AMC Loews Marina Marketplace 6

In 1987, I came over to open the Cineplex Odeon Marina Marketplace. Wes Stockman was the manager at the time. This art-deco place had marble floors, beautiful lighting and a really cool cafe. You could order expresso, have spaghetti, a salad or one of their fine pastries. Finally, you could sit down and enjoy your meal in its own dining area.

Here, with my partner Bob Seeling, we put on a great show in what we had considered to be the best-run, high-tech projection booth in the city. Also, it was the first computerized projection booth in the nation. Oh, and yes, we had curtains to close and re-open between the coming attractions and feature presentation.

Garth Drabinsky, the C.E.O. for Cineplex, said that if we make this thing work, we would have a job for life. We made it work with pride, and Cineplex really took care of us. The 2,500 square foot booth floor was stripped and polished weekly. You could eat off the floor.

It had its own water filter for the coffee maker and a desk for the computer. There were no fingerprints on the walls because we enforced keeping it spotless. Bob and I even won an award from the union for having the best running projection room in the local.

This place hired only off-duty L.A.P.D. detectives for its plain-clothed security. Mark Fuhrman of the O.J. Simpson trial was one of them. It was pretty common to see a couple officers escorting celebrities to and from auditoriums.

In addition to regular public showings of movie releases, the studios would rent auditoriums to do Audience Response Screenings (ARS) and get public feedback while in a film's production. Then, they would alter a film's production and make changes based on the questionaires that were handed out to be filled-out by the audience at the end of the screenings. The stars of the films being screened would typically hang-out in the projection booth and peek out the port windows to see the audience's responses.

Between regular public showings and weekly studio premieres and screenings, the Marina Marketplace was making tons of money. We were all very proud of our baby.

Unfortunately, Drabinsky ended up in prison. Next, Loews bought out Cineplex Odeon in 1991 and threw out the union projectionists and off-duty officers. Today, it is ran like any other ordinary theater, and the stars don't come out to play here anymore.

The Cineplex Marina Marketplace Theatre opened on Friday, December 9th. 1988.

This six-plex is a small, somewhat dingy theatre in what appears to be a dying mall. It is surrounded by empty storefronts. The lobby has a fairly low ceiling and is a bit claustrophobic. I don't know about the rest of the screens, but the one I saw "American Gangster" on was small, though the sound and projection were fine. They do keep the place clean, but in a world with so many entertainment choices, I wouldn't be surprised if we were to go one day and discover this was now just another empty storefront.

When I moved to LA in 1984, both sides of Maxella between Lincoln and Glencoe were empty lots. Over the years the mall was built along with a Tower Records and Good Guys across the street. All of the buildings on the south side are now closed, with the exception of the Barnes & Noble on the corner. The mall on the north side isn't doing much better. Here is a picture of the theater that I took today:
http://tinyurl.com/2ec9v3

Granted, I spent less than two years with Cineplex, from July 1991 to June 1993, but I'd like to correct some of Ms. Rhule's errors above. The Loews/Cineplex merger happened in 1998, not 1991. In 1992, Cineplex did threaten to lock out the union projectionists, and many of the Cineplex assistant and general managers were sent to the Marina Marketplace to train as projectionists should the lockout occur. I had run my own booths during my four years at United Artists (1986-1990), so I ended up helping out with the teaching, but the lockout thankfully never materialized. Of all the years I have worked in exhibition (23 years and counting), the two years at Cineplex were the only time I have ever had union projectionists, and I was damn glad to have them.

As for the theatre itself, it was a minor version of the Universal City complex, which had opened the year earlier. A nice theatre, overall, and one I continued to enjoy attending even after I left Cineplex. I love that it has those huge windows in the lobby to let in natural light... although I am certain they can be a distraction to the concessionists who have to work near them when the sun is setting. I haven't been there in a good 14 or 15 years, but it looks like it held up well.

The Chinese restaurant next to theater has closed, along with a couple more stores on the second floor. The tbeater was empty at four in the afternoon today.

Here are some September 2009 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/mxd25d
http://tinyurl.com/n7dcfh

Wow Ken, my baby still looks nice to me. Thanks for the photos Ken!

Edward Havens, sorry, but I was fired in 91 by Loews. Garth Drabinsky was in trouble, and the projectionist were reduced from 14 to five shifts per week. Bob Seeling had senority and got to stay. It could have been that Loews was just managing for Cineplex. Who knows??? Who cares???

O.K.

The seat capacity for the complex was 1850.