Cinema West
4349 19th Street,
Lubbock,
TX
79401
4349 19th Street,
Lubbock,
TX
79401
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Cinema West was opened in 1975 by Lubbock Theatres. It was located on 19th Street between Quaker and Peoria Avenues. The twin screen seated 650. It was operated by Video Independent Theatres from 1980 until its closing in 1998.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
I have to make a correction to my original post, Noret Theatres operated the Cinema West from 1985 until it closed in 1998.
I just wanted to let everyone know i worked at the cinema west as the theatre manager in 1995 and it was a single screen theatre. The last i knew it was to be demolished to make way for the new highway. Does anyone know if it has been demolished yet?
It was never a twin. It was a single screen and hosted the Lubbock debut of Dick Tracy with Warren Beatty & Madonna in 1990. We had a great time with a big group that night.
Yes, it is now gone and the new Marsha Sharp Freeway is being constructed.
My wife and I had our first date at the Cinema West in the fall of 1968 when we saw Clint Eastwood in “Hang ‘Em High”. Pratt is correct, it was not a twin. A theater on an adjacent lot to the east was the Fox Twin which was built at a later date.
The freeway is still under construction. Status should be changed to closed/demolished.
Some of my best moviegoing memories were in the Cinema West, including my first date (“Goonies,” so I was just a pup!), and yes I was there for the ‘90 debut of Dick Tracy… SO many memories… too many to list. I can affirm it was a single screen theater.
All the great old theaters in Lubbock are gone… The Fox Theater (where I saw “Empire Strikes Back,” “E.T.” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for the first time), and the Winchester Twin on 50th and Slide (where “Return of the Jedi” debuted in '83) are long gone. (Winchester was the twin-screen facility.) The Fox got gobbled by the Marsha Sharp right down from the Cinema West, the Winchester by an expanding grocery store. (ouch!) Didn’t the Winchester “weather” a pretty big tornado once upon a time?!?!
Anybody remember the Backstage Theater? Little tiny thing behind the Copper Caboose? That’s where I saw “Star Wars” for the first time, in 2/1979, on my 6th birthday. That theater barely made it out of the 70’s…
(Ulp!) A moment for all the great old theaters in Lubbock!!
My first great movie experience was at Cinema West when I saw “Jaws” in 1975. I was seven years old. I went back to see it nine more times. That theater will always be a warm memory from my childhood. I moved from Lubbock in 1990. I wish I could have seen one more movie before it was demolished. Rest in Peace Cinema West!