Westhampton Theater

In the 60's the Westhampton was converted to 70mm with a huge screen and stereo sound and handled the roadshows of such films as LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, MY FAIR LADY, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, and GONE WITH THE WIND. It was advertised as "The House of Todd-Ao".

The Westhampton Theatre seated 848 people when it was a single screen theatre.

Very nice theatre. I like this place a lot. I never saw it when it was a single screen, unfortunately, but it's very charming today. Well decorated in the lobby. It's a real asset for Richmond and its neighborhood.

Camden

The theater is great. It is in a quaint neighborhood. They take the time to play the art-house movies that otherwise wouldn't be shown in Richmond.

The downside is that Regal has made much of it look like the other half-dozen theaters they own in town. The uniforms are the same, same bad popcorn, same concessions, same pre-movie slides. It is hard to not feel like it is still the same place as the corporate 12-plex down the street.

The Westhampton opened in 1938. It is one of only two reamining movie houses still open inside the city limits of Richmond. All the other area theaters are multiplexes located in the surburbs near shopping malls.

When we had the roadshow premiere of SWEET CHARITY there in the summer of 1969, the only celebrity we could muster up was Shirley Maclaine's childhood ballet teacher, who remembered her fondly for the sell out crowd.

Apparently some seats were lost in the renovation. What John RL fails to mention is that, unlike the "corporate 12-plex down the street", the Westhampton features Williamsburg architecture, including a fireplace and requisite portrait hanging over it, a huge, gorgeous mirror in the lobby, and some original signage from the early days, including a "Men's Lounge" sign to indicate the men's restroom. There are also paintings displayed by a local art league, as well as many brass fixtures (stanchions and door plates) which are kept highly polished by Robert, the Westhampton doorman of many years.

To be fair, I'm a former manager, so I maybe be a bit biased. It is a grand old movie house in my eyes.

My posting lost the first line, which was:

There are 480 seats in the downstairs auditorium and 279 in the upstairs (old balcony) auditorium.

Here is a photo of the Westhampton Theater.

1987 photo of the Westhampton Theatre.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c46%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=13&catpagesize=10&ProductID=34884

Another 1987 photo is here.