The Gulf Drive-In was derailed by anti-Free Speech interests in Corpus Christi. The theater was enjoined for showing soft core R- and X-rated films when folks living at the La Armada II Housing project who had a clear view of the screen complained late in 1977. The courts agreed and the Gulf’s season was over.
The Gulf Drive-In reopened with traditional Hollywood double features as their 1978 season programming. As the season progressed, complaints continued once again. La Armada residents obviously wanted either no content or content that the whole family could view. And following the double-feature of “The Omen” and “The Other” on November 5, 1978, the theater was once again enjoined by the City from showing anything that might be considered objectionable by anyone with a clear view of the screen (or possibly not) in that housing complex.
Obviously an incredible overreach, the Gulf operators - likely reaching the terminus of a second 20-year lease apparently - decided to walk away from the venture. That made the November 5, 1978 screenings their final showings. The La Armada II residents were likely not happy to see the empty drive-in screen because it, too, was likely objectionable to their sensibilities. The vacant Gulf was destroyed by an arsonist in 1981 and razed. The area is now home to a Home Depot.
Theater’s neighborhood is incorrect. When it was built, it was in the Southside and is now considered Bay Area. Southside / Bay Area would be the proper neighborhood.
Woodlawn Theatres Inc. announced this project late in 1964 as Corpus Christi would have its first two hardtop theaters in the post-War exhibition era known as the suburban luxury theater period. The 600-seat venue was similar to other such suburbans located in a shopping center strip - the Woodlawn Plaza Shopping Center - designed by Hans & Bennett and featuring plentiful free parking adjacent to the theater. Interest was high as an August 1965 free open house drew over 5,000 (!) people. The Woodlawn Theatre was the first post-War hardtop theater to launch in Corpus Christi and did so here on August 31, 1965 with Rick Nelson in “Love and Kisses.”
The Woodlawn Plaza Shopping Center’s official Grand Opening with all 14 merchants ready to go wasn’t until October 14, 1965. It was anchored then by a Handy Andy Supermarket, a Ben Franklin five and dime store, a Firestone auto service center and the theater which gave away free popcorn with coupon for the grand launch. The second hardtop suburban theatre project that was announced in 1964 became delayed not opening until April of 1968 as a duplex called the Deux Cine Twin turned UA Ciné 4 then UA Ciné 6. Woodlawn Theatres Inc. went from a subsidiary of United Artists Theatre Circuit to subsumed by UATC in December of 1969 along with the Duex Ciné.
On April 5, 1973, the Woodlawn Theatre was repositioned as a discount sub-run house with all seats a dollar for the double feature of “Super Fly” and “Omega Man.” The venue closed on September 23, 1973 to be twinned by UATC reopening as the UA Cine West 2 on October 31, 1973 with “Walking Tall” on the only screen ready for presentations. It’s assumed a new 30-year lease was worked out for the relaunch as a twin.
As part of an “inflation fighter,” UATC experimented with Tuesday dollar showings in the late 1970s at the Ciné West. It decided to reposition the venue thereafter as a discount, sub-run location. Cinemark opened a seven-screen, new build dollar house in Padre Staples Mall on December 11, 1987 that would drastically change the Corpus Christi movie theater marketplace as aging discount houses were placed under sever pressure. The UA Ciné West 2 short circuited on August 25, 1988 closing at what is assumed the 15-year opt our of its leasing period with “Crocodile Dundee II” and “Short Circuit 2.” United Artists ridded itself of dying dollar houses the Ciné West and then both its Ayers and the Centre in the central business district seven days later.
The venue was retrofitted for a Family Dollar on the back end of the 15-year lease that operated from 1990 to 2013. The space’s former lobby was then home to a Domino’s Pizza location in the 2020s. An opening day photo of the theater and a sketching of the Woodlawn Plaza can be found in photos.
Odd but true - The 16-screen theater’s appropriate name was the Premiere Cinema Temple 15 + IMAX. The final night of operation, Christmas Day 2022, found “Violent Night” as the final screening as the theater ran just seven screens and only two late shows in “Elf” and “Violent Night.”
In 1982, operator Julio Gonzales received a 5-year sublease from United Artists to relight the venue with a $50,000 makeover. It reopened on November 4, 1982 with “Un Hombre Llamada El Diablo.” It closed permanently May 23, 1986. The building was razed for a medical center in 2014.
The Buccaneer Drive-In closed July 30, 1983 with “Trading Places” and “Venom.” It was the last drive-in of the dozen said to have been in Corpus Christi.
United Artists closed both the Centre and the Ayers on the same date - Labor Day, September 5, 1988. Both had been repositioned as sub-run dollar discount theaters. The Centre shuttered with “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and “Crocodile Dundee 2” either for a dollar a seat.
United Artists downgraded the Ayers to a one dollar, discount sub-run house. It closed with “Willow” on September 5, 1988. It closed the same day that the venerable Centre Theatre closed.
United Artists closed the Viking Drive-In on August 30, 1981 with “The Creeper” and “The Devil.” UA’s Bob Chapman said that he had unfortunately earned a “hat trick” for the destruction of the Viking in November of 1981 - the third drive-in facility he had overseen the razing of. The Viking screens were repurposed for an adult twin drive-in outside of the Corpus Christi area.
The UA Cinema 4 closed here permanently with 4 “Cine Arte” titles in “Mrs. Brown,” “When the Cat’s Away,” “Ponette” and “Shall We Dance?” on October 7, 1997.
United Artists bolted from the Padre Staples Mall Movies 6 on July 30, 2000 - apparently without informing the mall management. UATC (United Artists Theatres Circuit) was deeply in debt at that point and shedding locations across the country. Just two months later, UATC filed for bankruptcy protection.
Movie One Theaters operated the Five Points Theater. Silver Cinemas took on the chain in December of 1996 and operated here both as a first-run and discount house. Silver Cinemas appears to have left the venue in 2003. It operated independently thereafter but advertisements ceased in 2007 - about the time when a high-profile incident took place at the cinema undoubtedly leading to negative publicity. The venue stayed in a frozen state vacant for more than ten years as a ghost cinema. But, finally, in 2020 the theater space was retrofitted becoming a gym / fitness center.
The Mann National Twin closed on May 7, 1987 with “Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol,” “My Demon Lover,” and “Campus Man.” Its neighbor - three blocks away - the Movies 1 & 2 would survive just seven months longer closing in January of 1988.
In 1972, Joseph Cooper Burks of American Automated Theatres Inc. (AATI) announced another one of the fledgling circuit’s locations as franchisee Cinemas Southwest Theaters (CSW) promised to open its twin in Corpus Christi in 1973. Like the Jerry Lewis Circuit and National General Circuit, AATI would show family films in theatres that were placed in strip shopping centers. The venue was built just three blocks away from National General’s Twin which had opened in 1970.
The delayed venue launched as The Movies! 1 & 2 (with an exclamation point) at 3518 S. Staples on February 2, 1974. CSW expanded into three other states before running into financial issues in 1977 with lawsuits claiming unpaid leases. Movie I Circuit of Dallas took on the venue with a new 10-year lease late in 1977 dropping the exclamation point.
The venue had runs of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at midnight and also had a brief run with adult films that didn’t meet with public favor. Movie I repositioned the venue as a sub-run one dollar discount house to success. However, it dropped the venue at the end of its lease on January 3, 1988 with “Flowers in the Attic” and “Less Than Zero.” The opening of Cinemark’s seven-screen discount house at Sunrise Mall was the reason that Movie I stated it would not pursue any extension. It had, however, outlasted the National Twin which had gone out of business seven months prior.
The former Movies! venue was retrofitted for other retail purposes becoming a stationery store followed by a long-running pawn shop.
The Hollywood was built by dentist Percy Myer Kliman who moved his family from Eastdale where they ran the Melva Theatre to Mattydale. The new-build Hollywood Theatre on Bremerton Road just north of Syracuse launched on February 14, 1939 with Robert Preston in “Illegal Traffic,” and Sidney Toler in “The Mysterious Rider” supported by George Campo in “ Murder with Reservations.” Kliman would die shortly thereafter and the family ran the film in its formative years.
The Strand building lasted 105 years in downtown Rochester. It opened as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 62-70 St. Paul Street in 1848. When St. Paul’s moved to new digs in 1896, the venue became home to Colonial Hall on a ten-year leasing agreement from 1896 to 1906. It hosted wrestling events and was a place to skate.
Famous Rochester movie pioneer George D. Curtis bought the venue creating the early movie theater, the Happy Hour in 1907 joining the Bijou Dream Theater as the city’s only full-time nickelodeon movie theaters. The building received a refresh and new operators in 1913 as the Strand Theatre operating on a new, 20-year lease. The Strand converted to sound in 1929 to remain viable.
In 1933, the Strand got one more 20-year leasing deal. It struggled after the War with neighborhood theaters, drive-ins and television draining coins from aging downtown theaters. James J. Hayes, Albert M. Zack and Vincent P. Faga took the operation on in its final years closing up on March 24, 1953 at the end of lease. It was razed not long after the completion of the RKO Temple Theatre and concurrently with the Empire Theatre in May of 1953.
The 104-year tradition has ended. The Pioneer Theatre in Manteo last showed a film on November 16, 2022 with “Wakanda Forever.” A temporary closure occurred for a projector issue. But on December 13, 2022, the management decided to make the closure permanent ending the Pioneer’s run - one of the nation’s longest running movie theaters.
The Crescent Theatre grand opening ad from December 20, 1909 is in photos. The theatre was closed permanently without converting to sound on June 3, 1929 and converted for other purposes. However, the theater had a high profile, “grand closing” event the previous night on June 2, 1929.
The Melvin Block building at 2809-2819 James Street was home to the Melva Theatre. The 500-seat theater was a suburban house located originally in Eastwood, considered a village East of Syracuse . Built by Eastwood dentist Percy Myer Kliman, the theater was named for Kliman’s grandchild, Melva. Kliman’s daughters, Freda and Alice, would accompany the silent films on the Melva’s piano. The neighboring Bluebird would serve as the theater’s de facto concession stand. The Melva launched December 25, 1921 with “The Sheik” supported by a Harold Lloyd comedy short and a Pathé newsreel.
In 1926, the City of Syracuse annexed Eastwood making the theater part of Syracuse. The Kliman family would leave the Melva for the new-build Hollywood Theatre on Bremerton Road in the suburb of Mattydal just north of Syracuse. Arlington Amusement acquired the Melva in 1932 installing a new sound system in order to compete with the Schine Palace Theatre five blocks away. That failed in 1933 for the Arlington folks.
The theater was re-lit one last time on November 9, 1936 and renamed as the James Theater with Clark Gable in “San Francisco.” The James closed at the end of lease October 27, 1940 with a double-feature of “Half a Sinner” and “Riders of the Pasco Basin.” It was purchased by Schine Circuit which took it on to rid the neighborhood of competition for its Palace. The space was converted to a funeral home.
Not sure what evidence there is supporting RKO acquiring the post-theatrical venue in 1950 and then re-equipping it for operation as a movie house in the 1950s; but as unlikely as that appears, anything’s possible. However, the building has long since been demolished.
Anthony Langan built Langan’s Theatre operating until his death in 1923. It was continued in his name until June 2, 1929 and may have closed as a silent movie house without converting to sound. Final show advertised that day were Louise Brooks in “Beggers of Life.” The building was converted to an auto garage which was torn down in the 1980s.
The Magnolia Theatre closed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Landmark decided not to reopen the venue. Violet Crown Circuit of Austin adopted the Magnolia with renovation plans and a targeted Spring 2022 reopening date that occurred on December 9, 2022 as the Violet Crown Cinema |. Dallas. The head of Violet Crown also was a founder of Magnolia Pictures.
The Gulf Drive-In was derailed by anti-Free Speech interests in Corpus Christi. The theater was enjoined for showing soft core R- and X-rated films when folks living at the La Armada II Housing project who had a clear view of the screen complained late in 1977. The courts agreed and the Gulf’s season was over.
The Gulf Drive-In reopened with traditional Hollywood double features as their 1978 season programming. As the season progressed, complaints continued once again. La Armada residents obviously wanted either no content or content that the whole family could view. And following the double-feature of “The Omen” and “The Other” on November 5, 1978, the theater was once again enjoined by the City from showing anything that might be considered objectionable by anyone with a clear view of the screen (or possibly not) in that housing complex.
Obviously an incredible overreach, the Gulf operators - likely reaching the terminus of a second 20-year lease apparently - decided to walk away from the venture. That made the November 5, 1978 screenings their final showings. The La Armada II residents were likely not happy to see the empty drive-in screen because it, too, was likely objectionable to their sensibilities. The vacant Gulf was destroyed by an arsonist in 1981 and razed. The area is now home to a Home Depot.
This is located in the Southside of town so Southside / Bay Area would be the proper neighborhood.
Theater’s neighborhood is incorrect. When it was built, it was in the Southside and is now considered Bay Area. Southside / Bay Area would be the proper neighborhood.
Woodlawn Theatres Inc. announced this project late in 1964 as Corpus Christi would have its first two hardtop theaters in the post-War exhibition era known as the suburban luxury theater period. The 600-seat venue was similar to other such suburbans located in a shopping center strip - the Woodlawn Plaza Shopping Center - designed by Hans & Bennett and featuring plentiful free parking adjacent to the theater. Interest was high as an August 1965 free open house drew over 5,000 (!) people. The Woodlawn Theatre was the first post-War hardtop theater to launch in Corpus Christi and did so here on August 31, 1965 with Rick Nelson in “Love and Kisses.”
The Woodlawn Plaza Shopping Center’s official Grand Opening with all 14 merchants ready to go wasn’t until October 14, 1965. It was anchored then by a Handy Andy Supermarket, a Ben Franklin five and dime store, a Firestone auto service center and the theater which gave away free popcorn with coupon for the grand launch. The second hardtop suburban theatre project that was announced in 1964 became delayed not opening until April of 1968 as a duplex called the Deux Cine Twin turned UA Ciné 4 then UA Ciné 6. Woodlawn Theatres Inc. went from a subsidiary of United Artists Theatre Circuit to subsumed by UATC in December of 1969 along with the Duex Ciné.
On April 5, 1973, the Woodlawn Theatre was repositioned as a discount sub-run house with all seats a dollar for the double feature of “Super Fly” and “Omega Man.” The venue closed on September 23, 1973 to be twinned by UATC reopening as the UA Cine West 2 on October 31, 1973 with “Walking Tall” on the only screen ready for presentations. It’s assumed a new 30-year lease was worked out for the relaunch as a twin.
As part of an “inflation fighter,” UATC experimented with Tuesday dollar showings in the late 1970s at the Ciné West. It decided to reposition the venue thereafter as a discount, sub-run location. Cinemark opened a seven-screen, new build dollar house in Padre Staples Mall on December 11, 1987 that would drastically change the Corpus Christi movie theater marketplace as aging discount houses were placed under sever pressure. The UA Ciné West 2 short circuited on August 25, 1988 closing at what is assumed the 15-year opt our of its leasing period with “Crocodile Dundee II” and “Short Circuit 2.” United Artists ridded itself of dying dollar houses the Ciné West and then both its Ayers and the Centre in the central business district seven days later.
The venue was retrofitted for a Family Dollar on the back end of the 15-year lease that operated from 1990 to 2013. The space’s former lobby was then home to a Domino’s Pizza location in the 2020s. An opening day photo of the theater and a sketching of the Woodlawn Plaza can be found in photos.
Odd but true - The 16-screen theater’s appropriate name was the Premiere Cinema Temple 15 + IMAX. The final night of operation, Christmas Day 2022, found “Violent Night” as the final screening as the theater ran just seven screens and only two late shows in “Elf” and “Violent Night.”
In 1982, operator Julio Gonzales received a 5-year sublease from United Artists to relight the venue with a $50,000 makeover. It reopened on November 4, 1982 with “Un Hombre Llamada El Diablo.” It closed permanently May 23, 1986. The building was razed for a medical center in 2014.
The Buccaneer Drive-In closed July 30, 1983 with “Trading Places” and “Venom.” It was the last drive-in of the dozen said to have been in Corpus Christi.
United Artists closed both the Centre and the Ayers on the same date - Labor Day, September 5, 1988. Both had been repositioned as sub-run dollar discount theaters. The Centre shuttered with “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and “Crocodile Dundee 2” either for a dollar a seat.
United Artists downgraded the Ayers to a one dollar, discount sub-run house. It closed with “Willow” on September 5, 1988. It closed the same day that the venerable Centre Theatre closed.
Closed November 19, 1981.
United Artists closed the Viking Drive-In on August 30, 1981 with “The Creeper” and “The Devil.” UA’s Bob Chapman said that he had unfortunately earned a “hat trick” for the destruction of the Viking in November of 1981 - the third drive-in facility he had overseen the razing of. The Viking screens were repurposed for an adult twin drive-in outside of the Corpus Christi area.
The UA Cinema 4 closed here permanently with 4 “Cine Arte” titles in “Mrs. Brown,” “When the Cat’s Away,” “Ponette” and “Shall We Dance?” on October 7, 1997.
United Artists bolted from the Padre Staples Mall Movies 6 on July 30, 2000 - apparently without informing the mall management. UATC (United Artists Theatres Circuit) was deeply in debt at that point and shedding locations across the country. Just two months later, UATC filed for bankruptcy protection.
Movie One Theaters operated the Five Points Theater. Silver Cinemas took on the chain in December of 1996 and operated here both as a first-run and discount house. Silver Cinemas appears to have left the venue in 2003. It operated independently thereafter but advertisements ceased in 2007 - about the time when a high-profile incident took place at the cinema undoubtedly leading to negative publicity. The venue stayed in a frozen state vacant for more than ten years as a ghost cinema. But, finally, in 2020 the theater space was retrofitted becoming a gym / fitness center.
The Mann National Twin closed on May 7, 1987 with “Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol,” “My Demon Lover,” and “Campus Man.” Its neighbor - three blocks away - the Movies 1 & 2 would survive just seven months longer closing in January of 1988.
In 1972, Joseph Cooper Burks of American Automated Theatres Inc. (AATI) announced another one of the fledgling circuit’s locations as franchisee Cinemas Southwest Theaters (CSW) promised to open its twin in Corpus Christi in 1973. Like the Jerry Lewis Circuit and National General Circuit, AATI would show family films in theatres that were placed in strip shopping centers. The venue was built just three blocks away from National General’s Twin which had opened in 1970.
The delayed venue launched as The Movies! 1 & 2 (with an exclamation point) at 3518 S. Staples on February 2, 1974. CSW expanded into three other states before running into financial issues in 1977 with lawsuits claiming unpaid leases. Movie I Circuit of Dallas took on the venue with a new 10-year lease late in 1977 dropping the exclamation point.
The venue had runs of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at midnight and also had a brief run with adult films that didn’t meet with public favor. Movie I repositioned the venue as a sub-run one dollar discount house to success. However, it dropped the venue at the end of its lease on January 3, 1988 with “Flowers in the Attic” and “Less Than Zero.” The opening of Cinemark’s seven-screen discount house at Sunrise Mall was the reason that Movie I stated it would not pursue any extension. It had, however, outlasted the National Twin which had gone out of business seven months prior.
The former Movies! venue was retrofitted for other retail purposes becoming a stationery store followed by a long-running pawn shop.
Closed December 29, 2022
The Hollywood was built by dentist Percy Myer Kliman who moved his family from Eastdale where they ran the Melva Theatre to Mattydale. The new-build Hollywood Theatre on Bremerton Road just north of Syracuse launched on February 14, 1939 with Robert Preston in “Illegal Traffic,” and Sidney Toler in “The Mysterious Rider” supported by George Campo in “ Murder with Reservations.” Kliman would die shortly thereafter and the family ran the film in its formative years.
Expected to close January 26, 2023 and will be replaced by a new location for the Golf Dome, a year-round driving and putting center .
The Strand building lasted 105 years in downtown Rochester. It opened as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 62-70 St. Paul Street in 1848. When St. Paul’s moved to new digs in 1896, the venue became home to Colonial Hall on a ten-year leasing agreement from 1896 to 1906. It hosted wrestling events and was a place to skate.
Famous Rochester movie pioneer George D. Curtis bought the venue creating the early movie theater, the Happy Hour in 1907 joining the Bijou Dream Theater as the city’s only full-time nickelodeon movie theaters. The building received a refresh and new operators in 1913 as the Strand Theatre operating on a new, 20-year lease. The Strand converted to sound in 1929 to remain viable.
In 1933, the Strand got one more 20-year leasing deal. It struggled after the War with neighborhood theaters, drive-ins and television draining coins from aging downtown theaters. James J. Hayes, Albert M. Zack and Vincent P. Faga took the operation on in its final years closing up on March 24, 1953 at the end of lease. It was razed not long after the completion of the RKO Temple Theatre and concurrently with the Empire Theatre in May of 1953.
The 104-year tradition has ended. The Pioneer Theatre in Manteo last showed a film on November 16, 2022 with “Wakanda Forever.” A temporary closure occurred for a projector issue. But on December 13, 2022, the management decided to make the closure permanent ending the Pioneer’s run - one of the nation’s longest running movie theaters.
The Crescent Theatre grand opening ad from December 20, 1909 is in photos. The theatre was closed permanently without converting to sound on June 3, 1929 and converted for other purposes. However, the theater had a high profile, “grand closing” event the previous night on June 2, 1929.
The Melvin Block building at 2809-2819 James Street was home to the Melva Theatre. The 500-seat theater was a suburban house located originally in Eastwood, considered a village East of Syracuse . Built by Eastwood dentist Percy Myer Kliman, the theater was named for Kliman’s grandchild, Melva. Kliman’s daughters, Freda and Alice, would accompany the silent films on the Melva’s piano. The neighboring Bluebird would serve as the theater’s de facto concession stand. The Melva launched December 25, 1921 with “The Sheik” supported by a Harold Lloyd comedy short and a Pathé newsreel.
In 1926, the City of Syracuse annexed Eastwood making the theater part of Syracuse. The Kliman family would leave the Melva for the new-build Hollywood Theatre on Bremerton Road in the suburb of Mattydal just north of Syracuse. Arlington Amusement acquired the Melva in 1932 installing a new sound system in order to compete with the Schine Palace Theatre five blocks away. That failed in 1933 for the Arlington folks.
The theater was re-lit one last time on November 9, 1936 and renamed as the James Theater with Clark Gable in “San Francisco.” The James closed at the end of lease October 27, 1940 with a double-feature of “Half a Sinner” and “Riders of the Pasco Basin.” It was purchased by Schine Circuit which took it on to rid the neighborhood of competition for its Palace. The space was converted to a funeral home.
Not sure what evidence there is supporting RKO acquiring the post-theatrical venue in 1950 and then re-equipping it for operation as a movie house in the 1950s; but as unlikely as that appears, anything’s possible. However, the building has long since been demolished.
Anthony Langan built Langan’s Theatre operating until his death in 1923. It was continued in his name until June 2, 1929 and may have closed as a silent movie house without converting to sound. Final show advertised that day were Louise Brooks in “Beggers of Life.” The building was converted to an auto garage which was torn down in the 1980s.
The Magnolia Theatre closed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Landmark decided not to reopen the venue. Violet Crown Circuit of Austin adopted the Magnolia with renovation plans and a targeted Spring 2022 reopening date that occurred on December 9, 2022 as the Violet Crown Cinema |. Dallas. The head of Violet Crown also was a founder of Magnolia Pictures.