River Hills/Riviera Twin

Was the Cinerama screen still in place when it closed?

The address for the River Hills/Riviera Theatre is 222 Crocker Street, Des Moines, Ia.

Need to update the address on this theatre.

The buliding was to be demolished, last year, to make way for the new convention center/arena. And yes, the cinerama screen was still in place at close.

Am I reading this wrong or would this have made it a triplex?

Robert it is confusing but it was a twin theatre operating under seperate names. There was just two auditoriums. The River Hills side of the theatre was originally called the River Hills Cinerama opening on 04/19/68 with Cinerama starting on 6/26/68. The Cinerama was never 3 strip just 70MM. The Cinerama was dropped from the name in 1988 when Cinerama was no longer being shown. The other side was called the Riviera Theatre and was just a regular 35MM house. Two thetares under one roof with seperate names. Confusing? Yes!

Thanks Charles, what confused me was in the second paragraph it says "the Riviera twin side" so I thought the non-Cinerama side had 2 screens.

Photo fo the River Hills-Riviera Theatres.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y147/Chuck1231/Iowa%20Theatres/RiverHills-RivieraCinemasDesMoinesI.jpg

There was huge curving screen (90-foot?) on the River Hills side and an excellent sound system. Both theaters were upscale by the standards of 1960s-1970s structures with large lobbies and comfortable seats--not at all like the little boxes in cineplexes.

Although I was a minor at the time, I got in to see "The Godfather" at the Riviera (accompanied by a parent). Also saw "2001" at the River Hills there when it first played in Des Moines. When I lived in the area again in the '80s, both theatres were still screening first-run top-drawer features ("Gandi," for example).

I very much miss the River Hills Theater, with its huge curved screen, and spaceship blue-green metal flaked vinyl upholstery. It opened in 1968 with "2001: A Space Odyssey". I remember the day I saw that movie there, and the year, because, after the movie let out, I walked a short distance downtown, and happened to meet presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, who was coming out of a building on Grand Avenue after giving a speech. When the building was torn down, I retrieved several of the letters that spelled out "River Hills" and "Riviera", and a small piece of the wall, which I still have.

RIVER HILLS did not open with "2001: A Space Odyssey" as claimed in the post above. It opened with a reserved-seat run of "Mediterranean Holiday" on April 19, 1968. ("2001" followed the booking of "Mediterranean Holiday on June 26, 1968.)

The RIVIERA half of the complex opened a week before the RIVER HILLS half on April 12, 1968, with the debut attraction being "Where Angels Go...Trouble Follows."

Michael, do you know if the Riviera side had a large screen and what the demensions were?

Sorry, Chuck1231, I don't have any info on the screen size or dimensions.

River Hills is famous for being the host venue for the Des Moines area exclusive booking of the original "Star Wars." The movie ran for 29 weeks in the River Hills auditorium (May 27-Dec. 13, 1977), and then when replaced by "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" it moved to the Riviera auditorium, where it ran for another 27 weeks. The combined 56-week run is, I believe, second only to the 113-week roadshow run of "The Sound Of Music" (at the Capri) as the longest-running movie in Des Moines exhibition history.

The Cinerama exhibition history in Des Moines posted here.

As mentioned earlier, the Wells Fargo Arena now stands where the River Hills/Rivera Twin used to be.

This theater should be changed to closed/demolished

Newspaper ad from the Des Moines Register, May 27,1977

"Begins Tonight! Star Wars. Star Wars will presented with DOLBY SOUND a special new sound system that the River Hills has installed that will astound your mind with the ULTIMATE QUAD SYSTEM. Adults $3.00, Children under 12 $1.25"

Playing at the Riviera Twin- The Godfather and The Godfather Part II.