Coral Ridge Theatre
3339 North Federal Highway,
Fort Lauderdale,
FL
33306
3339 North Federal Highway,
Fort Lauderdale,
FL
33306
1 person
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This simple neighborhood theatre, later adequately twinned by ABC Florida State Theatres, was home to several Ft. Lauderdale exclusives including “The Exorcist” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.
Contributed by
Al Alvarez
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
Just as the Coral Ridge Twin essentially replaced the downtown Ft. Lauderdale movie houses shuttered by Florida State in the 60s, AMC Coral Ridge 10 across the street (behind the mall) spelled its demise circa 1987/88 — along with FS sucessors Plitt/Cineplex Odeon’s simultaneous exit from the South Florida market. Second-run operators briefly took over, but not even 50 cent admission on a Friday night drew many takers.
A plain-looking box, to be sure, but home to quite a few premiere and exclusive engagements in its glory days. Briefly catered to alt fare audeinces in the mid 80s, even more so upon the closing of the nearby Manor Art Cinema in 1987.
The building and its adjoning retail area along U.S. 1 still stand, the theatre space since converted to nightclub use.
The ABC Coral Ridge opened in 1963, was twinned in 1977 and closed in 1988.
Loved going to movies here from 1963 to 1967 when it was new and a single screen: “Help!”, “Lady in a Cage”, “Mirage”, “You Only Live Twice”, the filmed-on-stage D'oyly Carte production of “The Mikado”, and I’m sure many others.
On a visit to Fort Lauderdale years later I was sad to find it had long since been a nightclub (“Baja”?). Is that, or anything else, still operating in the building now?
The Coral Ridge, Sunrise Cinemas, and the Plantation were THE modern theaters there in the mid-60s. I look back on these with a special fondness.