UA Long Beach Marketplace 6
6601 Pacific Coast Highway,
Long Beach,
CA
90803
6601 Pacific Coast Highway,
Long Beach,
CA
90803
7 people
favorited this theater
The Long Beach Marketplace 6 opened on December 17, 1976, with “King Kong” as one of its films. Other than periodic new carpeting, paint, wall covering and bathroom and seating changes to conform to the Americans With Disabilities Act, it has remained the same. All of the technical changes made behind the scenes to its sound and projection systems is not known.
In early 2002 all United Artist Theatres were merged, along with Edwards Theatres, into Regal Entertainment, which had been recently formed by Philip Anschutz. Its closest competitor is the AMC Marina Pacific 12, about a half of a mile away, which has about half of its screens devoted to stadium seating.
The small size of the UA auditoriums would probably make it impractical to add stadium seating but this doesn’t stop it from being a popular venue, probably due to the numerous restaurants around it. Sometimes they mix a few art films with their first run fare and the patrons are generally the older crowd.
Contributed by
Ron Pierce
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
I worked at this theater during the early 1990s while a student at nearby Cal State Long Beach.
Screen #1 had somewhere in the 500-600 range of seats. Screen #2 was almost as large. Screens 1 and 2 had a large center section of seats and two smaller side sections. The screens widened for proper scope presentation. Screen #1 was equipped with 70mm projection and Dolby Stereo. (“Hoffa” in late 1992-early 1993 was the theater’s last 70mm presentation.)
Screens 3-6 were rather small with a center aisle and two small sections of seats. The screens were common width that were reduced in height for scope presentations (i.e. not the preferred technique). The audio, as I remember it, was mono.
The theater competed for bookings with the AMC Marina Pacifica located a block away.
I was UA’s last union projection technician working directly for UA. In 84, this theater had the sweetest girl managing it. She was a very beautiful redhaired girl. Well, we were friends. She and her assistant drove to Las Vegas. So sad, they had an accident and the manager passed on. The assistant who was driving lived, thank God. I spent a few days visiting her in the funeral home. Very Sad…
Oh, what fond memories I have of the Marketplace 6. All throughout junior high, my friends and I had a weekly ritual of biking over to the Marketplace, filling our jackets with sodas and candy from the Food and Drug store on the other end of the shopping center, buying a ticket for one movie and then sneaking in to one or two other movies before going home. Being able to see movies in the #1 house was always a treat.
I saw “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” here.
December 17, 1976 grand opening ad uploaded in the photo section. Only King Kong was playing at the time.