Dadeland Triplex
South Miami,
FL
3 people
favorited this theater
This Wometco twin opened as the Twin in the mid-Sixties and often ran exclusives and roadshow presentations. Located across from Florida’s then busiest mall it was a suburban smash hit later a victim of land values and nearby multiplexes.
Excellent sized screens and plush seating were undermined by tacky turnstyle entrance equipment.
Contributed by
Al Alvarez
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
Originally a twin theater. The largest screen was twinned for the last several years of its life. Both auditoriums were quite large and had 70mm capability. I don’t think there is a single Wometco theater left in Miami. What a shame. They had some nice ones. Times change and the economic realities are what they are. Too bad none of them could have been preserved.
The address was 7740 S.W. 88th Street across from the one time national headquarters for Burger King.
What multiplexes are in the area of Dadeland Mall that caused the closure?
The Dadeland was badly hurt by the opening of Bakery Centre, Movies at the Falls, and Kendall Town & Country. At the time, even those malls looked better than the dog-eared Dadeland, which was later refurbished.
Newspaper blurb on the Wometco Twin construction:
View link
Here is an ad circa 1979:
http://tinyurl.com/m76eb5
This opened as Twin on March 24th, 1967
Ad is at View link
Yes, Dadeland was a dozie of a twin. I hated when it was chopped up for the third theater. I remember needing 1000 seats when Empire Strikes Back came out. The lines wrapped around the building and still sold out show after show —1000 seats a pop! The concessioneers had to carry sodas around their necks and work the lines! Just like in the stadiums! The experience on that huge screen in that big theater isn’t the same as seeing something in a tiny 1 of 10 theters!
The Dadeland Twin was a great showplace. I remember seeing
“Midnight Cowboy” there in the late ‘60s. I don’t remember
any particular decor or whether it had a screen curtain…probably
not, just good film presentation on the giant screens. I also
saw “Carnal Knowledge” there starring Candace Bergen, I believe.
The film attracted all the usual reactionaries, particularly in the South, who tried to ban it.
Those “Carnal Knowledge” ads carried a Wometco warning about the language so the film didn’t meet with the stupidity that tried to shut down “Woodstock” and “Last Tango in Paris” at the Coral.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZLIlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C_QFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6409%2C654140