River Hills/Riviera Twin
222 Crocker Street,
Des Moines,
IA
50309
222 Crocker Street,
Des Moines,
IA
50309
2 people
favorited this theater
The River Hills/Riviera Twin is a rare example of two theaters, in the same building, which operated under different names; and not as a twin.
The River Hills side was designed to show Cinerama films and the Riviera Twin side was designed to show regular movies in a twin configuration.
The theaters were built by the former Davis Theatres at the same time as the Riviera in Sioux City.
Sadly, the River Hills/Riviera Twin was recently closed by Carmike Cinemas.
Contributed by
Mike Geater
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
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.”
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.
Ads for films playing at the theatre – http://cineramahistory.com/riverhills.htm
I use to work there back in the mid to late 70’s! Great memories of when movies ran…for a YEAR! Like Star Wars. I remember the 1 year anniversary. We employees got dressed up like the characters.