Christown Cinemas

Actually found out this multiplex was originally just a large single screen theater that was opened in 1967. Smaller screens were added in the 1970s and again in the 1990s but the main auditorium had 70mm capability and was the first THX theater in Phoenix. On the inside, it reminds me a lot of the Main Chinese in LA - large 1000 seat auditorium, small 60 ft screen by comparison.

The architect of the 1996 expansion and renovation of the Harkins Christown 11 Cinemas was Scott Walker of the Phoenix based firm CCBG Architects.

This complex, including the original 1968 large auditorium, is scheduled to be demolished later in 2006/early 2007. It is going to be "replaced" by a 16-plex being built on the site of the old UA Chirstown 6 plex that was inside the mall. According to a diagram of the new mall layout, the theater site will be replaced with more parking.

I saw Wallace & Ladmo do their live Saturday show here when it was the Fox Christown Theater in the 1960's.
"Journey To The Center Of The Earth " was the film they showed afterward.

They just CLOSED THIS THEATRE 04/2007! It being domlished as we I write this memo, the very first THX THEATRE with 1000 seats in the main theatre (3). My very first movie I saw there was Muppets Take Manhattan when I was 10. My last movie I saw there in the BIG THX Theatre was Disturbia, WOW how time flys now I'm 30. Kinda senamentally, I'm gonna miss this place seriously. I know there making NEW theatre inside Christown Mall I mean Spectrum Mall. Thank you Christown Theatre you well always be in my memories.

The marquee was interesting, it was quite high sitting at a right angle at the top of a pole. To change the letters, the sign actually was lowered to ground level with a motor. Love's used to be a popular restaurant nearby and Bob's Big Boy was on the corner.

Is this the theater that was inside Christown mall and had an escalator that went up to a second floor, where the snack bar was in a square in the middle of all the entrance doors to the auditoriums? If it is I used to see LOTS of movies there in the late 70s and early 80s. Movies I saw there for the first time: "E.T.", "Superman", "Superman II". I also remember seeing the 1979 re-release of "Jaws" in a double feature with "Love At First Bite". I ask only because some people confuse this with the other theater outside the mall about a block or two away. This place is almost as sacred to me as the old Cine Capri on 24th St. and Camelback. It'd be a shame if this place really has closed its doors!

HollywoodSteve, this is the theater that was outside the mall, on 19th Ave.

Aw, I'm sorry to hear this one is gone. Saw so many films here good and bad. Lots of memories ripped away by that wrecking ball.

The architect of the original single-screen Fox Chris-Town Theatre was Bud Magee. Photos of this theatre and of the Fox Buena Vista in Tucson, designed by the same architect, appeared in the May 15, 1967, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The Fox Chris-Town opened with 922 seats.

In 1971, a second auditorium with 834 seats was added and the house, still operated by National General, became the Chris-Town 2 Theatre. Architects of the expansion project were Pearson, Wuesthoff & Skinner of Los Angeles, who were designing many of NGC's new and expanded theaters in the west and southwest at this time. The expanded theater was the subject of an article in the August 30, 1971, issue of Boxoffice.

As I noted in my 2006 comment above, when Harkins Theatres expanded this complex to 11 screens in 1996, the design was done by architect Scott Walker of Phoenix-based CCBG Architects.

I saw so many movies at this place, I couldn't count them all. There were even Summer kids movies for 25 cents. There was nothing like spending most of a hot day there for less than a dollar. In a way I'm glad I moved away from Arizona several years ago. It just kills me that most of the places in Phoenix from my childhood are gone. I am glad for the memories though: Bob's Big Boy on Thomas and Central, Bill's Records at Park Central Mall, Legend City, concerts at the Memorial Coluseum, The Palms Theatre on Central, Odessey Records on 12th Street and Camelback, chasing The Monkees from Sky Harbor to Mountain Shadows Resort in my 1961 Galaxy 500, KRUX, KRIZ, John's Green Gables on Thomas and 24th Street. It's like a flood.

I've come across a couple of references to architect Bud Magee as Charles Magee and Charles "Bud" Magee. In addition to the Christown, and the Buena Vista at Tucson, he designed at least one other NGC house, the Fox Theatre in Provo, Utah, opened in 1967. There's a rendering of the Provo Fox in Boxoffice, April 24, 1967.