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.
The X-rated drive-in that was just north of the South 17 Twin (and south of the Triangle Motor Inn) was most likely the Starlite Drive-In listed here on Cinema Treasures.
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.
The Trans-Lux Inflight Cine' at Kinston Plaza was Kinston’s second shopping center cinema, following the Park Theatre on North Queen Street in Parkview Shopping Center. Stewart & Everett opened the Mall Cinema in 1969, one year after the Trans-Lux Inflight Cine' (Trans-Lux used the term CINE' on the Inflight cinemas rather than CINEMA). Being the first Trans-Lux Inflight Cine' in North Carolina, the Kinston location may have also been the last of the Inflight Cine’s in North Carolina to cease functioning as a movie theater, closing around 2002 upon the opening of the UEC Premiere Theatres 7 in west Kinston near WalMart.
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.
The Washington Square Mall Cinema 1 & 2 was opened in 1976 by Stewart & Everett Theatres. S&E later expanded it to three screens (Washington Square Mall Cinema 1-2-3) and subsequently shuttered the co-owned Turnage Theater. Carmike Cinemas acquired Stewart & Everett in 1986 and renamed this location Cinema Triple (along with the former S&E triplexes in New Bern and Morehead City). Carmike later added four screens to the three built by S&E and renamed the theater Cinema 7. Since the Turnage Theater closed as a movie theater in the late 1970s the Washington Square Mall Cinema 1-2-3/Cinema Triple/Cinema 7 has been Beaufort County’s sole full-time cinema.
Piecesoftheater is right; Blue Ridge Cinemas was second-run from day one. It replaced the old Terrace Twin, Falls Twin and South Hills Twin 99-cent theaters (the former two reopened under different owners as the Colony Twin and Raleighwood Cinema Grill, respectively). Carmike never charged first-run prices at the Blue Ridge Cinemas.
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.
If this theater was part of Schneider-Merl Theatres it would have opened before 1976, as the Schneider-Merl chain was sold to Martin Theatres by then.
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.
The X-rated drive-in that was just north of the South 17 Twin (and south of the Triangle Motor Inn) was most likely the Starlite Drive-In listed here on Cinema Treasures.
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.
The Trans-Lux Inflight Cine' at Kinston Plaza was Kinston’s second shopping center cinema, following the Park Theatre on North Queen Street in Parkview Shopping Center. Stewart & Everett opened the Mall Cinema in 1969, one year after the Trans-Lux Inflight Cine' (Trans-Lux used the term CINE' on the Inflight cinemas rather than CINEMA). Being the first Trans-Lux Inflight Cine' in North Carolina, the Kinston location may have also been the last of the Inflight Cine’s in North Carolina to cease functioning as a movie theater, closing around 2002 upon the opening of the UEC Premiere Theatres 7 in west Kinston near WalMart.
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.
Was the Opera House ever used as a movie house or was it strictly live performances?
Paramount City Lounge has closed; its website is no longer functioning.
The Washington Square Mall Cinema 1 & 2 was opened in 1976 by Stewart & Everett Theatres. S&E later expanded it to three screens (Washington Square Mall Cinema 1-2-3) and subsequently shuttered the co-owned Turnage Theater. Carmike Cinemas acquired Stewart & Everett in 1986 and renamed this location Cinema Triple (along with the former S&E triplexes in New Bern and Morehead City). Carmike later added four screens to the three built by S&E and renamed the theater Cinema 7. Since the Turnage Theater closed as a movie theater in the late 1970s the Washington Square Mall Cinema 1-2-3/Cinema Triple/Cinema 7 has been Beaufort County’s sole full-time cinema.
Carmike operated this theater as the Long Leaf Twin.
Piecesoftheater is right; Blue Ridge Cinemas was second-run from day one. It replaced the old Terrace Twin, Falls Twin and South Hills Twin 99-cent theaters (the former two reopened under different owners as the Colony Twin and Raleighwood Cinema Grill, respectively). Carmike never charged first-run prices at the Blue Ridge Cinemas.