Northridge Center Cinemas
9301 Tampa Avenue,
Northridge,
CA
91324
9301 Tampa Avenue,
Northridge,
CA
91324
1 person
favorited this theater
When the Northridge Fashion Center opened on December 20, 1972, this triplex was nestled inside, across the mall from Bullocks. Ultra modern (some would say sterile), with a frontage inside the mall that gave no clue to how much space the theatre took up. You could grab an early dinner next door at the sit-down Don Ricardo’s Mexican restaurant, but when the last show let out you were stuck exiting from only one set of mall doors closest to the theatre. If your car was parked on the other side, too bad! Mall security guards would shoot everyone to the nearer door (probably to keep kids from running amok inside the mall).
If the theatre was still open in early-1994 (I had moved out of the area by then), the large earthquake nearly destroyed the entire mall and led to a major renovation. The theatre never came back, and the area where it was located is comepletely different now.
Contributed by
Dave
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
Here is a February 1977 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/ycvt8qw
Any Photos?
The GCC Northridge Cinemas 1,2,3 opened on Dec. 12, 1972. The opening films were “The Getaway” on screens 1 & 3 and “Snowball Express on screen 2.
I knew this theater as a Pacific Theaters theater when I first came across it in the late 1990’s. Shortly before the theater was completely destroyed, the marque that I knew and had seen every time I went there was removed. And what appeared to be there was the “original” marque behind that one.
The theater was called, “Sun Cinema.” Here’s another time I wish I had a camera handy. It was a very nice looking marque too. I was there to see “Reign of Fire” one time, and after the movie was done running there, the manager let me have the bus-stop-size poster of that movie hanging inside the theater.
What stupid design for a Mall cinema.I worked at two, both GCC and it was easy access to the parking be it 2 pm or 2am.
I worked there in 1981 for Mr. Carr who was the manager there. I really liked working there. At the time, I think Stripes, Zorro the Gay Blade, and Blow Out were playing at the time. He hired me when I was there one morning playing Asteroids. We got to talking and he asked me if I’d like a job. He gave me a can of freeze and a scraper and asked me to scrape the gum off the floor.
When Stripes was coming out, he asked everyone working there to go to an Army Surplus and get uniforms which he reimbursed us for, so we could wear them on opening night. That was a lot of fun.
That was my last summer before my parents moved and I ended up on the other side of the country. I didn’t get back until around 1997. The valley had changed so much after the 94 quake.
This site is a kick. I was one of the original employees there at Fashion Center Cinema. Jules Pincus was the manager, Sam Buchanan assistant. Was such a fun place to work. Was there 3 yrs. Lots of good memories.
I remember seeing Porky’s here way back in the early 80’s. I was about 11, and a small group of us were dropped off to see a movie for one of our friend’s birthdays. The guy who worked the concession stand let us sneak in to Porky’s, LOL. I remember when the movie ‘Meatballs’ was out, someone stole the ’M' off the marquee, so going down Tampa, it said ‘eatballs’. Saw more movies at the theater on Parthenia/Tampa or the Peppertree than here, so not much to remember about the theater other than Porky’s.
Grand opening ad posted.
Reopened with 4 screens including two 70MM theatres on May 23rd, 1984 with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.