There were plans to restore the entire theatre and show movies, plays and concerts, but nothing ever happened. I remember reading the article in the late 80’s/early 90’s in West U Magazine. Too bad they didn’t “go with it”..they could’ve very easily built the rest of the Village Arcade around the structure of the theatre. It had a men’s clothier and an old timey toy store next door.
In the early 80’s it was still known as The Bellaire Theatre and had one grand auditorium. It was very very run down and the movies were a dollar. I saw Mr. Mom there during the early 80’s and about halfway through the film the movie stopped and the house lights came on…and then one of the employees came in (we were the only people watching the movie) and said the projector broke so we just left. Shortly afterward, it became an adult theatre and stayed that way until the late 80’s. Then some developers came in and added some other smaller screens, a beautiful lobby and a cafe. They shortened the name to “The Bel-Air Theatre” to make it sound more classy. They had a very modern day concession stand with gourmet candy. The cafe was very nice and trendy. The cafe and theatre were separated by a big wall of glass cube tiles with curves in it – a very modern look. One of the areas of the cafe had a window that looked into a theatre so you could eat/drink and watch the movie through the window. You could see out of it, but it didn’t affect the lighting or the experience of the people in the theatre. In the late 80’s and early 90’s it was the PLACE TO BE and hosted Rocky Horror Picture show every weekend in its main huge auditorium (the original screen) which had all new seats – they were a very futuristic style seat. Somewhere in the mid 90’s I heard that the shopping strip owners had gotten too many complaints from tenants about parking issues since the theatre took up so much parking and it closed its doors for good. So sad to see it go!
Up until the mid 90’s the Alabama still had all of its balcony seats. Before they added those balcony bookshelves and coffee shop there were some glass doors that were locked and led onto the balcony. You could look through and see the seats! Would’ve been cool to have kept those seats and turned the place into a hybrid bookstore/movie theatre!
There were plans to restore the entire theatre and show movies, plays and concerts, but nothing ever happened. I remember reading the article in the late 80’s/early 90’s in West U Magazine. Too bad they didn’t “go with it”..they could’ve very easily built the rest of the Village Arcade around the structure of the theatre. It had a men’s clothier and an old timey toy store next door.
In the early 80’s it was still known as The Bellaire Theatre and had one grand auditorium. It was very very run down and the movies were a dollar. I saw Mr. Mom there during the early 80’s and about halfway through the film the movie stopped and the house lights came on…and then one of the employees came in (we were the only people watching the movie) and said the projector broke so we just left. Shortly afterward, it became an adult theatre and stayed that way until the late 80’s. Then some developers came in and added some other smaller screens, a beautiful lobby and a cafe. They shortened the name to “The Bel-Air Theatre” to make it sound more classy. They had a very modern day concession stand with gourmet candy. The cafe was very nice and trendy. The cafe and theatre were separated by a big wall of glass cube tiles with curves in it – a very modern look. One of the areas of the cafe had a window that looked into a theatre so you could eat/drink and watch the movie through the window. You could see out of it, but it didn’t affect the lighting or the experience of the people in the theatre. In the late 80’s and early 90’s it was the PLACE TO BE and hosted Rocky Horror Picture show every weekend in its main huge auditorium (the original screen) which had all new seats – they were a very futuristic style seat. Somewhere in the mid 90’s I heard that the shopping strip owners had gotten too many complaints from tenants about parking issues since the theatre took up so much parking and it closed its doors for good. So sad to see it go!
Up until the mid 90’s the Alabama still had all of its balcony seats. Before they added those balcony bookshelves and coffee shop there were some glass doors that were locked and led onto the balcony. You could look through and see the seats! Would’ve been cool to have kept those seats and turned the place into a hybrid bookstore/movie theatre!