 714 Greenville Boulevard SE, it was actually located on Charles Boulevard at the entrance to the JCPenney parking lot (where Mellow Mushroom is now).
Only two cinemas currently operate in High Point: Regal’s Palladium Cinemas 14 (first-run) and the Carmike 8 (discount). The Westchester Cinemas should be listed as Closed.
This theater was originally the Colonial Theatre when it operated from about 1927 to 1930; it closed due to the Depression around 1930. It reopened in 1937 as the Plaza Theatre and was the only theater in Greenville for African-Americans until the Roxy Theatre opened across the street in 1948. The Plaza could not compete with the modern Roxy and was closed by 1950.
The Berkeley Cinema Four (aka Berkeley Four) was not located at Berkeley Mall, but on Cashwell Drive two blocks southeast of the Eastgate Cinema Twin. The Berkeley Mall did not have a cinema of its own; instead a road (North Eastgate Drive) connected the mall parking lot to Cashwell Drive and ran in front of the Eastgate Cinema.
This theater should be listed as Westchester Cinemas (without the word “Mall”), as it was not at Westchester Mall. The Martin Twin was actually the closest cinema to Westchester Mall.
If this was never a Jerry Lewis franchise then that company never entered North Carolina. The only mini-cinema chain in North Carolina I am aware of was the Trans-Lux Inflight Cine' chain, which built its first NC location in Kinston (originally single-screen, it is listed on CT as Plaza Cinema Twin). Others followed in Kannapolis, Charlotte, Burlington, Greensboro and High Point. The dedicated mini-cinema chains such as Jerry Lewis, Trans-Lux Inflight Cine' and whatever company the Six Forks Cinema was to affiliate with were on the ropes by 1972, as the established chains started building mini-twins of their own. The fact that this cinema ever opened, let alone is still operating as a cinema over forty years later, is amazing. Most other mini-cinemas from the late 1960s-early 1970s closed down decades ago when the multiplexes crowded them out; many mini-cinemas (including all NC Trans-Lux Inflight Cine’s except Kinston) became porn theaters at some point in their existence. The Six Forks Cinema/Terrace Twin/Colony Twin never to my knowledge operated as a pornhouse, although some X-rated films may have been shown there.
Did this theater end up a Carmike like the Charleston, SC Ultravision Theatre (that one ended up a 4-screen)? Carmike pretty much owns all the theaters in Columbus (except the pornhouse), its (and predecessor Martin Theatres') headquarters city. It wouldn’t surprise me if Carmike ran this one into the ground as they did with many other ex-ABC/Plitt/Cineplex Odeon cinemas in the Southeast.
If the address listed above is correct then the James Theater has been demolished. However, there is a building on the southwest corner of South James and West Spruce Streets (301 South James?) that looks like it could have been a movie theater at one time.
This was the last locally owned and operated cinema in the Greenville area. It went out of business in September 1986 after the drive-in season ended.
The closing of the 264 Playhouse Theatre marked the beginning of the decline of movie theater competition in the Greenville, NC area. Both the 264 Playhouse and the Tice Drive-In theaters closed in 1986, eliminating independently owned cinemas from Greenville and Pitt County to this day. Shortly afterward Carmike Cinemas acquired Stewart & Everett Theatres (Plaza Cinema 1-2-3 and Park Theatre); by 1990 Carmike owned every operating movie theater in Pitt County and would close every one of them by 2001 after opening their 12-screen in 1998. The Carmike 12 was the only operating movie theater in Pitt County from 2001 until 2007 (excluding East Carolina University’s Hendrix Theater; that was open to the public only for live shows, films there were/are for students only). Closing the local pornhouse began a domino effect on the local cinema business ultimately ending in total monopoly (until Consolidated’s – now Regal’s – Greenville Grande 14 opened in 2007).
The 264 Playhouse Theatre is actually closer to the Paramount Theatre in Farmville than it was to the downtown Greenville theaters; the nearest theaters were the Carmike Carolina East 4 (named Plitt Quad when the 264 Playhouse operated), South 11 Drive-In (demolished before the 264 Playhouse was built), Greenville Grande 14 (built long after the 264 closed), Tice Drive-In in Winterville, and the Farmville Paramount.
The building at 711 East Washington Street currently housing the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith is most likely the former Carver Theatre; its address was most likely renumbered after it ceased functioning as a theater. The lack of windows, wooden doors with diamond-shaped windows, and the spacing between the two sets of doors (where a ticket booth may have been located at one time) give this church building the look of a converted theater.
Carmike Cinemas took over the Beechmont Twin in 1985 and sold it off by 1989.
The Riverdale Cinema 3 was never a Cinemark house. Gordon Theaters opened the Riverdale in 1965, Martin Theatres took over in 1969 and subsequently twinned the theater. Martin was rebranded Carmike Cinemas in 1985; the Riverdale Twin was run by Carmike from 1985 until about 1987, when Neighborhood Theatres took over. Neighborhood turned the Riverdale into a three-screen cinema in 1991 and eventually sold out to Regal Cinemas, who closed the Riverdale Cinema 3.
The Carmike 16 Jacksonville is located at Jacksonville Mall on an outparcel behind Belk Department Store.
This was Jacksonville’s last standing drive-in theater. When it closed in 1985, all other drive-ins in Jacksonville, including the South 17 Twin on Wilmington Highway/US 17 South (non-porn) and Starlite (most likely the XXX drive-in just north of the South 17 Twin), had been demolished. The Cinema Drive-In has since been demolished as well.
If the Ritz was located at 1027 Broad Street it would have been directly across the street from the Palace Theatre and behind the Queen Street theater; any building at 1027 Broad Street would have been demolished by the late 1960s to make way for a large self-service gas station (which has itself been demolished).
The address should be 150 East Thomas Street if the Ritz Theatre and the Manhattan Theatre are the same. The Manhattan and Booker T Theaters are east of the railroad tracks in Edgecombe County; the tracks divide East Thomas Street (Edgecombe County) from West Thomas Street (Nash County). Locals never refer to the Manhattan Theatre as the Ritz; the Ritz could have been a different theater. East Thomas Street was Rocky Mount’s primary African-American business district during the days of segregation.
The correct address of the Booker T Theater is 170 EAST Thomas Street, as the theater is east of the railroad tracks (which divide East Thomas Street from West Thomas Street, and also serves as the Nash/Edgecombe county line).
t_law56: Was this drive in on the Wilmington Highway south of the old Red Carpet Inn (now Triangle Motor Inn)? I remember going through Jacksonville back in the 1970s and passing the Red Carpet Inn, an X-rated drive-in with a restaurant next to it, and further south was another drive-in (South 17 Twin Drive-In). The Starlite may be the drive-in I keep remembering as the Moonlite for some reason. As for the Starlite being “the only adult drive-in in the country”, they were not. There were many other X-rated drive-ins in the United States, including the North 11 Drive-In over in Kinston.
The Broad Street theater has been listed on CT by Lost Memory as the Palace Theatre; the Ritz Theatre was most likely located in the building on Queen Street now housing the Arabian Temple.
This theater’s name was probably not a reference to Tryon Palace, as that New Bern landmark was not reconstructed until the 1950s, more than twenty years after the Palace Theatre opened. The then-whites-only Tryon Theatre (listed on CT by its original name Athens Theatre) was the local theater that took its name from Tryon Palace, adopting the Tryon name around 1958 (the Tryon Palace restoration opened in 1959).
There are two buildings in New Bern’s Five Points neighborhood (the area surrounding the intersection of Broad, Queen and Roundtree Streets) that look like former African-American movie theaters. One is the Arabian Temple on the 1000 block of Queen Street; the other is located approximately 1028-1030 Broad Street. The Broad Street building has what looks like the outline of a box office in front of the present doors, while the Arabian Temple looks more like a post-World War II movie theater. Both look like former theaters but I don’t know which was the Ritz or the name of the other theater.
Status of the Masonic Theatre should be open. It is once again a legitimate theater (its original purpose), home of the RiverTowne Players. The Masonic Theatre began showing movies in 1917 (not 1910) and continued as a movie house until 1974. The correct address is 514 Hancock Street.
A Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant is now located on the site of the Plaza Cinema 3 (the final name of this theater). Despite the official address of 714 Greenville Boulevard SE, it was actually located on Charles Boulevard at the entrance to the JCPenney parking lot (where Mellow Mushroom is now).
Only two cinemas currently operate in High Point: Regal’s Palladium Cinemas 14 (first-run) and the Carmike 8 (discount). The Westchester Cinemas should be listed as Closed.
According to WNCT-TV9 11PM News (Jan. 16, 2014) the Turnage Theater has reopened as of January 16, 2014.
This theater was originally the Colonial Theatre when it operated from about 1927 to 1930; it closed due to the Depression around 1930. It reopened in 1937 as the Plaza Theatre and was the only theater in Greenville for African-Americans until the Roxy Theatre opened across the street in 1948. The Plaza could not compete with the modern Roxy and was closed by 1950.
The Berkeley Cinema Four (aka Berkeley Four) was not located at Berkeley Mall, but on Cashwell Drive two blocks southeast of the Eastgate Cinema Twin. The Berkeley Mall did not have a cinema of its own; instead a road (North Eastgate Drive) connected the mall parking lot to Cashwell Drive and ran in front of the Eastgate Cinema.